Tom Cleverley | 2011/12 Performances

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I think this highlights some of my thoughts on him. The pass to Welbeck, and the clip over the top for Young, are excellent examples of the through balls you say he can't play. And the first time pass for Rooney in the first half takes the entire midfield out of the game, setting up a 3-v-3.

Also, his one-two with Hernandez takes out an entire backfour.

I find him to be a very creative player, who as an added bonus does his fair share of defensive work in a midfield two.
 
Sultan said:
If you can't pass, or be creative in the middle, what's the point of a midfielder?
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To provide a solid base to allow the more creative players a bit more freedom going forward? Maradona wouldn't have won anything in '86 without someone like Batista in my view, for example.
 
Cina said:
He's about as creative as a potato.
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What?
Potato wedges, curly fries, thin cut french fries, thick cut oven chips, mashed potatoe, potatoe salad, sweet potatoe, boiled potatoe, baked potatoe, jacket potatoe, potatoe omelette.
Get your facts right.
 
I think claiming he's as creative as a potato speaks for itself.

It's clearly not the case, you'd think he's Claude Makelele or something.
 
Leroy The Red said:
What?
Potato wedges, curly fries, thin cut french fries, thick cut oven chips, mashed potatoe, potatoe salad, sweet potatoe, boiled potatoe, baked potatoe, jacket potatoe, potatoe omelette.
Get your facts right.
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:lol:

Fair play.

marjen said:
I think claiming he's as creative as a potato speaks for itself.
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Ah c'mon, that was clearly meant as a bit of a joke. I remember someone said it about a player before and I thought it was good.
 
Cina said:
:lol:

Fair play.



Ah c'mon, that was clearly meant as a bit of a joke. I remember someone said it about a player before and I thought it was good.
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To be fair, mine was half jokingly as well - only I couldn't come up with a footballer with more resemblance to a potato than Claude.

Now I can though, Lassana Diarra - although some will claim he resembles a dolphin more than he does a potato.

Either way, I'm clearly racist.
 
It's evident from his early season displays the only thing missing was goals. Hopefully those will come too and we'll finally have some much needed goals from central midfield. He's definitely capable as well, scored a fair few for Wigan.
 
Anderson8 said:
It's evident from his early season displays the only thing missing was goals. Hopefully those will come too and we'll finally have some much needed goals from central midfield. He's definitely capable as well, scored a fair few for Wigan.
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"Fair few" = 4 :)

But yeah he's capable, any excuse....

 
Leroy The Red said:
What?
Potato wedges, curly fries, thin cut french fries, thick cut oven chips, mashed potatoe, potatoe salad, sweet potatoe, boiled potatoe, baked potatoe, jacket potatoe, potatoe omelette.
Get your facts right.
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Speaking of football brains and intelligence as we have been of late, Cleverley has those in spades, as you'd expect with his name.

That vid above, he doesn't do anything brilliant, but I love the way when he gets the ball he knows exactly where people are and what he should do, the way he moves the ball and his body to pre-empt the player closing him and shut off/open up space. Cracking football brain, feck you Sharkey you bellend.
 
Brwned said:
To provide a solid base to allow the more creative players a bit more freedom going forward? Maradona wouldn't have won anything in '86 without someone like Batista in my view, for example.
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They're just failed defenders/midfielders. ;)

Much like traffic wardens who failed to make the grade as policemen.
 
Plechazunga said:
Speaking of football brains and intelligence as we have been of late, Cleverley has those in spades, as you'd expect with his name.

That vid above, he doesn't do anything brilliant, but I love the way when he gets the ball he knows exactly where people are and what he should do, the way he moves the ball and his body to pre-empt the player closing him and shut off/open up space. Cracking football brain, feck you Sharkey you bellend.
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This is exactly what I loved about him in the early part of the season. I can't remember him doing anything amazing, but he always seems to have made his mind up what to do with the ball before he's actually received it, while a lot of other midfielders often receive the ball and then look up. It allows him to take the ball and use it in tight areas when another player would back off or hesitate.

I remember someone pointing out to me that this was a big difference between how England and a lot of the supposedly average teams who slaughter England's midfield play. It's a lot easier to play the simple and effective pass when you do the ground work before the ball's at your feet, and most English midfielders don't, so end up being very static in possession. Might be bollocks but it made sense to me.
 
noodlehair said:
This is exactly what I loved about him in the early part of the season. I can't remember him doing anything amazing, but he always seems to have made his mind up what to do with the ball before he's actually received it, while a lot of other midfielders often receive the ball and then look up. It allows him to take the ball and use it in tight areas when another player would back off or hesitate.

