One of my favourite players but we were a pretty good side when we had him: 2 league titles; 2 league runner-up positions; 2 CL finals
Berbatov's Appreciation Thread
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Unreal moment but my favourite is his goal against Blackburn where he started the move in our own half with a back heel to Evra, got the ball back, sprayed a ridiculous, outside of the foot pass across field to Nani, sauntered into the box and calmly slotted the return ball. Genius.
And those 2 finals were lost to probably the best club side ever. It's not like that team was anything less than very good.
I remember in the old official Man Utd forum, after every game there would be discussion (specially when Man Utd lost or drew a match) that Berbatov does not pass to Hernandez or when Hernandez scores a goal Berbatov did not celebrate that goal. Was it like that in CAF as well?
And the runners up were a point and goal difference
I think Guardiola would have loved him at Barcelona instead of Ibrahimovic, much more smooth with his play.
Class player who always looked like he was on a Sunday afternoon stroll. Tbf he grinded my gears more than I enjoyed watching him.
One of a kind.
His goals being so concentrated (half coming from a paltry 3 games) is an argument against him.
If that’s the best argument against him he’s doing something right. No one is saying he’s on the level of best we’ve had but he was a good striker for us.
I personally was going nuts the year after when Welbeck kept making the squad ahead of him when Berbatov finished with a solid 7 goals in 12 league games.
Maybe heresy but anyone else remember him as a better player for Spurs than us? In my old aged mind I just remember him being sharper and quicker for them.
He's one of the coolest players ever saying that.
He's one of the coolest players ever saying that.
Should have played him as a 10 behind the pace of someone else. Will always be slightly infuriating, for all the chat about how tough his upbringing was, he never really showed the appetite to play like someone with something to prove. With his talent and physicality he really could have been one of the best, but imo kinda coasted.
Piece of work that forum was. Nasty place.
Still remember his absolutely filthy assist to Ronaldo vs West Ham in 2008. Pure class.
The matchday thread on here was full of comments like "berbasex, berbaskill, berbaflick" etc.
The matchday thread on here was full of comments like "berbasex, berbaskill, berbaflick" etc.
I'm a fan, but yeah. He was consistently good in both his seasons there. 20+ goals, good amount of assists, goals in big games, some nice play.
He had a good playmaking season (2008/09, 10ish goals and assists), and a good goalscoring season with his usual good back-to-goal work (2010/11, 20 goals, Liverpool hat-trick, golden boot).
In 2009/10, his worst season, he was an ok support forward and held the ball up and did some playmaking, but was poor in front of goal. In his last season, he was frozen out, but produced very good numbers (better than a goal every 90, but very few games).
There wasn't one season where it all came together like with Spurs.
I still think he's under-rated here because of his work back-to-goal, he could just hold on under all sorts of pressure, and could stitch together an attack once people joined in.
No, this opinion isn't because of watching Hojlund today
Gods we were spoiled then. Could have won a lot more if the Glazers weren't penny pinching to the max under Fergie. Didn't replace tevez, didn't replace Ronaldo, didn't replace scholes and giggs yet still making it to CL finals and in the title race every year
It's funny how his price tag was concidered huge then... Now it's peanuts.
His lowest moments were the horrible miss against City in FA cup and a couple of anonymous league performances through the years.
His good moments were much more, he was linking up beautifully with his colleagues in attack.
His great moments were much more than his bad - 2 goals for comeback at Blackpool comes to mind, scissor goal at Sunderland, goal and assist against Chelsea in his first season, they couldn't get the ball from his feet in this game, couple of CL braces, a few late 1-0 winners in title winning first season.
He had GODLIKE moments - no need to mention which ones.
Overall - a player to be remembered, who did great and left with a feeling he could have done more here.
By the way, huge mistake leaving him out of the CL final. He had a great game against Shalke in the semis and was pumped for Barcelona. A rare occasion of bad management by Fergie.
His lowest moments were the horrible miss against City in FA cup and a couple of anonymous league performances through the years.
His good moments were much more, he was linking up beautifully with his colleagues in attack.
His great moments were much more than his bad - 2 goals for comeback at Blackpool comes to mind, scissor goal at Sunderland, goal and assist against Chelsea in his first season, they couldn't get the ball from his feet in this game, couple of CL braces, a few late 1-0 winners in title winning first season.
He had GODLIKE moments - no need to mention which ones.
Overall - a player to be remembered, who did great and left with a feeling he could have done more here.
By the way, huge mistake leaving him out of the CL final. He had a great game against Shalke in the semis and was pumped for Barcelona. A rare occasion of bad management by Fergie.
Dropping him completely from the squad in the 2011 final is still the most bizarre thing I've seen during my time supporting this club.
I get not starting him, but not even getting on the bench? I know a good chunk of his goals were scored in, well, chunks, and he didn't score in the CL at all that season, but he was still our top goalscorer and one of our best players from a technical POV, which would've been vital as we could barely keep the ball against Barca.
I think dropping Nani - who was our best player that season - was a mistake, too, as, like Berbatov, he was one of our better technical players, and could keep the ball under pressure, but at least he made the bench.
I think what's even more surprising is that he stayed for another season. You'd have thought he was done here after that.
I get not starting him, but not even getting on the bench? I know a good chunk of his goals were scored in, well, chunks, and he didn't score in the CL at all that season, but he was still our top goalscorer and one of our best players from a technical POV, which would've been vital as we could barely keep the ball against Barca.
I think dropping Nani - who was our best player that season - was a mistake, too, as, like Berbatov, he was one of our better technical players, and could keep the ball under pressure, but at least he made the bench.
I think what's even more surprising is that he stayed for another season. You'd have thought he was done here after that.
I remember before the game actually thinking Berba would start exactly due to his technical skills and ball retention; the club's refusal to address central-midfield after the 2009 final made me think that he and Rooney would drop back to support Carrick and Giggs, with the pace of Nani/Valencia to push Barca back a bit.
At the time the Rooney-Chicharito pairing had become first choice so it also would've potentially been a bit of a surprise for Barca to deal with starting with Berba instead, with Hernandez to come off the bench later in the game meaning Owen likely wouldn't be needed.
I can't remember much truth be told. I think I expected Chicharito over Berbatov, but Berba being completely left out of the squad I do remember shocking me. I like your idea because Berba would have been our best chance of holding the ball up top, and Rooney, Nani and Valencia running to support him once he had it could've provided a decent threat. You'd think a lot more than what we produced on the day, anyway.
I really liked this video I saw t'other day:
There are a fair few videos of that performance but the rest just highlight the goals. This one kept in his all round play and errors that game, which I always appreciate. For example, one of my favourite parts of the performance was Berbatov's double croqueta in Blackburn's box, but no one ever includes that in the other videos of this performance because it didn't result in anything. Though it looks like it could've been a penalty!
How did this girl get famous? I’m seeing here everywhere now.