Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances

[Randall Flagg]

I like him. He has matured fast. Kept it simple when needed too.

 

[gooDevil]

Looks like he works well with Anderson. Their passing was brilliant.

Needs to work on their defensive game though.

I'm not saying they don't, but neither goal was down to their lack of protecting the back 4. I'm very happy to see them play so well, they could *gasp* keep Scholes out of the team!

 

[LLMU]

Had a good game. Would love to see him pairing with Carrick. Need to score his first goal for us soon.

 

[gooDevil]

I like him. He has matured fast. Kept it simple when needed too.

It's great to see he's improved from the beginning of last season even though he played so little for us, the GB and England duty has to have helped.

 

[gbgary]

thought he did well. glad to see him start. adds energy and isn't afraid to pressure the ball.

 

[Sylar]

They do play well together but I think that they can only really be used in home games like this where we tend to control the match and dominate. Against teams who attack us they'll leave too much space in behind in the midfield.

I think thats why need CBs back so we can then have Carrick in that position. Covering the back four in which he does so well.

 

[Cheesy]

It's great to see he's improved from the beginning of last season even though he played so little for us, the GB and England duty has to have helped.

Has he really improved? He was decent at times for GB over the summer but I still think his best football came at the start of last season, without any shadow of a doubt.

 

[R.N7]

Did well considering it almost seemed like he was playing in a one man midfield at the end of the second half.

 

[#07]

I'm not saying they don't, but neither goal was down to their lack of protecting the back 4. I'm very happy to see them play so well, they could *gasp* keep Scholes out of the team!

Agreed.

People will point to how Dembele was able to bulldoze his way through midfield on occasion as evidence that our midfield wasn't in it today but that's ignoring two facts:

1. When we were going hell for leather in the first half Fulham couldn't even get a kick.
2. Neither goal was scored as a result of weakness in the centre of midfield.

Cleverley and Anderson did fine. Both put their foot in more than often enough to warrant their starts and they linked up exceptionally well with Kagawa.

For all the critique of Cleverley's positioning and understanding of the defensive side of the game I thought he, Ando and Kagawa showed great awareness. Whenever one of the three burst forward one of the others would drop in and make a '2' in centre midfield.

None of the three will ever be Yaya Toure but if we impose ourselves on the opposition as we did in the first half and don't take our foot of the gas and try to 'play it out' by 'controlling the game' it won't matter.

Best form of defence is attack and with Cleverley, Ando and Shinji our attack works.

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

He was much much better today. Good game. Hope he kick's on from here. Will thrive by having a Dembele like player next to him.

 

[KM]

Was doing all the work in midfield in the second half. Impressive performance.

 

[Carl]

He was much much better today. Good game. Hope he kick's on from here. Will thrive by having a Dembele like player next to him.

I disagree. With Dembele he'd have to watch the shop too often.

Looking forward to seeing him have a run of games with Carrick.

 

[Beachryan]

He was excellent. Such good composure and movement. If he can stay fit, we're definitely sorted for the more attacking of a pair. However, not really the man you want tasked with stopping the opposition through the middle.

Hopefully he and Carrick can finally start getting games together soon.

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

I disagree. With Dembele he'd have to watch the shop too often.

Looking forward to seeing him have a run of games with Carrick.

Dembele covers a lot of ground himself & is quite mobile. Plus he breaks up play & puts in quite a few tackles. Its a bonus that he is so good in attack as well.

 

[Raven Blade]

If he can stay fit this season he will get many more games in our team. At times he reminded me of Scholes in the way he's just so comfortable in keeping possession and spreading it across the pitch. Wasn't afraid to do shoot in decent positions either. He's starting to express himself again and that's a good sign.

 

[Carl]

Dembele covers a lot of ground himself & is quite mobile. Plus he breaks up play & puts in quite a few tackles. Its a bonus that he is so good in attack as well.

That's true but it's worth noting he has Diarra offering the back up though. It's also worth noting that whilst he produced some eye catching moments I thought our midfield passed it around theirs for over 60mins.

