Berbatov's Appreciation Thread

A beautiful football player. I wish we were a better side when we had him. He's an icing on a cake type of player. The fans, even in the stadium, were very harsh on him.

I remember him scoring that beauty against Sunderland after the crowd had given him a hard time and thinking, these people jumping up and down don't deserve this moment.

A frustrating player, the right man at the wrong time. You could say the same for many who've played for us post 2009.
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
 
Bulgarian brother! That move against West Ham... How does one even think that fast to make a decision... Let alone the perfect execution of a dribble and then a pass. Wish he was little more consistent and more playable in big European games but can't have everything.
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.
 
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
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?
 
Class player who always looked like he was on a Sunday afternoon stroll. Tbf he grinded my gears more than I enjoyed watching him.
That's how football should be played. He should have lit a cigar or a pipe too
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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.

One of a kind.
 
I feel like he's swung to being underrated again on here judging by some comments. 20 PL goals in a season including a treble of 3+ goals (hattrick vs pool, 5 vs Blackburn, hattrick vs B'ham), generally being a very good albeit not great striker but always entertaining. Even seasons he did not score highly, he only got 9 league goals when he arrived, he got a shit load of assists to compensate.
His goals being so concentrated (half coming from a paltry 3 games) is an argument against him.
 
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 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?

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.
 
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.
 
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?
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.
 
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.

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 :lol:
 
And the runners up were a point and goal difference
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.