Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances

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rpitroda said:
Think this is still a push =P. For me though, he has the technical attributes - he has shown it before. He really looks out of form with no confidence right now. I'm hoping he can kick on though as the season grows.

I still remember his first season with us; people, myself included, really thought he could become a regular for club and country.
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Yeah I'm not one of those suggesting we should sell him or anything stupid. We have seen him play better than he currently is.
 
Terribly out or confidence like a certain mr Ramsey last year. Lets hope Tom can turn it around and soon.
 
At the moment I just cringe when he is in the lineup. Sure it's a confidence thing but, he is getting ample opportunity and doesn't seem to be taking it at all.

My biggest frustration with him is how often I see opposing team's midfielders run beyond him and he just seems to jog back. Regardless of form, heck especially when you are in poor form, one thing a player can always do is just put a lot more effort in. Getting back defensively, showing more for the ball more and generally just being a lot more active. That will certainly get the fans on his side which should help with his confidence.

At this stage, hopefully Tom realizes that for him to really stake a claim to a continued future here, he needs to start being more of creator in midfield for us and not just someone that passes the ball to the nearest United player regardless if that player is going to be put under pressure and likely to lose the ball.

He's got the technical ability IMO to become better - just not showing the balls for whatever reason to try and do more.
 
He looks like someone who is low on confidence in my opinion. He wasn't poor on Sunday but he didn't really influence the game in the way you want him to. Yes, he keeps things ticking over to a certain extent but he is capable of more than that for me. I don't think we are quite getting the best out of him by playing him in the role we are. I think he would be twice the player in a three man midfield, as someone above pointed out. I'd love to see really grab a game by the scruff of the neck and dominate it, and he is capable of it for me. As it is, he is looking average at best at the minute.

Still, he's got time on his side and as I say, he does have potential. I thought he grew into the game against Spurs but we'll see. Again, I think he has more about him that what we have seen so far this season.
 
There's an article in the Dailymail about our Tom. The comments are worst than they are here my personal favourite

'The sideways kid. Once a game he passes forward, an absolute joke of a player who wouldn't get anywhere near an England squad if he wasn't playing for the rags'
 
JaffyJoe said:
There's an article in the Dailymail about our Tom. The comments are worst than they are here my personal favourite

'The sideways kid. Once a game he passes forward, an absolute joke of a player who wouldn't get anywhere near an England squad if he wasn't playing for the rags'
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Can't really argue with that quote, and him not being near playing for England if he didn't play for us is true as well. Not that England are stocked with good midfielders, but he's just not very good.
 
Amazing how opinions change so quickly. One more bad performance people will be putting him below Ashely Young. Yes, he has been poor but I think he deserves our backing.
 
I watched the game again and watched him closely and the same thing as last time I did this, he simply wasnt anywhere near as bad as being claimed. This to me feels like a case of people jumping on the band wagon. He wasnt outstanding but in no way was he anywhere near as bad as so many seem to be claiming. Its quite bizzare at the moment whats being said.
 
Stack said:
I watched the game again and watched him closely and the same thing as last time I did this, he simply wasnt anywhere near as bad as being claimed. This to me feels like a case of people jumping on the band wagon. He wasnt outstanding but in no way was he anywhere near as bad as so many seem to be claiming. Its quite bizzare at the moment whats being said.
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I have to agree mate.He isn't as bad as some people are saying, but he has'nt progressed as everyone had hoped, and I am sure he'll feel the same way privately, that he needs to do more, have more self belief in his ability! He's a good squad player that I would not want to leave.Right now I think he'd benefit if the other midfielders at the club were better, or playing at a higher level.
 
Stack said:
I watched the game again and watched him closely and the same thing as last time I did this, he simply wasnt anywhere near as bad as being claimed. This to me feels like a case of people jumping on the band wagon. He wasnt outstanding but in no way was he anywhere near as bad as so many seem to be claiming. Its quite bizzare at the moment whats being said.
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He wasn't too bad but didn't really do anything either. It's like this most games with him, he 'plays' in our midfield, but he does nothing but keep the ball moving. He never runs with it, never does forward passes, hardly ever opens himself up to receive short passes from defenders like Scholes did throughout his career, and he isn't very good defensively. He doesn't really do anything wrong most games, apart from stray passes every now and then, but he doesn't really do anything right either.
 
He was shit. Ignoring the fact that I can't remember one half-ambitious pass, his defending for Sandro's goal was abysmal.
 
