I loved Berba, but he had to be in the 'mood'. He was so languid that sometimes he seemed like he couldn't be bothered. While frustrating at times, he's done things on a ball that I've no one else do! An elegant player on his day.
Berbatov's Appreciation Thread
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I recall being very excited when I heard we signed him. I thought he would have the same impact that Cantona had for us. While he had his moments it didn't really work out. He definitely had the skill
but just didn't produce regularly enough.
Still like the guy though.
but just didn't produce regularly enough.
Still like the guy though.
WTF are you on about? I was talking about Park has more great memory & moment with us than Berba, do I need to tell you this like 100 times?
You wanted to prove me wrong, then list me Berba's great moment with us because I can dare you that I can list you more the great moment Park with us. If you can't give a list then stop feckin arguing if you can't even make this a proper discussion.
So you were fine when we sold Jaap Stam?
He had more than enough chances in his preferred position. Throughout 09/10 he played behind Rooney and was underwhelming for most parts. Our attack was pretty shite and we got bailed out plenty of times by Rooney.
Rooney's best season was when Valencia was on the right wing. If you watch the matches it can be seen that it's Berbatov who normally puts the ball for Valencia to cross. Most of the time Valencia doesn't have to do anything but put in a first time cross.
Why are you comparing his contribution to Berbatov's contribution? Why sold Jaap Stam has anything to do with my post anyway in the first place?
Jaap Stam was considered as key player for us & he has good amount of great moment with us. In fact ask everyone, they could still consider him as our best centre back ever.
The problem with Berbatov is that we bought him to score goals when he's actually better at creating them.
Here you go. Sweet total of 4 passes to Valencia to make the assists. And 2 was against West Ham. We are being very generous because he didn't even hit double figures assist that season. Hardly the hallmark of productivity and consistency.
He played in his "preferred position" in 09/10 but he was hit-and-miss the entire season. He was also consistently anonymous in the big games which prompted Fergie to drop him from them in both the PL and the CL. Our top performances came when he was actually not in the XI (Liverpool, Arsenal, Milan and Bayern). His best form was in the next season when we switched around the striking role and had him as the leading forward instead of Rooney. So what exactly was his best role?
Running for President of the Bulgarian FA. Gotta love the man.
He surely must be the most popular Bulgarian? He will get it.
Sublime one minute, frustrating the other. Still think we'd be better off had we signed Tevez permanently in 2008 and added in another midfielder than spending 30 million on him.
It's an appreciation thread?
Well...Tevez chose more money. Hate to break it to you.
Berba was a confidence player. If he missed a chance early on, you could tell he's probably gonna have a bad game. But on his day, one of the best footballers I have seen. One of my favourite players ever, he made football look like art.
He was a lot better at Spurs and had a great understanding with Keane but he was hot and cold in his time with us.
Still, he was great to watch when he was in the mood
Still, he was great to watch when he was in the mood
Football genius. Turned the game into a form of art.
Just re read the thread and saw his skill against West Ham 
A man that tall shouldn't be able to have that kind of balance. Lesser player would've twisted his feet in the process
A man that tall shouldn't be able to have that kind of balance. Lesser player would've twisted his feet in the process
I personally preferred Tevez's style for us...
But Berbatov was a quality player too with a velvet first touch.
And he played a big part in our 2010/11 Premier League title win.
For that I'll always have fond memories of him..
But Berbatov was a quality player too with a velvet first touch.
And he played a big part in our 2010/11 Premier League title win.
For that I'll always have fond memories of him..
Scored a hat trick against Liverpool too. Good luck with the election, dimistar brilliantov, along with the Petrovs.
Superb player - the only problem was he started taking Tevez's place and Fergie eventually did not sign Tevez who was critical to our success.
I don't buy that as a criticism.
He did track back, help out defending, good at the near post when opponents had corners etc.
He just never "looked busy" like some other players because this was just his style and we knew this when he signed. We got him late in his career, he was never going to change his play style at that age.
It's like buying a Nintendo Switch and then complaining the graphics aren't as nice as a PS5.
This
Gets aired a lot, but this
is better... the gif doesn't quite capture just how hard Scholes hits that pass.
Gets aired a lot, but this
is better... the gif doesn't quite capture just how hard Scholes hits that pass.
On the whole, he was a disappointment. Give me prime Tevez over him any day of the week. Lovely footballer though - played like he was wearing a pair of padded velour slippers.
I honestly think Berbatov could of been unbelievable if he ran abit more. He had the composure touch and finish as good as anyone I’d ever seen. The problem was he was just too lazy. Give me Hernandez. Luis Saha, Tevez or Rooney over him any day. Berbatov was too lazy to be a united forward he just didn’t have the same desire of the others above to win. He never truly reached his full potential just because he was lazy. Martial reminds me a lot of Berbatov. They will look back on their legacy with regret I think because they could of achieved so much more.
