Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances

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pocco said:
He doesn't offer enough in attack to warrant playing ahead of the midfield.
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We have better player vying for the number 10 spot but he definitely offers something in attack. At least he has the potential to.

When he was at Watford he was scoring 1 in 3. That dropped to 1 in 4 at Wigan but it's much harder scoring for a team that's struggling. Those are decent goal-scoring stats for a central midfielder and his link-up play has occasionally looked very good for United. He's got a particularly good understanding with Welbeck.

Think back to the way he turned the game against City in the charity shield and you can see what he might offer as someone linking midfield with attack.

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Are you guys serious? For months all people wanted on here was us to sign Fellaini as an improvement over Cleverley. And now you'd prefer to see Cleverley play instead of him?
 
Ekeke said:
Are you guys serious? For months all people wanted on here was us to sign Fellaini as an improvement over Cleverley. And now you'd prefer to see Cleverley play instead of him?
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A lot of the Fellaini excitment was purely down to him being one of the only signings (turned out the only). I think it was just the excitement of finally adding to the middle of the park. In terms of ability, you won't find many who will rate Fellaini ahead of Cleverley.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
A lot of the Fellaini excitment was purely down to him being one of the only signings (turned out the only). I think it was just the excitement of finally adding to the middle of the park. In terms of ability, you won't find many who will rate Fellaini ahead of Cleverley.
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I mean before we signed him. The majority of people were touting him to sort out most of our midfield issues and him being worth his £23 million buyout

Cleverley is clearly not worth something like that.
 
Ekeke said:
I mean before we signed him. The majority of people were touting him to sort out most of our midfield issues and him being worth his £23 million buyout

Cleverley is clearly not worth something like that.
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It was just excitement. We had to look for positives in what was a tough window.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
A lot of the Fellaini excitment was purely down to him being one of the only signings (turned out the only). I think it was just the excitement of finally adding to the middle of the park. In terms of ability, you won't find many who will rate Fellaini ahead of Cleverley.
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I think you'll find a lot. Especially if you ignore the knee-jerk Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime for whom every player is only as good as his last game.

They're both young for CMs, Cleverley's an interesting player whose development has stalled a little bit over the last year. He could still become a very good player for us. Fellaini is a more experienced and accomplished player but I'd imagine - just like Cleverley - Moyes will be expecting him to train on a bit before he can become the sort of really top class midfielder we need.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I think you'll find a lot. Especially if you ignore the knee-jerk Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime for whom every player is only as good as his last game.

They're both young for CMs, Cleverley's an interesting player whose development has stalled a little bit over the last year. He could still become a very good player for us. Fellaini is a more experienced and accomplished player but I'd imagine - just like Cleverley - Moyes will be expecting him to train on a bit before he can become the sort of really top class midfielder we need.
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I'm sure there are, I should have expanded more and said in terms of ability on the ball. Fellaini obviously has a lot of attributes which make him a good footballer but Cleverley is a very good passer of the ball, a good technique and reads the game well better than Fellaini in my opinion.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
It was just excitement. We had to look for positives in what was a tough window.
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I dont think thats true at all. Lots of people were talking about him before the window even opened, having been impressed by him last season though very significantly he was playing just off the striker.

It seems a lot more like those who were claiming he'd be a top DM next to Carrick were either wrong (too early to say, but he wasnt at Everton so it was an outlandish expectation) and/or have reacted a bit too quickly to his bad performance against Liverpool. And now he's gone from being a "great signing who improves on Cleverley and is a top DM to sit and let Carrick get forward a bit more" to someone people would rather see Cleverley start instead of.

Given his poor performance at the weekend, I'd be happy to see Cleverley get a game. But Cleverley is not a better player and that was a one off from Fellaini, but did show some of his limitations.
 
Ekeke said:
I dont think thats true at all. Lots of people were talking about him before the window even opened, having been impressed by him last season though very significantly he was playing just off the striker.
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He was talked about since the day Moyes was announced. It's the reason he is at the club. If Mourinho took over, Fellaini wouldn't be a United player.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
He was talked about since the day Moyes was announced. It's the reason he is at the club. If Mourinho took over, Fellaini wouldn't be a United player.
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You can't know that. Plus, it's not like Mourinho has a record of buying Spanish mystro's in central midfield himself. Mikel is still at Chelsea ffs.
 
Shark22 said:
You can't know that. Plus, it's not like Mourinho has a record of buying Spanish mystro's in central midfield himself. Mikel is still at Chelsea ffs.
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Of course, who knows, anything could have happened. But the links started as soon as Moyes took over. Baines and Fellaini, I think there may have been a link there.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
I'm sure there are, I should have expanded more and said in terms of ability on the ball. Fellaini obviously has a lot of attributes which make him a good footballer but Cleverley is a very good passer of the ball, a good technique and reads the game well better than Fellaini in my opinion.
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Cleverley is best in a 3 so he can roam around, in a 2 he can be too indisciplined and get pulled out of position too easily trying to close down the ball.
 
Ekeke said:
I dont think thats true at all. Lots of people were talking about him before the window even opened, having been impressed by him last season though very significantly he was playing just off the striker.

It seems a lot more like those who were claiming he'd be a top DM next to Carrick were either wrong (too early to say, but he wasnt at Everton so it was an outlandish expectation) and/or have reacted a bit too quickly to his bad performance against Liverpool. And now he's gone from being a "great signing who improves on Cleverley and is a top DM to sit and let Carrick get forward a bit more" to someone people would rather see Cleverley start instead of.