Dembele looked much better when Sidwell came on.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

He was much much better today. Good game. Hope he kick's on from here. Will thrive by having a Dembele like player next to him.

He already thrives alongside Anderson.

 

[DevilRed]

Dembele covers a lot of ground himself & is quite mobile. Plus he breaks up play & puts in quite a few tackles. Its a bonus that he is so good in attack as well.

Bloody strong on and off the ball too. Shrugged off ando and cleverley like they were children. He definitely impressed me today and might just be the kind of midfielder that could complete our team

 

[Baby Faced Assassin]

Bloody strong on and off the ball too. Shrugged off ando and cleverley like they were children. He definitely impressed me today and might just be the kind of midfielder that could complete our team

Yes I agree. That kind of a player seems like the final jigsaw in the puzzle for us.

 

[Amar__]

He was MOTM in my book, excellent game. He wasn't just tidy, he created few chances too, had two dangerous shots, from first one we scored a goal.

 

[devilish]

Cleverley played excellent today, however we still lack a defensive minded midfielder. Dembele gave a show in CM.

 

[DevilRed]

Solid shift today and good to see him complete another 90 minutes. Got rag dolled by dembele once or twice but then again not many would be able to stop the fulham midfielder today. Tom showing slot of confidence in his shot but he isn't a natural finisher like Scholes was. Nonetheless he has plenty of energy and pace. In my book he has already leapfrogged Anderson in regards to ability and performance.

 

[Steven Seagull]

Martin Jol:

Martin Jol, the Fulham manager, actually agreed with Ferguson about United being up to half-a-dozen goals better. "We had a good win last week, put playing here is a little bit different to playing at home against Norwich," he said. "Even though we scored an early goal we were still not full of confidence, and United played so well in the first half I thought it might be a really bad day for us. We just couldn't keep up with Tom Cleverley and Anderson, but we managed to win the second half 1-0, so it was a game of two totally different halves."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/25/wayne-rooney-out-four-weeks

 

[Siorac]

I want that Carrick-Cleverley-Kagawa trio so badly. I'm craving them. I have an unnatural yearning for them.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

He's being modest. Jol wants to give Fergie the illusion that they destroyed Dembele, so we won't bid for him.

 

[.Phil1968]

I thought Cleverley did very well today, some good interceptions as well as good forward passing and I love to see us shooting from outside the box, something that was sadly missing from the Everton game apart from Anderson's late blast. Agreed, he, Kagawa and Carrick will be some sight.

 

[Devil may care]

He played with more freedom today as he didn't have to be mindful of leaving Scholes isolated, I think once he's paired with Carrick he'll get even better.

 

[Andrew~]

Hm, I think SAF should consider moving him behind the main striker late in games, instead of doing something similar to what happened today: replacing Kagawa with a striker. That way we can maintain the strong midfield and still retain an attacking intent.

What do you guys think?

 

[Theon]

Hm, I think SAF should consider moving him behind the main striker late in games, instead of doing something similar to what happened today: replacing Kagawa with a striker. That way we can maintain the strong midfield and still retain an attacking intent.

What do you guys think?

Nah because he isn't a No 10 like Kagawa, it would totally change our shape and leave the striker isolated, as often happened with Rooney last year. Kagawa provides that link between midfield and attack, Cleverley could possibly do it but wouldn't be as natural as someone like Kagawa or Rooney. In todays game I thought Rooney should have taken the deeper role instead of Van Persie, seeing as he provides that link better.

Plus, given our forward options that just isn't realistic, if we play with just one striker then three midfielders behind, then our forwards are really going to struggle for games IMO.

 

[Art]

I want that Carrick-Cleverley-Kagawa trio so badly. I'm craving them. I have an unnatural yearning for them.

I do too but I'd start Ando over Carrick just because Ando needs game time and we can see what he is capable of if he isn't injured. Carrick is extremely consistent so a few games on the bench or defense won't hurt him.