I think it was Neville or someone who said that the reason we didnt buy Tevez because he was not arsed at all in training, was extremely unprofessional.
As for Berba, I think the whole "he would be better if he ran more" take is complete oversimplistic BS. Having a higher workrate might have helped his team in pressing but wouldnt make him a better footballer. His biggest flaw was that he was a confidence player.
Summer 2009 - we let Ronaldo and Tevez go and signed Owen, Valencia and Obertan. Valencia turned out to be a decent RB but that was an absolute sh*tshow of a window. I was 16 at the time and couldn’t believe what we were doing. How could the greatest manager of all time not see what terrible business this was?
I think Neville said something along the lines of Tevez downed tools in his final months. Basically Tevez got frustrated and felt insulted because Utd and Fergie didn't value him at 25m. He was clearly worth that amount and it was at that time we started looking at "value" in the market.
I think the view was that he never really put in a shift
I think Berbatov had his level and that was teams like Leverkusen, spurs and was not an elite player that could do it on the biggest stage.
Where as if you look at Tevez he proved he could do it on the biggest stage for united, city and juventus.
Where as if you look at Tevez he proved he could do it on the biggest stage for united, city and juventus.
His hands were tied over money.
Tevez did not want to stay, he was offered a 5 year deal, apparently wanted to retire in 4 anyway, which is part of the reason Utd held off offering him the deal. But when it came down to it, he wanted the city money. In hindsight, it was a bullet well and truly dodged.
Strange how Berbatov gets so much love from United fans compared to Martial when he was even lazier and cost us Tevez as well.
The fact Fergie dropped him from the Champions League final squad in his last season showed even Fergie one he messed up buying him
The fact Fergie dropped him from the Champions League final squad in his last season showed even Fergie one he messed up buying him
Beautiful player, exquisite touches and the way he seamlessly caresses the ball is absolute pleasure to watch. He can play football as well.
Scored nearly half his goals in 2 games that season…
I always thought that Berbatov's performances were always very straightforward to predict after the first 5 mins of a game.
If things hadn't gone well for those first 5 mins, you could bet he'd have a stinker. If however, he'd done well, he'd be mesmerising for the rest of the game. Both he and Nani had that weird thing about them.
In my mind, it was best to hook them in the first 30 mins if it wasn't their day. (The risk, of course, being that it could have a fatal effect on their confidence - which was by no means rock solid)
If things hadn't gone well for those first 5 mins, you could bet he'd have a stinker. If however, he'd done well, he'd be mesmerising for the rest of the game. Both he and Nani had that weird thing about them.
In my mind, it was best to hook them in the first 30 mins if it wasn't their day. (The risk, of course, being that it could have a fatal effect on their confidence - which was by no means rock solid)
“Valencia turned out to be a decent RB”
He was much more than that mate. He was almost unplayable for a couple of seasons at right wing. Never seen anyone piss over Ashley Cole like he did. Not even Ronaldo at his peak. Just a big shame he had that serious injury.
RedCafe appreciating him? that's new to me.
I used to lurk here back then and most of the posters wanted him gone and called him lazy after helping us winning the league.
I used to lurk here back then and most of the posters wanted him gone and called him lazy after helping us winning the league.
Berba seems like the last of a certain breed of player that hasn't necessarily translated into current football. His touch and skills were superb and his goalscoring was decent too. He entertained fans a lot when he was in the mood and was probably the type of striker who, say, if he played in Serie A in the late 90s, people would be gushing about as one of the greatest of his generation. Even then he seemed quite old school, at least compared to workhorses like Tevez, Rooney, etc.
Personally I don't think Tevez gave a crap about not being valued at 25m. I imagine his agent knew City were interested and United simply didn't want to get into a bidding war to keep a player who was a little too similar to Rooney.
Nev is right though because Tevez wasn't great at all during the end of his spell. It's why there was a lot of chat about whether he was worth keeping (even outside of here because I wasn't active back then).
Personally I don't think Tevez gave a crap about not being valued at 25m. I imagine his agent knew City were interested and United simply didn't want to get into a bidding war to keep a player who was a little too similar to Rooney.
Nev is right though because Tevez wasn't great at all during the end of his spell. It's why there was a lot of chat about whether he was worth keeping (even outside of here because I wasn't active back then).
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Perhaps revisionism - remember him being key to Rooney's best goalscoring season tbf. Still - those signings were a huge downgrade on what we had the season before.