I was intrigued so just worked my way through our PL fixtures for last season. The most any 11 started together in the PL was a whopping twice, and even that only happened with 4 different 11s. Meaning we fielded 30 different line ups in 38 games.
Sander Berge | Signs for Fulham
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran are here to talk about a frustrating 2 points dropped at Crystal Palace. They then discuss the regeneration of Old Trafford. Finally, Nik is joined by special guest Michael Statham from the Football Oranje podcast - who gives us a more in depth look at our EL opposition FC Twente, and then runs through the (many) Dutch connections currently at United.
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Opposition fans don't have a clue. I wish McTominay was the Roy Keane they make him out to be. At least Berge can actually play as the deepest midfielder.
I can't take us seriously anymore.
How are people trying to dress this up as not a terrible idea?
We'd be better off suffering and keeping the money for when someone good enough becomes available rather than spending it on someone who might be ok in the championship and leaving ourselves unable to then sign anyone else.
Absloutely batsh*t crazy that its even being thought about.
How are people trying to dress this up as not a terrible idea?
We'd be better off suffering and keeping the money for when someone good enough becomes available rather than spending it on someone who might be ok in the championship and leaving ourselves unable to then sign anyone else.
Absloutely batsh*t crazy that its even being thought about.
The gutter press seems convinced that this is happening and it's Ashworth who is pushing this. Crazy!
I can't take us seriously anymore.
How are people trying to dress this up as not a terrible idea?
We'd be better off suffering and keeping the money for when someone good enough becomes available rather than spending it on someone who might be ok in the championship and leaving ourselves unable to then sign anyone else.
Absloutely batsh*t crazy that its even being thought about.
Agreed. People are deluding themselves massively here.
If he was that much better than McSauce he wouldn’t of been at 2 back to back relegation sides, and he’d of been picked up by a better side by now.
McTominay if he left wouldn’t be at a side wholl get relegated.
And people here seem to be doing the same thing by overrating Berge based on a few youtube videos. Mctominay would probably walk into most bottom half PL teams and be one of their best players, just like Berge was for Sheffield and Burnley.
How was Wijnaldum a clearly established player when his first season in the prem saw him getting relegated with Newcastle?
It's not even about how good or not Mctominay is either. It's about how good we want to be and who we're competing with.
If we don't have enough money for Ugarte then we definitely should not be wasting it on signing relegated players, unless they're some young prodigee with blatantly obvious talent/potential.
Evans is an example of the best possible outcome for something like this. A likeable player who wouldn't get near the starting line up of any of our rivals under any circumstance at all. And then half way through the season we'll be baffled why we're in 10th place
I can't take us seriously anymore.
How are people trying to dress this up as not a terrible idea?
We'd be better off suffering and keeping the money for when someone good enough becomes available rather than spending it on someone who might be ok in the championship and leaving ourselves unable to then sign anyone else.
Absloutely batsh*t crazy that its even being thought about.
Yep. It’s like when people tried to kid themselves that Weghorst was a decent signing. “Oh, he had a 1 in 2 record in Germany” “look at what was around him at Burnley” etc. Nah, he’s just shite.
Weghorst did exactly what he was supposed to do. Facilitate Rashford and Bruno. It was a decent signing.
Players in teams who are relegated can still gain plaudits to be fair, I do remember quite a lot of praise for Wijnaldum before Liverpool signed him.
Were they? I think we’ve spent decent amounts of money on a lot of them which would mean they weren’t exactly low risk.
I’m all for it if the price is right. He’s mobile, tall, strong and technically good. That alone would be a big upgrade for us in the DM position.
At least that kind of made sense as a stop gap/loan signing when we literally had no one else.
Or, at least, it didn't create a big hole in our transfer budget that would prevent us signing someone else. So didn't actively damage us moving forwards.
This just seems almost purposely destructive
Wrong. Newcastle fans were berating him and called him frustrating. He disappears a lot etc. Liverpool fans were baffled when they signed him.
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Mind telling us why exactly you think this is a terrible idea ? Other than the fact that he plays for Burnley ofcourse.I can't take us seriously anymore.
