Evra was an interesting one. His debut was against Citeh and we lost 3-1 after they adopted a tactic of thumping the ball down the right wing where Evra got owned by the much-taller Trevor Sinclair in the air. My assessment was that he seemed a useful player, but he needed to improve his aerial ability before he'd be solid enough for the side. At the time, we had Gabriel Heinze in that position- who was awesome defensively and contributed plenty going forward- so Evra was really a signing for the future. Fair play to the guy, he certainly improved in his time here and he's now one of my favourite players at the club.
I certainly didn't call him useless on arrival, because I wasn't qualified to comment. I hadn't seen anywhere near as much of him as I have of Valencia.
Vidic genuinely excited me. I'd seen a bit of him playing for Serbia & Montenegro, and the guy was an absolute machine. Love players like Vidic, and i really thought he'd do well once he settled. Finally a replacement for Jaap Stam.
I wasn't a fan of Fletcher though. The guy was just poor for the first few years of his career at United. Even now, he's useful, but he's not exactly tearing the Premiership apart and making all his doubters look like fools. He's certainly improved though. Hopefully we see even more of an improvement.
My opinion on Carrick hasn't really changed. We all know what he can do- he's a passer. You pass him the ball and he passes it to someone else, his job is to knit the play together. He's never been any more, and he's never been any less. He's a decent player, but I sometimes wonder whether what he does is quite enough. Someone like Fabregas does everything Carrick does plus scores and sets up more goals, someone like Keane had the passing part nailed but was also a genuine ball-winner and inspiration to the team. Off the top of my head, I count seven CMs from other big four clubs I'd rate higher than Carrick- Alonso, Lampard, Mascherano, Gerrard, Fabregas, Essien and Ballack (the only remotely debateable one). The guy does a job, but he's not exactly an all-time United great.
). If he's fit (obvs should be more of a chance to be fit in side where he's not expected to lead the way for the entire season) then he's a better option than say Macheda if Rooney goes down for a couple of weeks. In saying that though, it's still a highly amusing and risky signing if it happens,, and I very much doubt that Fergie wouldn't try sign another Forward to cover the loss of Tevez/Ronaldo.
