5 arguments from fans and pundits that look insane in hindsight

Like any sport, football often throws up curveballs that make predictions seem absolutely useless.

At the end of the day, nobody’s got a crystal ball that can perfectly predict the future, but sometimes, of course, predictions do come true and arguments are proven to be correct.

On the other hand, at times we’ve seen things play out on the pitch that makes some of the arguments put forward by fans and pundits alike look ridiculous in hindsight.

Here are five of the best arguments that simply look terrible when you look back.

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#1 Memphis Depay is better than Roberto Firmino

Firmino has proven all of his doubters wrong

In the summer of 2015, both Manchester United and Liverpool were looking to strengthen their squads by adding a quick-footed attacker with the ability to both score and create goals.

Both sides were linked primarily with two players – Brazil’s Roberto Firmino, who was at Hoffenheim, and Holland’s Memphis Depay, who played for PSV.

Initially, United were said to be in for the former, Liverpool the latter.

Of course, that got switched around and Firmino moved to Anfield while Memphis headed to Old Trafford.

The Dutchman was slightly more expensive at £42m compared to Firmino’s £30m, but outside of this it appeared that both men were of a similar age and ability – Depay had scored more goals in 2014/15, but that could’ve been put down to the lower level of Holland’s Eredivsie compared to the German Bundesliga.

To listen to United fans at the time though, you’d have thought they’d signed Pele while Liverpool had picked up a Championship player.

Some of the more comical tweets from United fans included “LOL @ Liverpool fans who think Firmino is better than Memphis”, “Magic Memphis, I’m glad Firmino said no” and “Firmino was compared to Memphis...yeah and a Corsa is a Lamborghini”.

Of course, things didn’t quite play out like that. Memphis by anyone’s standards was terrible at United – he scored just two league goals in 29 Premier League appearances in 2015/16 and was then packed off to Lyon by Jose Mourinho the season after.

Firmino meanwhile hit the ground running at Liverpool, has scored and assisted in bagfuls of goals and is now part of one of the most feared strike forces in world football – and he’s also likely to star in the Champions League final next month – meaning those United fans probably wish they could get rid of those tweets now.

#2 Harry Kane is a one-season wonder

Harry Kane was once considered a "one-season wonder"

When Harry Kane exploded onto the scene back in 2014/15 and scored 31 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions for Tottenham Hotspur, it came as a surprise to most – Spurs fans included – as he’d never looked capable of such feats at any stage earlier in his career.

Despite four loan spells – three outside of the Premier League, being just 22 in the summer of 2015 – the kind of age that players tend to improve at - the fact that he scored more goals in 2014/15 than the rest of his prior career combined was a red flag to some people.

Naturally, Kane was instantly labelled a “one-season wonder” and opposing fans waited with baited breath for him to fail in 2015/16.

After a barren period in August that saw him unable to find the back of the net, even pundits began to turn on the youngster – former England striker Stan Collymore suggested he’d turn out to be a victim of “second-season syndrome”.

While former England and Tottenham midfielder Alan Mullery felt he’d eventually start to score again, even he suggested Kane had to prove that the one-season wonder tag was false.

For his part, Kane simply knuckled down and in September 2015, revealed he’d been given a pep talk by legendary striker Alan Shearer during a charity game.

And ignoring the fans who continued to taunt him with “one-season wonder” chants, the Spurs man scored for England that month in games against San Marino and Switzerland, and from there the floodgates opened and he finished 2015/16 with another 28 goals for Spurs.

Two seasons later Kane has proven he’s anything but a one-season wonder – 2016/17 saw him score 35 goals in 38 appearances and he’s got 37 in 43 thus far in 2017/18.

He’s still not scored in August, granted, but it’s a bit harder to use the term “four-season wonder” to taunt a player – meaning those fans and pundits probably feel a bit silly in hindsight.

#3 Mohamed Salah will struggle in the Premier League

It seems hard to believe now, but plenty of people thought Mo Salah would flop at Liverpool

When Liverpool broke their transfer record to sign Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah from Roma last summer, their fans might’ve been hopeful but plenty of pundits and fans of opposing clubs weren’t convinced that he’d be a hit.

While most people agreed that he hadn’t been given a fair chance during his time at Chelsea – just six Premier League starts – the general consensus amongst pundits and fans alike was a lot of uncertainty.