How are people trying to dress this up as not a terrible idea?
We'd be better off suffering and keeping the money for when someone good enough becomes available rather than spending it on someone who might be ok in the championship and leaving ourselves unable to then sign anyone else.
Absloutely batsh*t crazy that its even being thought about.
Reading a Burnley thread from January and the praise doesn't seem that high. He's called out as languid, lacking agility, loses possession too easily and was directly at fault for a few goals. Others praising him too, as with most forums there's a split hence his player of the season award.
Hopefully he just takes his chance but I think I'd rather just try Collyer.
Hopefully he just takes his chance but I think I'd rather just try Collyer.
Thanks, I didn't know that. That is what we are looking for so it does make sense.Eh... Berge has the best retention statistics of any no.6 in all of Europe's Top Five Leagues.
THE BEST.
He is literally number one in Europe at doing the job we are looking to fulfil.
We aren't looking for a flair playmaker like Luca Modric. Or a a swift No.8 like Pirlo. Or a an adaptable midfielder like Paul Scholes. We are looking for a player with a very specific set of attributes. "Win the ball back. Recycle it." There is nobody better in Europe at that, according to the metrics, than Berge. Are Pirlo and Modric and Scholes all better individual footballers than Berge? Absolutely. Would they do a batter job than Berge at winning possession back and recyling it? No.
That's very simple. And bvery basic football understanding. Horses for courses.
We used to win league titles with Darren Fletcher playing this role for us... Was Darren Fletcher better than Gerrard? Nope. Did he win a lot more than Gerrard? Yep.
Horses for courses. Football is not about getting the best eleven individuals into a team.
I can't believe I have to explain that to an adult.
The other fella saying we shouldn't be signing a player who's just been relegated.
I remember when Liverpool signed Jordan Henderson from Sunderland and most people laughed.
Ps, I remember how vital Fletcher was to our midfield when we had Ronaldo, he did all the dirty work that Ronaldo wouldn't do on his side of the pitch.
It's actually hilarious. Like 1/100 type stuff.
Wijnaldum was quality for PSV as well. He was playing well when we were linked to Depay.
This is a bit overly emotional. He'd be a decent squad addition, and we have no competent 6. We know he's not the level of Ugarte and above, but we are in a transitional period where we can't get fleeced, but also want to improve our squad.I can't take us seriously anymore.
How are people trying to dress this up as not a terrible idea?
We'd be better off suffering and keeping the money for when someone good enough becomes available rather than spending it on someone who might be ok in the championship and leaving ourselves unable to then sign anyone else.
Absloutely batsh*t crazy that its even being thought about.
I’m all for it.
Buying players from top clubs all the time is not sustainable, we have to improve players, that’s the key.
Buying players from top clubs all the time is not sustainable, we have to improve players, that’s the key.
He's only mobile for his height. A midfield with Berge in ETH's awful system will look just as exposed as Casemiro did. To be fair, there's not a midfielder anywhere who could rescue it.
But also you have to wonder how long Berge will stay mobile. The muscle injury we've seen the highest uptick of under ETH are hamstring injuries. And Berge has a long history of hamstring problems+surgery. So you dont need much imagination to predict another new signing potentially spending a season out.
Yea, not the inspirational signing we want but he’s the option if we can’t get good money for McT
Could raise our level a bit this season (Casemiro is just dire right now) and provide depth in the future if we go get a top midfielder next season
Let's see - I mean I'd probably go for the fact that 2 of his 3 seasons in the premier league have involved him getting relegated and in no way standing out as a player too good to be relegated.
No one in this thread genuinely thought he was anywhere near good enough to play for us until he got linked with us and they had to start pretending he was.
We aren't trying to not get relegated were trying to compete at the top of the league.
Also dismissing the opinion of Burnley fans saying he isn't good enough for us is really fecking dumb. They watch their team every week. They will know a lot more about him than anyone in this thread. They should be your go to source if anything.
