Dimitar Berbatov | 2009/10 Performances

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Can't help but feel sorry for the lad, the big games is what players live for, I understand we have a winning formation that works but I feel for Berba.

He hasn't complaned and has got on with it which I commend him for, other players will take this personally.
 
Just got to accept he doesn't suit that formation. And with the way Wayne Rooney has been playing he can't have much cause for complaint.

He'll play against Bolton next week and be back on the bench against Bayern. Be interesting to see if he will play against Chelsea or not.
 
All hail the...

BerbaKing

w7zmu1.jpg
 
Top quality performance that, proper centre forwards display

If he'd performed like that the last two years, there would have been no doubts about him whatsoever. He needs to be right up there in the penalty area, feck this drop off nonsense away (note he still dropped off today, but he knew when to do it, and knew when to goal hang)
 
I think Berba is the most prolific second choice striker in the PL. Not sure about that, but seems right.
 
Is that 11 league goals now? Not exactly what we were hoping for, but he's getting there. His play was very good today once he started getting some support from midfield and the wings.
 
niMic said:
Is that 11 league goals now? Not exactly what we were hoping for, but he's getting there. His play was very good today once he started getting some support from midfield and the wings.
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12 league goals and it's more than Owen Goal's total for the season.
 
niMic said:
Is that 11 league goals now? Not exactly what we were hoping for, but he's getting there. His play was very good today once he started getting some support from midfield and the wings.
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12, I think. But remember, he's been injured for 6 weeks and not a first choice in the 4-5-1 we've played 50% of the time
 
He's done well considering he's had to accept being on the bench in big games. I wonder, if he'll ever get the chance to start any.
 
He was very good today. He looked up for it and got his reward. It's a shame he slipped for that chance but he deserved his two goals. His second was a classy goal
 
CentreForward said:
12, I think. But remember, he's been injured for 6 weeks and not a first choice in the 4-5-1 we've played 50% of the time
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Yeah, perhaps "not exactly" wasn't the best choice of words. It makes it seem like I expected much more under the circumstances. Perhaps "not quite" would have been better. There's no reason why he can't put a few more before the end of the season, though. I just want to see him function in a 4-4-2 with Rooney, so we can use them both for tough games (or ordinary games).
 
niMic said:
Yeah, perhaps "not exactly" wasn't the best choice of words. It makes it seem like I expected much more under the circumstances. Perhaps "not quite" would have been better. There's no reason why he can't put a few more before the end of the season, though. I just want to see him function in a 4-4-2 with Rooney, so we can use them both for tough games (or ordinary games).
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Right, just that we've been through this many times. The 2 man midfield gets overrun and that's where the problem lies.
I am hoping to see Berba-Rooney develop even greater understanding next season. Though if we are going to match the opposition midfield, the chances are we'll play a lone striker in the foreseeable future, as they all play 4-5-1/4-3-3
 
It's not about the strikers functioning for the big games, it's whether the midfield can win the battle or not in the middle of the park. Why the hell do you think we've played with 5 midfielders for most of the tougher games ever since Veron came?
 
Chances are we'll do what we have done these last few years. 433/451 for the tougher games which is less than half of our total games, 442 for the rest.
 
He was excellent today and led the line well, good to see that he got a couple of goals.
 
In the top ten:

Rooney... Man Utd..... 26
Drogba... Chelsea...... 24
Bent........Sunderland. 20
Defoe..... Tottenham.. 17
Lampard.. Chelsea...... 17
Tevez..... Man City..... 16
Torres..... Liverpool.... 16
Fabregas.. Arsenal...... 15
Saha....... Everton...... 13
Berbatov.. Man Utd..... 12
 
Boss said:
It will be a bit upsetting, it's a team that can't beat Wigan...and we are at home..but I stand by the gaffer no matter what formation he applies. We play brilliantly with 4-3-3 but Berba deserves another shot at a big game, Ferguson said he would probably start against Milan after his Wolves performance.

I hope he gets a chance.
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I hope not. We can't play 4-4-2 against a big side at this stage of the season.
 
B Cantona said:
Top quality performance that, proper centre forwards display

If he'd performed like that the last two years, there would have been no doubts about him whatsoever. He needs to be right up there in the penalty area, feck this drop off nonsense away (note he still dropped off today, but he knew when to do it, and knew when to goal hang)
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Indeed.
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
Either way I don't want us risking it.
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Fair play, your points on the formation were right at the end of the day, at first I was blinded to the evidence that Berba had performed poorly in these big games but the evidence is much bigger for us wanting a more compact midfield in such big games.

It makes sense more than ever.
 
Im glad he got the goals because Berbatov has grown on me a lot, but im still far from convinced that he really works as a lone striker.

