How many of those passes actually created a scoring opportunity? I can only think of the one for Valencia. As of now, I still do not know what his role in the team is(to create or to score or something). If it is to create, maybe we should be judging his passes based on actual chances created for teammates. Because midfielders are the ones who are supposed to rack up pass counts achieved by keeping possession(either by playing it backwards or sideways or something).
Dimitar Berbatov | 2009/10 Performances
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How many of those passes actually created a scoring opportunity? I can only think of the one for Valencia. As of now, I still do not know what his role in the team is(to create or to score or something). If it is to create, maybe we should be judging his passes based on actual chances created for teammates. Because midfielders are the ones who are supposed to rack up pass counts achieved by keeping possession(either by playing it backwards or sideways or something).
True. But when Kiko went off, he was just playing as deep as the midfield behind him in all honesty. & the deeper he plays we all now how next to impossible it is for him tor each the box in time.
So why did we play like that? I don't understand it!
Have given the berbatov issue some thought and it's difficult for me to pin point why I've lost the love for him. His body language and moaning are just to much. Whether or not he cost 5m or 30m, he has never looked comfortable in a united shirt. Yes, he has had good games but so did Alan Smith. Look at other too teams in the prem league and ask yourself, would you swap berbatov with their goal scorer and I'd say yes: drogba/anelka, RVP, torres, Defoe/pavlychenko, bellamy/tevez/adebayor - granted, some of them I'd never want to see in a united shirt but I think they are all better than berbatov. For the majority of the games he has played in, I haven't liked the look/shape of the team.
disagree.
On paper it was breaking the Scholes-Keane combo who were just brilliant together. One of the main assests of Becks-Scholes-Keane-Giggs midfield was the pace they could generate, the speed and accuracy they could pass the ball with and how little passes (due to running into positions) they needed to create something. Bringing Veron in changed that balance because of his tendency to stamp each ball in each bulid up with the imprint of his boots. We were much slower in the middle of the park, we were exchanging more passes and needed more time to move it forwards. That's why i didn't understand the idea of signing Veron either.
Granted stats should be used in conjunction with eyes then you get the whole picture. Too dismiss stats because they don't say what you want them to say though is why half of these problems with Berba arise. Half of the full picture is missing.
Talking of getting caught in possession.....that relates to all the players doesn't it. Happens to Rooney a lot but who mentions it. Same as moaning at other players when he doesn't get the pass he wants, Rooney does that a lot too.
I disagree. It's the team that should compensate for him playing deep. Some games they do it, like when we faced Bolton. Others like when we faced Wolves and today, when they are too static, they simply don't.
Also the fact that of late we have been useless at keeping the ball and SAF thinks Berba is one of our best at keeping it, has influenced him playing him deeper than he did earlier on this season.
The whole team was playing too deep. Berba just joined them in it.
If any player keeps getting caught in possession, then I'll say it.
It tends to happen to slower players. Carrick for example often gets caught but the stats wouldn't show that.
How many of everyone else's passes created a scoring opportunity?
I'm talking about fan attitudes. Forlan's a likeable character, who didn't produce anywhere near enough, but make the Scousers cry and we'll look on you favourably. Berbatov hasn't had that sort of circumstantial luck to get the fans on his side. Add 30 mill, like you did then, and it gets worse. The money doesn't really represent what you're to expect anymore. Benzema's had a worse season than Berbatov, for one.
On the flip side, condemning Forlan is stupid, because like I said, he became the top scorer in Spain and won the European Golden Boot too.
All I'm saying is (FOR THE feckING 100th TIME!) that Berba is NOT shit.
Maybe a bad fit, but not shit.
Disappointing? Yes, certainly at times... but why do we need to crucify him after EVERY game? He didn't get to play much, says loads about how shit he is... they didn't play the ball out, something's amiss and the team don't like him either... Phelan says players need to step up, it's clearly aimed at Berbatov... Berbatov is shite for playing deep, even if he's been told to do so by Fergie... He gets it at every fecking turn and it does my head in to see this sort of treatment against any of our own players.
Well the same things you say about Veron now are the exact problems that seem to be wrong with Berbatov's role at United.
That's true also.
Even Nani has started to do his best to win the ball back when he loses it. And he was brutal for it.
They seem to " break their bollox" because they are faster. I don't care how hard Berba tried. He'd never get to the box in time from deep. He just isn't quick enough off the mark. & when you move like he does, in a languid style, and are naturally slow, you look like you're not even trying. He 'seems to amble'' as you put it. It's like trying to tell if a tortoise is sprinting. Even at it's fastest you'd hardly see movement. It's the same with Berba but on a different scale.
The likes of Rooney don't try to break forward harder than him. They are just not as slow as him and dont look as languid trying to do it.
I mean compare him to a Zlatan. Zlatan too is as languid in his style. But he is quick off the mark. Berba just comes off miles worse because he is almost Riquelme slow.