I remember someone pointing out to me that this was a big difference between how England and a lot of the supposedly average teams who slaughter England's midfield play. It's a lot easier to play the simple and effective pass when you do the ground work before the ball's at your feet, and most English midfielders don't, so end up being very static in possession. Might be bollocks but it made sense to me.
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Look up, then turn towards your own goal. Hargreaves being the perfect example.
 
Plechazunga said:
Speaking of football brains and intelligence as we have been of late, Cleverley has those in spades, as you'd expect with his name.

That vid above, he doesn't do anything brilliant, but I love the way when he gets the ball he knows exactly where people are and what he should do, the way he moves the ball and his body to pre-empt the player closing him and shut off/open up space. Cracking football brain, feck you Sharkey you bellend.
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Yup. He just does the right things consistantly.

There are a couple of very good passes in that vid though. The one to Welbeck is great, so is the one over the top for Young. And I love his drive and his quick bursts of pace and changes of direction.
 
Anderson8 said:
It's evident from his early season displays the only thing missing was goals. Hopefully those will come too and we'll finally have some much needed goals from central midfield. He's definitely capable as well, scored a fair few for Wigan.
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He was getting into good positions but then he'd lose his composure a little bit and mess up, the one-on-one against Arsenal is a good example of that.

I think that when he gets the first goal his confidence will grow and more will follow.
 
Early in the season he was playing next to Anderson, a player who tries to create things but often gives the ball away. I believe this is why Cleverley took on more of a retaining passer role than trying to be the creative hub of the team. Simply because it was needed and perhaps Anderson couldnt play that way. We'll have to see how he does playing next to another partner regularly, maybe someone like Carrick who can do more defensive and retaining work himself and perhaps that would encourage Cleverley.
 
Maybe, depending on how it goes. He's had about 30 minutes of football since October and the reserve match tonight is off so he can't play in that.
 
Hopefully it won't take him to long to find his form. I know everyone says we shouldn't be overly reliant on the lad but when he was playing earlier this season we all forgot about the midfield problem. I love this lad, he's an incredible player. I'm also looking forward to seing him and Wilshire playing for England. I'm still incredibly pissed at Davies for taking this lad off the field from us for the last 5 months.
 
Edmeiste said:
imagine where we'd be gambit if that shit didn happen
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I believe we would still be in Champions league and 6 points clear at the top.
For me I've not seen United play with such quick passing and closing in the midfield since the late 90's. Injuries this year have been unreal that I defy anyone to find any other team in the world that would have coped. We are fecking ace. I just hope now that we can finish the season at pretty much full strength and build some real momentum.
 
gambit28 said:
I believe we would still be in Champions league and 6 points clear at the top.
For me I've not seen United play with such quick passing and closing in the midfield since the late 90's. Injuries this year have been unreal that I defy anyone to find any other team in the world that would have coped. We are fecking ace. I just hope now that we can finish the season at pretty much full strength and build some real momentum.
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i foresee a Cleverlick partnership in the near future :smirk:
 
Well, he will at least inject some enthusiasm and energy into our team at a much needed time.

I do think his impact was overrated during the first few games, but we need that kind of player in midfield. It will help us get on the frontfoot over 90 minutes in a game, as opposed to controlling 60 mins then fading when Scholes/Giggs starts in CM.
 
marjen said:
Well, he will at least inject some enthusiasm and energy into our team at a much needed time.

I do think his impact was overrated during the first few games, but we need that kind of player in midfield. It will help us get on the frontfoot over 90 minutes in a game, as opposed to controlling 60 mins then fading when Scholes/Giggs starts in CM.
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If he gets an extended run when he returns, how he fares then will show whether or not he was overrated (high praise too soon) at the beginning of the season
 
Edmeiste said:
add in welbeck, nani, and valencia and you've got one hell of a front line
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Yep, with a signing at CM looking very likely in the summer, if cleverley keeps up his good form, ando would be under more pressure than ever to step it up a notch.
 
It's mildly amusing that while a number of posters were calling the hype over Cleverley's early performances silly and trying to play down his impact on the team, Fergie came out and stated that he hadn't seen that kind of impact by a young player on the club for a long time.
 
I actually think Fergie won't buy a CM this summer either.

If Cleverley can prove his early season form was just not a blast, with Scholes back with Pogba lurking around, Fergie just might drive the Caf's transfer Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime crazy again.

Who can he actually buy? I can't think of anybody. Not that I know anything outside of Premier League.
 
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