Fact is, until we were gifted the first goal, we didnt really look very threatening. Plenty of buildup play, but we had nobody actually attacking the penalty area at all. Berbatov was regularly in our half of the pitch and dropping back, leaving us with nobody up front.


Personally, I would simply play him in the hole behind Rooney in a 4-4-1-1, the role that Park has been playing recently but as a playmaker rather than "hassler".
 
Walrus said:
Im glad he got the goals because Berbatov has grown on me a lot, but im still far from convinced that he really works as a lone striker.
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Sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. But he's just not a lone striker. He doesn't have the attributes to do it regularly, certainly not against better opposition.

Kind of reminds me of when we used Cantona as a lone striker against Juventus in 1996. It was just a total waste of his abilities.
 
Crustanoid said:
In the top ten:

Rooney... Man Utd..... 26
Drogba... Chelsea...... 24
Bent........Sunderland. 20
Defoe..... Tottenham.. 17
Lampard.. Chelsea...... 17
Tevez..... Man City..... 16
Torres..... Liverpool.... 16
Fabregas.. Arsenal...... 15
Saha....... Everton...... 13
Berbatov.. Man Utd..... 12
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What's that - 12 in 19 starts? Plus 4 assists. He's really started to do the business
 
Amir said:
Sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. But he's just not a lone striker. He doesn't have the attributes to do it regularly, certainly not against better opposition.

Kind of reminds me of when we used Cantona as a lone striker against Juventus in 1996. It was just a total waste of his abilities.
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That is true. But he's not a 'squad player' by any stretch of the imagination. We simply have about 16-17 players who could honestly be termed first teamers.
 
Crustanoid said:
In the top ten:

Rooney... Man Utd..... 26
Drogba... Chelsea...... 24
Bent........Sunderland. 20
Defoe..... Tottenham.. 17
Lampard.. Chelsea...... 17
Tevez..... Man City..... 16
Torres..... Liverpool.... 16
Fabregas.. Arsenal...... 15
Saha....... Everton...... 13
Berbatov.. Man Utd..... 12
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Wheres OG:confused:

Other than that great to see 4 current or ex Manchester strikers on there even if one is the argie cnut
 
radd said:
What's that - 12 in 19 starts? Plus 4 assists. He's really started to do the business
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Wow know this isn't his thread, but 26 goals for Rooney in 29 league games, that's incredible

Berbatov has chipped in with a fair number now. If he scores 15-20 in a season, I think that's a return you're happy with at the seasons start, and he's still got time to reach that kind of mark
 
RedDevil [NC] said:
Wheres OG:confused:

Other than that great to see 4 current or ex Manchester strikers on there even if one is the argie cnut
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:lol:

Yep, he's right outside the top 10 with 11 so far. It's just such a bitch calculating his playing time to get a decent goal-per-minutes ratio
 
B Cantona said:
Wow know this isn't his thread, but 26 goals for Rooney in 29 league games, that's incredible

Berbatov has chipped in with a fair number now. If he scores 15-20 in a season, I think that's a return you're happy with at the seasons start, and he's still got time to reach that kind of mark
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Goes without saying I should think.
 
B Cantona said:
Top quality performance that, proper centre forwards display

If he'd performed like that the last two years, there would have been no doubts about him whatsoever. He needs to be right up there in the penalty area, feck this drop off nonsense away (note he still dropped off today, but he knew when to do it, and knew when to goal hang)
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The last two years?

He hasn't been at the club for two years yet.
 
Crustanoid said:
In the top ten:

Rooney... Man Utd..... 26
Drogba... Chelsea...... 24
Bent........Sunderland. 20
Defoe..... Tottenham.. 17
Lampard.. Chelsea...... 17
Tevez..... Man City..... 16
Torres..... Liverpool.... 16
Fabregas.. Arsenal...... 15
Saha....... Everton...... 13
Berbatov.. Man Utd..... 12
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Torres and Berbatov both has rather few minutes compared to many on that list.
Torres 1570 minutes, 16 goals, 3 assists = 19.
Berbatov ~1680* minutes 12 goals, 6 assists = 18

Not quite as good as Torres that everyone are talking so highly of, but at the end of the day you cannot really complain about Berbatov efficiency. If you count both goals and assists, he is almost as effective as Torres when you look at the minutes. And he is the second among the second highest goalscorers after Lampard, then again, Fat Frank has played about 1000 minutes more than Berbatov.

From a statistical point of view, there are little doubt that Berbatov are delivering.

Minutes taken from soccerway.com, assists from PremierLeague.com
Today's game not added yet at Berbatov 1587 + 90 minutes = 1677.
 
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