 

[Ash_G]

I do too but I'd start Ando over Carrick just because Ando needs game time and we can see what he is capable of if he isn't injured. Carrick is extremely consistent so a few games on the bench or defense won't hurt him.

Yeah can see the thinking but I think we could use a game where we can let the defenders ease in. Vidic has had a lot to do in the first two games and if Evans does come back he'll be a bit rusty too. I'd have Carrick in there to give them some protection so they can get settled and if we're coasting then bring Ando on.

 

[Escobar]

Would like to see a stat how much ground he covered. Seemed to run a lot. Good game he had

 

[SittingBull]

Thought he was decent, kept things safe and didnt really managed to create anything of threat to the Fulham's goal. Not saying he's bad but that is how passive our central midfield had became, passing needlessly and aimlessly and when Fulham pack the middle, they had to switch wide. So typical and predictable of us. I think we really need more players with ability to beat opponents, be it with a feint, drop of shoulders, dribble or something creative.

 

[Ramshock]

Thought he was decent, kept things safe and didnt really managed to create anything of threat to the Fulham's goal. Not saying he's bad but that is how passive our central midfield had became, passing needlessly and aimlessly and when Fulham pack the middle, they had to switch wide. So typical and predictable of us. I think we really need more players with ability to beat opponents, be it with a feint, drop of shoulders, dribble or something creative.

I think thats why we were after Moura, if we had him and a consistent Nani thats all the dribblers we would have needed.

 

[#07]

Thought he was decent, kept things safe and didnt really managed to create anything of threat to the Fulham's goal. Not saying he's bad but that is how passive our central midfield had became, passing needlessly and aimlessly and when Fulham pack the middle, they had to switch wide. So typical and predictable of us. I think we really need more players with ability to beat opponents, be it with a feint, drop of shoulders, dribble or something creative.

That's just not true. Off the top of my head I can think of the chipped pass to Van Persie in the 1st half and the through ball to Rooney in the 2nd as examples of positive passing from Cleverley. Also you can hardly call the shot that led to Shinji's goal 'passive'. Jol actually said in his post game presser that in the 1st half Fulham couldn't get near Tom and Ando. This comment actually makes me wonder if we watched the same game.

 

[gooDevil]

I have to agree with number 7, I thought his contributions were quite good. He had another shot in the 2nd half that the keeper did well to save, IIRC, that went for a corner.

People were crying out for a midfielder to help us play a more possession based game, and that means more short passes and working around the defense. I don't think you can blame him for keeping things a bit simpler than he might otherwise considering he's still just breaking into the team, but I'm impressed that he's managed to improve since coming back from so long injured without getting many minutes for United, the GB games must have helped.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

First half we were anything but predictable in attack. It's second half when Anderson, Kagawa and RVP tired out and out and the defence gave away another awful goal the we became predictable.

 

[kouroux]

So far he's doing well.I'd rather see my midfielder keep possession by playing it simply than the opposite, ideally a balance would be found between long and short passing but we're talking about a young player who's still fairly inexperienced at the highest level.
He's still got so much to learn in terms of timing his runs forward, in terms of making himself available but so far so good from Cleverley.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Cleverley and Anderson completed 91% and 95% of their passes respectively. That's really impressive. Over half of Cleverley's passes were forward.

In terms of his performance on the ball you can't fault him. Both our CMs need to work on what they do without the ball though.

 

[Lawman]

Cleverley and Anderson completed 91% and 95% of their passes respectively. That's really impressive. Over half of Cleverley's passes were forward.

In terms of his performance on the ball you can't fault him. Both our CMs need to work on what they do without the ball though.

Spot on Pogue! But I think Cleverley is a bit further on than Anderson of the ball! I couldnt manage down to the game yesterday but watched it on a stream instead. And Andersons movement of the ball was abysmal instead of making himself available for a pass he kept pointing where to pass the ball to the other players! Yes that's fine now and again but being a centre midfielder he needs to be the outlet in tight situations and spread and build the play! He was very lazy at this for my liking yesterday.