Part of a longer interview with ESPN about his return to Bilbao. The United bits extracted here.
Ander Herrera Interview
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
Love Herrerra, he was the lad that got Gerrard sent off, not sure was he the guy that could win you the big trophies but he definitely gave it his all, as a fan, thats all you want from players, never heard him bad mouth club, maybe directors about contract but not club per se
Yeah always liked Herrera but we were right to try and upgrade him, though he could have been a good squad player. Still not 100% sure what happened re his extension - was he asking for too much money it was it because no one communicated anything to him until it was too late?
Just a pity we spent that money on Fred who wasn’t an upgrade (IMO) & debatably even worse.
If it was a choice between Fred and Herrera, I would’ve taken the latter all day long
Well the last trophies we ever won were with him in the club, so “big” or not, at least he was contributing to winning them.
I sort of agree with the general point you’ve made there — but like a couple other players from that era — I don’t think we’ve replaced them with significantly clearer upgrades.
I’m with you on that Raoul. But then again I am also biased. Used to like Herrera at Bilbao and was super stoked when we signed him!
We didn't really try to upgrade him. We just let his contract run out and then expected Fred and Mctominay to carry our midfield for 3 years.
Dont think hes a world bester by any means, but he's the sort of player someone like Sir Alex or Klopp for example would always try to keep around because they invariably come in useful at some point during the season.
Agreed. Fred’s not even close.
The Spanish Cleverley with a bit of fight in him. We have the Dutch Cleverley now which is even worse than him.
Would of rather given him huge contract then had that waster Pogba hang around.
Loved Herrera and always gave the team 100%. He was a player always kept the ball moving one or 2 touch. Didn't slow play down with useless touches of ball. Got stuck in and when given a job in midfield would do it this full capability.
Loved Herrera and always gave the team 100%. He was a player always kept the ball moving one or 2 touch. Didn't slow play down with useless touches of ball. Got stuck in and when given a job in midfield would do it this full capability.
Matic - Pogba - Herrera
The Midfield that had everything yet failed to realize the potential.
The Midfield that had everything yet failed to realize the potential.
He couldn’t make a forward pass or a pass between the lines. He also had a horrible habit of passing backwards when an opposition player wasn’t even close to him.
Are you sure that “horrible habit” wasn’t him carrying out the manager’s instructions?
Yeah agreed, in a better system I think Herrera could have had an even bigger impact. Maybe we didn’t intentionally sign Fred as his replacement but they perform a similar type role, I think.
Always talked a better game when it comes to United than he played.
That midfield was actually good. The rest of the team and in particular our attack and fullbacks weren't good enough though.
It was to start off with. It wasn’t long before Matić started to get inconsistent though, which I think was the main reason Jose went with the horrible 4-2-3-1.
He gets a lot of love, and he clearly loved the club, but he wasn't really anything special as a player. He's pretty much the sort of player people love to moan about us retaining - lots of spirit and fight but no real end product, at least not in his last few seasons - yet people moaned about letting him go. We were right not to offer him 200k.
We started with the 4231 not a 433 and mainly played that way. The 433 was used sparsely and was in my opinion pretty balanced.
Herrera would have been the perfect support act to skillful players in a well functioning side. It's a shame he was never part of a well functioning side during his time at United. Timing plays a big part in players' careers and how their ability is evaluated.
I was really excited when we signed him. He looked like just the combative all action midfielder we needed when Bilbao tore us apart.
He was very good at telling the fans what they wanted to hear.
Loved Herrera and one of the few players I've been sad about when they left, not because of talent but the mentality and the attitude and the professionalism.
Just have a feeling he'll become a very good coach/manager if he goes down that route
Just have a feeling he'll become a very good coach/manager if he goes down that route
Agree re the 4-3-3. Jose mixed formations up quite a lot in the first half of his second season; he played Lukaku and Martial up front together for a few games to a fair degree of success. A CL game in Moscow maybe?
& still is judging by this thread.
Every international break, like clockwork.
Had to switch off during the first answer, what's with footballers and being absolutely incapable of criticising Ronaldo - it's like some weird Omerta they are all sworn too.
Really, really sick of hearing about 'but he gets goals'. Such a tedious, shallow read. You'd expect more from a supposedly intelligent footballer.
A younger Herrera now would have been a good addition to Hag’s team as an upgrade to Fred. I like Fred’s energy but he is not great on the ball.
He said himself he wasnt happy with how the club left him in the dark too late and only contacted his party by letter.
I wouldnt believe a word the club leaked trying to cover up another one of their many clusterfecks with contracts. He never had the profile to be demanding silly money, the club messed up
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/foot...se-mourinho-survive-nervy-clash-old-trafford/
That's just 2 that I immediately remember leading to goals
I think we ruined him during his time here. Ten Haag would have been a perfect manager for him. Iirc Van Gaal had him under strict orders not to shoot first time and other such nonsense and Jose had him turned into a destroyer when he had much more to his game.
Just like Bruno.
Herrera like Bruno are football obsessed and its obvious they read opinions of the fans.
Should never have sanctioned the Matic signing. It was a terrible signing especially when Fabinho was available
My abiding memory of Herrera was the fantastic 90min 'man-marking' job he did on Hazard at OT.
To be really successful in a 'man marking' role, it has to be kept going over 90 minutes, one slip, one loss of concentration and all your good work can be undone especially with a player like Hazard. Anders contribution that day was one of the best professional performances, (in particular from a non-striker) I have ever seen at OT in over 50 years.
We have had better players, but few with the heart and tenacity of Herrera, that day was also remarkable in that in such a role he avoided getting red-carded.
There was also the joke that did the rounds after the game... that when Hazard got back on the Chelsea coach... Herrera was sat waiting for him in the next seat
To be really successful in a 'man marking' role, it has to be kept going over 90 minutes, one slip, one loss of concentration and all your good work can be undone especially with a player like Hazard. Anders contribution that day was one of the best professional performances, (in particular from a non-striker) I have ever seen at OT in over 50 years.
We have had better players, but few with the heart and tenacity of Herrera, that day was also remarkable in that in such a role he avoided getting red-carded.
There was also the joke that did the rounds after the game... that when Hazard got back on the Chelsea coach... Herrera was sat waiting for him in the next seat
I liked the signing of Matic, especially since our team lacked maturity. My lack of trust with Mourinho and young teams clouded my judgement.
I said at the time we signed him, with that kind of signing Mourinho has to win the title within 2 seasons. He then loaded us up again with an aging Sanchez.
Within a year the hypocrite had changed his story to it being an achievement for him to even get top 4.
Seems like most of his goals were on the edge or outside the box
Also remember him doing his man marking job. I guess now we finally have someone who could do that in Casemiro, but in previous seasons we certainly havent been doing that
Him leaving for free in vulnerable moment of rebuild is unexplainable to this day.