Shane88 said:
He was shit. Ignoring the fact that I can't remember one half-ambitious pass, his defending for Sandro's goal was abysmal.
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Really, you cant remember one half-ambitious pass???. You forget the pass early in the second half that set Wellbeck off?. There were others but then clearly if you think he was shit you wont have seen them because you are just following the sheeple on this.
 
bosnian_red said:
He wasn't too bad but didn't really do anything either. It's like this most games with him, he 'plays' in our midfield, but he does nothing but keep the ball moving. He never runs with it, never does forward passes, hardly ever opens himself up to receive short passes from defenders like Scholes did throughout his career, and he isn't very good defensively. He doesn't really do anything wrong most games, apart from stray passes every now and then, but he doesn't really do anything right either.
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He spends a lot of his time making himself available for short passes from defenders, thats one of his strong points. The never does forward passes thing is another growing myth. You dont see the forward passes because you are too intent looking for the sideways ones. feck me what do some of you lot watch??
 
Stack said:
He spends a lot of his time making himself available for short passes from defenders, thats one of his strong points. The never does forward passes thing is another growing myth. You dont see the forward passes because you are too intent looking for the sideways ones. feck me what do some of you lot watch??
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He really doesn't do enough. He's supposed to be our main player dictating the tempo of the game, but he doesn't do that at all. He runs around a lot but he doesn't run deep to pick the ball up off of our defenders, like Scholes used to do. That's my point. He might do it occasionally, but really, we're Manchester United, and Cleverley needs to do A LOT more to justify playing, let alone starting for a team like United. His level is a mid-table premier league team really. He just hasn't progressed at all in the last 3 years.
 
Stack said:
He spends a lot of his time making himself available for short passes from defenders, thats one of his strong points. The never does forward passes thing is another growing myth. You dont see the forward passes because you are too intent looking for the sideways ones. feck me what do some of you lot watch??
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Isn't that Carrick role, getting the ball from defence? Cleverly is supposed to be more creative and support in attack. I have not seen him do any of that consistently. For the whole game against Spurs, I can't think of a single Cleverly moment. Not writing him off, but what he has been doing in recent matches is way below expectations.
 
I think thats the problem, we have expected progress from Cleverley, but it appears that he hasn't made any real progress.
 
I didn't think he was that bad either, as to warrant full blown slagging off. Unspectacular yes, but not utterly dreadful. I think the frustration is stemming from the fact that he's generally not looking confident, and we all expected him to kick on and become a great player and answer the midfield problems quickly. But it looks like it's taking time.
 
Stack said:
I watched the game again and watched him closely and the same thing as last time I did this, he simply wasnt anywhere near as bad as being claimed. This to me feels like a case of people jumping on the band wagon. He wasnt outstanding but in no way was he anywhere near as bad as so many seem to be claiming. Its quite bizzare at the moment whats being said.
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I said this right after the game as well. Having a go at Cleverley is in the 'in' thing right now and people are queuing up to have a go at him. The match day thread was full off people having a go at pretty much everything Cleverley did whilst not a single mention of some of his good passes.
 
akash02 said:
I said this right after the game as well. Having a go at Cleverley is in the 'in' thing right now and people are queuing up to have a go at him. The match day thread was full off people having a go at pretty much everything Cleverley did whilst not a single mention of some of his good passes.
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Im not saying he couldnt do better and he should be doing better because he is capable of it but my point right now is that people are going over the top with the criticism and whats now happening is people are jumping on the bandwagon and are looking for mistakes which in turn means its all they see and the whole thing just gathers a pace of its own.
I see the mistakes but Im also seeing the good stuff and overall he simply isnt anywhere near as bad as being claimed.
 
iAm20Legend said:
I didn't think he was that bad either, as to warrant full blown slagging off. Unspectacular yes, but not utterly dreadful. I think the frustration is stemming from the fact that he's generally not looking confident, and we all expected him to kick on and become a great player and answer the midfield problems quickly. But it looks like it's taking time.
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Is there a "full blown slagging off" though? I'm yet to see that, and I haven't seen anyone blame him for us not winning.
Just people discussing his recent performances and pointing out that he's looking low on confidence, whilst not doing anything majorly wrong, is just going through games doing little of note. Games are passing Cleverley by a little bit and in a midfield two with a centre back, you'd expect Cleverley, the only recognised CM to be more dominant in our passing at least, yet he wasn't. I'm one of Cleverley's biggest fans on here but but he's not playing the way we have seen him play before. He's played better even this season. Against Sunderland away he put in a good performance and made the most tackles in the PL that weekend, last season he had good performances at Stamford Bridge and at the Etihad. He was wanting the ball a lot more then when at the moment he seems to be playing within himself and letting games pass him by. He grew into the game on Sunday imo and helped us get on top of Tottenham for a period but he's not playing like Cleverley can imo.
 