Well Berbatov had a couple of chances. He hardly passed the ball to himself!
Laudable efforts Eriku but you're wasting your time I'm afraid.
Perhaps if he hadn't have said "my best is yet to come at Manchester United" and left us all wondering whether he meant the very next game or not, we wouldn't be commenting on his performance after every game because none of the subsequent performances have suggested "a best" have they?
I don't think anyone really thinks he is a shit player. I'll go as far as saying I doubt even Johnno believes that he is a shit player!
Laudible efforts indeed. Laudible.
What don't you two like? That people don't share your opinion, or that United supporters voice their disapproval and disappointment at any particular player?
What don't you two like? That people don't share your opinion, or that United supporters voice their disapproval and disappointment at any particular player?
Good, glad to hear he was getting in the box after all.
Neither do I. I don't understand why we started with Giggs and Scholes as a two man midfield either. Obviously what they lack in energy they can make up for in class, but as the game wore on they were less and less likely to be getting up and down the pitch, and not at all coincidentally started to lose any grip we had on the game. Then Macheda comes off to get another body into midfield to try and get hold of it again. Needing a goal to keep our season alive and we still need to take a striker off for a midfielder to try and keep some control.
People need to admit that our midfield aren't what they once were, and that's where the teams main deficiencies lie. It's hardly surprising a midfield pair aged 35 and 36 weren't going to last the distance at the pace required, we'd be laughing at Milan for doing the exact same thing. Once the glaring problems in the midfield are sorted, then we can get a proper idea of how well everyone else is doing their jobs. Problems in midfield can impact all over the pitch, and our attacking options from midfield are quite clearly not in the top bracket.
When you move like he does and are as slow as he, you sprint and it looks like ambling. And when you actually reach a canter that's when you look like your sprinting. the times he looks like he is actually 'making effort'' is when he is at full tilt. And most players never run at full tilt all game more than few times.
I'm strangely attracted to these futile efforts... I give people too much credit, maybe... or maybe I just like the image of my own text.
No, they haven't.
And footballer in not admitting to the press that he thinks he's going to fail shocker!!!!"21
Fair enough!
I gave them my best...............it's just not enough for some people.
Considering he gets chances when in the box, maybe he can learn from that that if he gets into the box more, he'll get more chances
Wtf are you on about?
Have you noticed that the thread was started 4 months ago?
Read the 2nd post. He had it sussed.
I can not believe there's still people trying to defend him. The best we can do is sell him in the summer.
In 4 months, after saying he would improve, he has shown no improvement, hasn't stepped up, hasn't increased his effort. That's why this thread remains alive and well.
He does the same for Bulgaria, when their midfield is struggling to get the ball forward he drops off instead of becoming isolated.
But he didn't say that at all though did he. It's just the usual inacurrate journo headline .
If they needed a goal at 0-0 and he was the only striker in the team amd they'd be knocked out of World Cup qualifying if they didn't score, then he'd be in the fecking box.
How many times did he get into the box?Considering he gets chances when in the box, maybe he can learn from that that if he gets into the box more, he'll get more chances
I've explained it in absolute detail, but once more for your benefit:
He's criticised at every turn for things like following Ferguson's orders, for not stepping up like he said he would in the papers, for not running as much as you'd like even though that's not how he functions best, for being bought for 30 million pounds, for appearing to not "want" it enough (which I find ludicrous... if he's strolling through the Premiership doing a decent job, how fecking good would he be if he applied himself?!?!?
which I believe is the wrong way to look at it) etc. It may be right that his style doesn't suit United... that he gets less time on the ball as a United player and that it overwhelms him more than it should in order for us to get what we want from him... but it doesn't make him absolute gash like some people would have me think.
People can slight players all they want, so long as it's properly backed up, which it isn't in many cases on here People are also not giving him the credit that he actually IS due, and they're laying several things that aren't his fault at his door step. That's just unfair, full stop.
It's hardly an inaccurate summation of what he did say though is it?
Bullshit. There is nothing delicate about it at all. It's matter of the right tactics, formation being chosen. & fans using their heads for a change too.
Anyone expecting him to pull up trees in front of a midfield as static and as deep as Giggs and Scholes were today really needs their heads examined.
Berba makes Zlatan look like Usain Bolt.
And while many will say that Zlatan doesn't work enough (which is true) you look at Zlatans finishing and his ability to pull something out of the hat to win games and to me he's far ahead of Berba as a STRIKER.
As footballers both have lovely skills, but as a fecking striker i'd rather have a lazy cnut who hangs around 20 yard from goal because at least he'll scores a few.
It's inaccurate. Just as most of the tabloid headlines are inaccurate.
Wtf are YOU on about? I said it's perfectly fair for a footballer to believe he's going to show his worth over the course of the season. How long ago the interview was conducted and the thread was started has nothing to do with his statements at the time?
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