Not heard of this channel before, but what the guy is saying makes sense. As a first phase of player he sounds like he could be a good fit as a squad player if we can get him cheap enough to replace McT
We are I the era of ffp where blowing money on someone who isn't good enough as some kind of stop gap will still hurt you in 2-3 years time.
This is what loan signings were invented for. Temporary solutions when you can't get exactly what you want and don't have money to waste on in-betweens
Aren't we currently in a pickle because we keep paying loads of money for sub standard players and then not being able to move them on? What do you think would be the most likely outcome of this signing?
He’s a striker, he’s supposed to score goals that’s his job and he was terrible at it. Bruno and Rashford didn’t have good seasons because of Weghorst, they had good seasons because they’re good players. Weghorst was literally just there as a body on the pitch because we didn’t have anyone else.
Still feel this is blowing things out of proportion. Sander Berge wouldn't feck up our FFP for rebuilding the squad, and we need to improve the floor as well as raise the ceiling.
The potential of De Ligt and Mazraoui raises our ceiling, as does Yorro. Zirkzee and Berge at the very least will raise our floor. Ideally we want a 6 in Ugarte but we rightly won't be fleeced for him. It's not a very winnable position, but Berge isn't a terrible option.
What Burnley fans are saying this? They pretty much unanimously consider Berge to be by far their best player. Everything is suggesting that Ashworth is pushing for Berge and I trust his judgement far more than most.
Watched this guy a lot when he played for the Blades, he is very good technically, he was Sheffield Uniteds most consistent player and in my opinion would be a good addition.
So, a lot of negativity simply because he was part of a relegated team. However, this criticism doesn't consider the player himself. It's unfair to judge his ability solely based on the opinions of opposing fans. Historically, many players from relegated teams have gone on to make significant contributions at other teams. Examples of this were also provided right here in this thread. And it's not like no.6 is a position where players stand out.
Looking into the stats, his performance doesn't appear worse than that of Zubimendi, who many people are fawning over. In fact, Berge managed to post similar stats while playing for a less dominant team. I’ve already posted this comparison, yet no one has any interest in addressing it. It seems that some people are more focused on complaining about the player's association with a relegated team rather than assessing his individual quality and considering whether or why he might not fit into our squad.
People have been asking what our recruitment team does for years and for once they suggest multiple different alternatives who appear to improve our midfield options yet this is the reaction here.
There is no such thing as improving the floor. If you aim to make yourself better at not being good enough then guess what happens?
If we spend say £30m on him, or even half that. This is money we then can't use to fund other transfers. We already know we can't sign players we want because we can't raise funds/sell thr ones we have. So to suggest this wouldn't severely impact that is simply false.
We don't have to pretend every crazy thing the club does is a good idea just because it's a new set up, and again, not one person in this thread this time last week would be arguing that signing a midfielder from Burnley who doesn't stand out in their team, was in any way not a bad idea.
Just ignoring the opinion of Burnley fans and Norweigans? Who are not opposition fans, they're the fans of the teams he plays for. And I'm yet to see a single one who rates him as a top four Prem calibre player.
The only people who seem to rate him in this thread have never seen him play beyond youtube and twitter montages.
It’s always a great sign when people on the Caf don’t rate the player 
So, just out of curiously, how many matches have to seen him play?
Not really seen much of him.
I'm blindly hoping he might excel by playing with better players than those at Burnley & Norway.
I'm blindly hoping he might excel by playing with better players than those at Burnley & Norway.
People forget that we did this bit; buying from top clubs, getting fleeced and being left holding their toxic contracts watching them struggle on the pitch and dragging us down with them. Casemiro is literally doing this to us right now, we are still paying Madrid for him and yet we desperately need to replace him two seasons in.
Berge has interesting attributes - can win the ball, carry it and pass it a bit. To avoid the risk of watching Casemiro lunge into tackles and then jog in the wake of another opposing midfielder I'd rather we just try something else if we can't afford our first choice.
I’ve seen mixed feelings about him. Could be one of them where he excels in a better team like you said. I seen before that he can do a job at DM really good. He could be the type of profile we need. Him being at Burnley is probably what puts people off and he’s not a big name.
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