Given his poor performance at the weekend, I'd be happy to see Cleverley get a game. But Cleverley is not a better player and that was a one off from Fellaini, but did show some of his limitations.
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When Fellaini first got talked about as a potential target for the top teams it was when he was paying as a DM before getting moved forward to a more advanced role when Everton had a striking crisis. It's far too early for anyone to make sweeping judgements (although many on here love to) about his role. He's only started 2 games and had no preseason to bed in to the team.
 
The gif Pogue posted is such a cock tease. Cleverley, Welbeck, Rooney, Nani, Kagawa and RVP is such a tasty prospect going forward. I really don't understand why we haven't seen more of it. Or combinations involving those players.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
Of course, who knows, anything could have happened. But the links started as soon as Moyes took over. Baines and Fellaini, I think there may have been a link there.
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Eric'sCollar said:
He was talked about since the day Moyes was announced. It's the reason he is at the club. If Mourinho took over, Fellaini wouldn't be a United player.
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People on here were talking about Fellaini before Sir Alex left. And we've been linked with Baines for more than one summer
 
Ekeke said:
People on here were talking about Fellaini before Sir Alex left. And we've been linked with Baines for more than one summer
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Linked and having official negotiations resulting in signing one and coming very close to signing the other are different things. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with Fellaini, I just feel Cleverley is better on the ball.
 
I expected him to start tonight, but he wasn't even on the bench. Was he injured, or Moyes maybe wants to save him for our next two games?
 
Amar__ said:
I expected him to start tonight, but he wasn't even on the bench. Was he injured, or Moyes maybe wants to save him for our next two games?
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Moyes said he picked up an injury in training. Disappointing. I hope its not serious. I thought he played really well against City and hoped he would force his way back into the starting XI in the coming games.
 
Shame, I hope it's nothing too serious, would like him to start against Shaktar.
 
Shame he picked up an injury. Have we been told at all how long he is likely to be out for?
 
Cleverly will be the key if we want to play pass and move football, but we never did so signing of Fellaini may suit us more
 
Pogue Mahone said:
We have better player vying for the number 10 spot but he definitely offers something in attack. At least he has the potential to.

When he was at Watford he was scoring 1 in 3. That dropped to 1 in 4 at Wigan but it's much harder scoring for a team that's struggling. Those are decent goal-scoring stats for a central midfielder and his link-up play has occasionally looked very good for United. He's got a particularly good understanding with Welbeck.

Think back to the way he turned the game against City in the charity shield and you can see what he might offer as someone linking midfield with attack.

25soeo3.jpg.gif
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Still one of my favorite United goals of the past 5 years or so.
 
I reckon we missed him today. He keeps things ticking along very well, something that Anderson can't do. Fellaini could possibly do it, but its hard to know since every time we got the ball he positioned himself up top beside Van Persie and Rooney.
 
Think we are beginning to see what he brings to the team. Flashy he might not be but he's very effective and always been very good in all the big games we've played
 
Baffling. Was good when he came on last week. Yet hasn't played last two games.
 
Of course we missed him, because he's a valuable part of the first team. Sadly it's taken the signing of Fellaini to see that. I find it staggering that people don't rate him. We shouldn't have to start losing easy games at home to see that he's a good player.
 
BD94 said:
I reckon we missed him today. He keeps things ticking along very well, something that Anderson can't do. Fellaini could possibly do it, but its hard to know since every time we got the ball he positioned himself up top beside Van Persie and Rooney.
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akash02 said:
Think we are beginning to see what he brings to the team. Flashy he might not be but he's very effective and always been very good in all the big games we've played
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I'm a big Cleverley fan but I wouldn't say we've missed the Cleverley that we've seen for some time now. He's become a bit of a sideways passing player and doesn't influence the game at all. But the Cleverley we saw play against City, that was the Cleverley that we need in this team and can make a difference. Not just looking for a simple sideways pass, but actually try to unlock the defence and pass the ball forwards and I hope he really kicks on from there and tries to take control of the game because I think he can be our catalyst.
 
MoneyMay said:
Injured.
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Can you make a video of all the shit things Buttner does please so that when people say they can't understand the abuse he gets we have the evidence to give to them.
 
Genius Me! said:
I'm a big Cleverley fan but I wouldn't say we've missed the Cleverley that we've seen for some time now. He's become a bit of a sideways passing player and doesn't influence the game at all. But the Cleverley we saw play against City, that was the Cleverley that we need in this team and can make a difference. Not just looking for a simple sideways pass, but actually try to unlock the defence and pass the ball forwards and I hope he really kicks on from there and tries to take control of the game because I think he can be our catalyst.
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I don't mind if he can't unlock defenses, we have other players that can do that. We just need a solid midfield two that will allow those creative players to create chances and I think Cleverley does provide that.
 
akash02 said:
I don't mind if he can't unlock defenses, we have other players that can do that. We just need a solid midfield two that will allow those creative players to create chances and I think Cleverley does provide that.
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Yeah but I don't want to keep seeing him just play it safe and not take it forward when he has the ability to do that. It's like what Keane said to Rio in their first training match, we're manchester united so you need to make better passes than a simple 5 yard pass.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect him to be driving the ball forward all the time but he needs to be more confident in his own ability like he was last week to be able to make forward passes.
MoneyMay said:
Anything for you. I'll make it later on. :)
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:lol: cheers.
 
Hope Cleverley is back for the next game. There is a certain lethargy to our play when he isn't in the team. We miss his passing and moving and tempo in midfield.
 
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