Tom Cleverley | 2011/12 Performances

[Rado_N]

Giggsy as the perfect example is a nice comment. I love to hear young players admire and crave the careers of the likes of Scholes and Giggs.

He meant his 'playa' lifestyle, he wants loads of women.

 

[KM]

Tom Cleverley used his injury-enforced layoff during the 2011/12 season to improve other facets of his game.

After a storming start to the season, an ankle injury sustained at Bolton in September - and subsequently aggravated the following month at Everton - ruled the 22-year-old out for the majority of the campaign.

Rather than allow himself to mope, however, Cleverley adopted a proactive approach to his return to action.

"The first couple of weeks was just basically resting and staying off my feet," he told Fight to the Finish, the club's official diary of the 2011/12 season.

"That helped massively. Then I got back into the gym from then for about two months and worked massively hard with [physiotherapist] Neil Hough, [head physiotherapist] Rob Swire, the doc [Doctor Steve McNally] and the hard work paid off. I definitely filled out a bit.

"When you’re not on the pitch you can work on other areas. I did work with video analysis, I worked hard with [strength and conditioning coach] Gary Walker in the gym on my upper body, and I did vision work too.

"It’s a fantastic training ground because you can work hard on all aspects of your game when you’re injured. Everything I could work on, I worked on. I’ve done everything I can while I’ve been out."

Cleverley's ankle injury, sustained under a poor challenge from Kevin Davies, was the latest in a lengthy line of sizeable setbacks for the midfielder, who has also suffered a broken leg, dislocated shoulder and knee ligament damage in his fledgling career.

Nevertheless, Cleverley stresses that he has been the victim of circumstance rather than a natural susceptibility to injury, and he is hopeful that his misfortunes are now behind him.

"I’d hate to be getting the injury-prone tag," said the midfielder, "because the injuries I’ve had have all been contact, impact or reckless tackles. It’s not like I’m picking up hamstring injuries or thigh injuries all the time.

"Hopefully I’m getting all the bad luck out at the start of my career and I can go on to play as long as Giggsy; he’s the perfect example."

Nice interview, excited to see how he performs next season. Good attitude as well.

 

[#07]

It's a good point about the nature/location of his injuries. Pure bad luck really.

I think more the case that young skilful players like Cleverley tend to get targeted. The likes of Kevin Davies see what he's capable of and take it upon themselves to kick him out of the game. Its fortunate for us that Cleverley's English cos it meant he was on our radar as a kid but for him, maybe, it would've been better to have been born on the continent where your short, skinny playmaker types get more protection. The kind of challenges Cleverley has faced during his loan spells in the lower divisions in England would be regarded as X-rated in Spain. Its impossible to prove but I'm pretty sure had Cleverley been playing on the continent he would never have had to face the tackle from behind that effectively ended his season this year (as he never fully recovered from it and that led to recurrences). The referees over there just don't allow that whereas here our referees just give your Kevin Davies' a talking to and allow him to go on playing the hardman by targeting the next smallest player on the field, Patrice Evra, and doing nothing after persistent attempts to take him out too...

 

[thegregster]

I think more the case that young skilful players like Cleverley tend to get targeted. The likes of Kevin Davies see what he's capable of and take it upon themselves to kick him out of the game. Its fortunate for us that Cleverley's English cos it meant he was on our radar as a kid but for him, maybe, it would've been better to have been born on the continent where your short, skinny playmaker types get more protection. The kind of challenges Cleverley has faced during his loan spells in the lower divisions in England would be regarded as X-rated in Spain. Its impossible to prove but I'm pretty sure had Cleverley been playing on the continent he would never have had to face the tackle from behind that effectively ended his season this year (as he never fully recovered from it and that led to recurrences). The referees over there just don't allow that whereas here our referees just give your Kevin Davies' a talking to and allow him to go on playing the hardman by targeting the next smallest player on the field, Patrice Evra, and doing nothing after persistent attempts to take him out too...

Then the six fingered banjo playing Bolton brigade wonder why the England team lack so much in terms of guile.

 

[davisjw]

I just love the idea of being a footballer and magically getting injured and told by the gaffer to put my feet up and relax for months while getting paid millions to now watch videos.