Before he arrived at Liverpool plenty of fans – yours truly included – suspected that despite his quickness and dribbling skills that had been on show in Serie A, Salah would struggle with the sheer physicality of the Premier League – supposedly one of the reasons why he was discarded by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea in the first place.

Pundit Mina Rzouki went even further, questioning his footballing IQ and comparing him to another Chelsea flop, Juan Cuadrado.

Even after he started the season in blistering fashion – scoring on his debuts in the Champions League and Premier League for Liverpool – the likes of Jermain Jenas and Steve Nicol still questioned whether he’d get into the Reds’ starting line-up if all of their players – namely Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana – were fully fit.

Of course, the people who believed in him – Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp included – have ended up having the last laugh.

Salah is currently in pole position in the race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot, as he’s scored 31 goals in the league and 43 goals in all competitions – becoming Liverpool’s second-highest goalscorer in a single season behind club legend Ian Rush.

And he’s also won the PFA Player of the Year award – not bad for a man tipped by many to be a flop.

#4 Ranieri will lead Leicester City to relegation from the Premier League

Many people tipped Claudio Ranieri to lead Leicester to relegation, not to the Premier League title!

The 2014/15 season was a tough one for Leicester City, as they found themselves glued to the bottom of the Premier League table for four-and-a-half months between November and mid-April.

A late-season resurgence saw them win seven of their last nine fixtures, however, and they ended the season in a respectable 14th place.

So when manager Nigel Pearson was fired in June and replaced by former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri, the doom-mongers immediately began to pop up.

Leicester fans themselves were sceptical, as were plenty of writers and pundits. And to be frank it looked like they had good reason to be.

Not only had Ranieri not managed in the Premier League for over a decade, but he’d also lasted just a handful of months in his previous job – he’d been fired by the Greece national team following a loss in European Championship qualifying to the lowly Faroe Islands.

Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp claimed he was “amazed” by the appointment while one journalist labelled it “baffling” and stated that if Leicester wanted someone to keep them in the Premier League, they’d gone for the wrong guy.

Even the bookies were against the Foxes, who were given odds of 1/20 to be relegated and 5000/1 to win the Premier League on the opening day of the season.

Everyone knows what happened next – against all the odds, thanks to a combination of smart signings like N’Golo Kante, unsung stars such as Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, a solid defence and a blistering counter-attacking style, Leicester ended up winning the Premier League is probably the biggest upset in the history of football.

While the fairytale came to an end in the following season – Ranieri was fired after a poor run – the argument put forward by so many, that he’d take them into the Championship, was proven wrong in the most dramatic way possible.

#5 Alvaro Morata is better than Romelu Lukaku

It was commonly argued at the start of the season that Morata was a superior signing to Lukaku

If Manchester United fans ended up with egg on their faces over their argument that Depay was a better signing than Firmino.

Then it looks like they’ll end up getting the last laugh over those fans – and pundits – who tried to argue last summer and then at the beginning of the season that Chelsea’s signing of Alvaro Morata would trump their own signing of Romelu Lukaku.

For those who’ve forgotten, the scenario almost mirrored that of Depay and Firmino, as initially, it looked like Morata was heading to Old Trafford while Lukaku would be returning to Stamford Bridge – to the club that had sold him back in 2014.

Eventually, the big Belgian was signed by United for a fee of £75m, while Morata moved from Real Madrid to Chelsea for around £60m.

Almost immediately people were arguing that Chelsea had gotten the better deal; the argument was that Morata had more top-level experience and had been largely misused at Real Madrid.

While Lukaku – despite scoring bucketloads of goals for Everton – was somewhat of a flat-track bully who might go missing in the bigger games.

Even United fans were sceptical, with one posting on Quora that “Morata is simply the better player of the two”.

The pundits seemed to agree and despite both men starting the season well, by November – and a match between the two sides that was decided in favour of Chelsea via a Morata goal – at least one writer seemed confident that Chelsea had definitely gotten the better deal, labelling Lukaku as a “streaky player currently on a streak he won’t be enjoying”.

In hindsight though, you could argue Morata is the streaky one – since that goal in November the Spaniard has only scored a further seven times and has struggled greatly at Stamford Bridge, even losing the faith of manager Antonio Conte.

While Lukaku, on the other hand, has been pretty consistent – he’s scored 18 since and has 30 in all competitions this season, a strong return by anyone’s standards.

The argument that Morata is the better player now seems to be dead in the water.