He was much better against Spurs than he was against Cardiff. I think at the very least, it is fair to say he was 'competetent' against Spurs, which is something he could not even manage against Cardiff.

That said, he's a nothing player in my view, one who will be a decent squad player if he stayed, or will not be really missed if he left. I imagine he'll be at a West Brom/West Ham before too long though, and be remembered as a player who got a few England caps when he was younger.
 
He's in a really tricky place atm. His confidence is low, the fans confidence in him is low. He needs to start going past players, playing killer passes and scoring a few goals - all of which need confidence, and all of which are going to see him slaughtered if he tries and they dont come off. So he does what he does, works hard, keeps it simple and tries to hound the opposition when we dont have the ball. Confidence is king, and unless he finds some from somewhere he's going to completely fade away
 
Scholes: Time Cleverley 'kicked on'

Paul Scholes believes it is time Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley “kicked on” and fulfilled his potential at the club.

And Scholes told Eurosport-Yahoo! that it was time for the 24-year-old to make his mark at Old Trafford.Cleverley has so far failed to fill the boots of the retired Scholes in the Red Devils’ midfield, appearing 13 times but yet to score a goal this season.

“Tom has been there quite a few years now and has done okay,” Scholes said.
“But it's time Tom kicked on. He does play a lot of games and he is a quality player. That is emphasised when he gets in the England squad. Now it’s time he went on to the next level at Manchester United.”
Manchester United manager David Moyes is still searching for Scholes’ replacement, but the former England international refused to speculate on whether Moyes should go into the market, preferring to highlight members of the current squad.
“If the manager feels like he needs to go out and buy someone in January then I’m sure that’s what he’ll do,” Scholes said.
“There’s obviously been a lot of talk, especially because United aren’t doing as well as we’d all hoped, but it’s not my place to say whether he should go out and buy another midfielder.
“Adnan (Januzaj) has obviously broken through this year and has got great talent. He's a really gifted lad and if he gets his head down and works hard then he'll have a great career in the game.”
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Good performance thus far. He's made three excellent balls on the counter. More positive play today. Love it.
 
MoneyMay said:
Good performance thus far. He's made three excellent balls on the counter. More positive play today. Love it.
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I was about to say the same thing. I like how positive he's being today. If he can continue playing positively and trying to make things happen, rather than play it so simple all the time, then he'll be able to kick on and realise his potential.
 
It's because they have given him more space in midfield. He has no clue what to do when he's pressed, and spends nearly all the time when with the ball facing our goal. When he's given a bit of space he can give a bit of movement in midfield, and it is encouraging to see. He just can't fecking shoot to save his life!
 
He's been good for Cleverley, still some way off the quality we need in midfield though.
 
MoneyMay said:
Good performance thus far. He's made three excellent balls on the counter. More positive play today.

Genius Me! said:
I was about to say the same thing. I like how positive he's being today. If he can continue playing positively and trying to make things happen, rather than play it so simple all the time, then he'll be able to kick on and realise his potential.
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Love it.
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You'd think Cleverley had a twin brother if you watched today's game and the Spurs game back to back.

Cleverley hasn't been that good today but he's been nowhere near as terrible as he was at White Hart Lane. Against Spurs Cleverley looked like he'd struggle to get football at a side fighting to stay up.

Clevelery's willingness to take responsibility for the ball and the way some of his passes have got counters going is very pleasing to see. He should be playing like this all the time as a minimum standard. As Scholesy said its time he kicked on now.
 
Red Shorts said:
It's because they have given him more space in midfield. He has no clue what to do when he's pressed, and spends nearly all the time when with the ball facing our goal. When he's given a bit of space he can give a bit of movement in midfield, and it is encouraging to see. He just can't fecking shoot to save his life!
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ok
 
He looks like a good 15 year old player! Not a Manchester United started!
 
He's been good and somewhat positive on the ball.

He's still got a lot to do when it comes to showing for the ball.

Jones on the other hand has been atrocious today.
 
Red Shorts said:
So you think he works well under pressure do you? And did I say he works well because the opposition is crap? Are those my exact words?
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That's pretty much what you said. "He's playing well because there is no pressing".

And yes I do.
 
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