It's good he's getting praise but a lot of it seems to be pretty generic praise. A stock answer for a player when asked about a young team mate - "He's doing well, he's going to be a great player it's a good experience for him etc" plus a brief and uninsightful description of what he offers.
Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances
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Can't say I agree with that. He had a good(ish) game - nothing special.
Give the guy some breathing space.Some of the media coverage as been slightly excitable.
I'm delighted he is getting a good run of games. He needs it this season after his stop start last year.
I think Cleverley needs to be more brave instead of keeping it too simple.
That's far from the truth IMO. Cleverley is someone who thinks so quickly that he doesn't need time to decide what to do and hence is one player in our team that almost always passes it with a purpose when possible. You have to always take into consideration the way the team is playing and the movement and ball retention of his team mates. But in general, he's our own midfielder who is always looking to play a positive pass. It's something I really like about his game.
And that's the thing, if your vision is ahead of the play and the movement is good enough then technically you don't actually need to play brave passes. The passes that otherwise would have been brave automatically becomes simpler as a result of those factors and your ability to think quickly and execute. It's why you really don't see Barcelona players pulling off that many risky passes because they open you up through speed of thought and being on the same wavelength.
We won 5-0 away in a competitive qualifier and took the 3 points, for me he was the best player. He won the penalty with his effort, had another shot run close to the post and was always on the ball, I don't think any of the goal scorers did better than him. He is just what England need.
I like it that he plays is simple if its on, for England that is a god send and I only hope its not corrupted by our ways. If someone is free he'll pass to them rather than long ball it or try something too risky. Besides its not like his passes are all back or to the sides, usually they seem to be forward passes to some extent, he's just good on the ball I reckon.
I am saying he can be much better.
So do you guys want him to play behind the striker for England, like he did against Moldova, and push Rooney to play as the lead striker?
Or would you rather see Welbeck or Defoe lead the line with Rooney behind him and Cleverley in central midfield?
Or would you rather see Welbeck or Defoe lead the line with Rooney behind him and Cleverley in central midfield?
Depends on who's available in midfield.
This is hypothetical, so pick whoever you want. Sadly I feel with Hodgson that if he did put Cleverley in central midfield Gerrard would be his partner.
I think England has been genuinely lacking a player of his style and technique, that's why he's being highly rated around the country. One thing lacking in his game is goals, hopefully that will come as he gains more experience
Switch Carrick with Gerrard or Lampard and you've got a team.
big fan of Tom but its stupid to make these comparisons after a very good game against the mighty Moldovans
I really hope Cleverley can develop into a top player but he obviously has a long way to go.... he's been good for United this season so far without putting in a very good performance - the thing that worries me is that Fulham and Southampton managed to dominate us in midfield for decent periods of those two games
obviously not just down to Cleverley but we need to have more control of games and the midfield is key
the impact Paul Scholes made against Southampton speaks volumes - always available for a pass, passing intelligently, keeping possession and controlling the last 20 minutes of that game
I really hope Cleverley can develop into a top player but he obviously has a long way to go.... he's been good for United this season so far without putting in a very good performance - the thing that worries me is that Fulham and Southampton managed to dominate us in midfield for decent periods of those two games
obviously not just down to Cleverley but we need to have more control of games and the midfield is key
the impact Paul Scholes made against Southampton speaks volumes - always available for a pass, passing intelligently, keeping possession and controlling the last 20 minutes of that game
I don't understand this, why does he need to score more goals to please some of you here? Xavi and Iniesta did not score alot of goals to become the best midfielder in the world, so why Cleverley has to?
the problem with this place is he has a poor game, he is rubbish...he has a very good game against mediocre opposition he is Iniesta or Xavi.
Cleverly will prove to be an excellent footballer for United and England in a couple of years. He needs games for club and country. Just wait and see how good he will become.
Cleverly will prove to be an excellent footballer for United and England in a couple of years. He needs games for club and country. Just wait and see how good he will become.
Yeah I don't think he has to necessarily add lots of goals in an advanced role, I think he'll be good for a few ones he gets his first. But I think if he'a not going to be a big goal scorer that he might need to add the final pass. I've not seen much of that from him, keeps things going very well but I've not seen him play the killer ball much but then in fairness he hasn't done that role loads.
In a deeper role which is where he'll play for us and likely where he'll likely have to play for England once Rooney is back, attackingly I think his game is fine, it's just the discipline side of it. Works hard but hasn't quite got that maturity to recognise when he needs to hold his position and keep the shape. That should come with experience but it's the big thing he needs to work on for me.
I'd say keep Carrick in there and you've got a midfield that can defend, pass the ball and go forward all to a decent standard. Those two have been in that midfield for two long - we need to move on.
We'd be in danger of having a half decent team with Welbeck, Rooney and Chamberlain in with those three.
Why? Neither of them would provide the team what Carrick would. neither would be around for the world cup either.
He needs to add something, you'd think. Xavi has absolutely impeccable ball retention and technique/composure on the ball, and also has that ability to play the killer pass every now and then. Iniesta has the dribbling, the vision, the passing, the ball retention, etc...
Cleverley needs to take his game up in some way to become a top class midfielder. The good thing is that he seems to have an incredible determination to be in the top bracket.
Tom Cleverley will be a world class midfielder given time.
Cleverley has the raw gifts to genuine stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Fabregas someday: Passing, technique, composure, quick wits and there are dozens of highlight videos in this thread to show this.
What Cleverley needs is time and experience to learn how to deploy those gifts properly and consistently. I think I'd be right in saying that Cleverley has played more games in the middle of the park for Man Utd reserves than anyone else. He's still learning his position and so we should expect good days and bad from him.
Given a chance Cleverley will flourish and that is shown by the progression he's already made. The other night against Moldova was not Cleverley's best game this season, until the mix up with De Gea and Vidic spooked our team he was playing a lot better against Fulham, and he was certainly better in the friendly against Hanover. But he was good and reliably so, he did all the simple things well and when you consider he was playing with so-called world class midfielders who failed at that quite a lot you have to rate his performance.
Tom Cleverley will be a genuine centre midfield star in time. Cleverley has set himself a high benchmark in saying he wants to be like Xavi and Iniesta but I think he has the work ethic and intelligence to pull it off. It won't happen overnight, even Xavi wasn't Xavi at Cleverley's age and he's played far more games at a far higher level in centre midfield than Tom has. However, the more opportunities Cleverley has to apply what he's learning the better he'll become.
Cleverley has the raw gifts to genuine stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Fabregas someday: Passing, technique, composure, quick wits and there are dozens of highlight videos in this thread to show this.
What Cleverley needs is time and experience to learn how to deploy those gifts properly and consistently. I think I'd be right in saying that Cleverley has played more games in the middle of the park for Man Utd reserves than anyone else. He's still learning his position and so we should expect good days and bad from him.
Given a chance Cleverley will flourish and that is shown by the progression he's already made. The other night against Moldova was not Cleverley's best game this season, until the mix up with De Gea and Vidic spooked our team he was playing a lot better against Fulham, and he was certainly better in the friendly against Hanover. But he was good and reliably so, he did all the simple things well and when you consider he was playing with so-called world class midfielders who failed at that quite a lot you have to rate his performance.
Tom Cleverley will be a genuine centre midfield star in time. Cleverley has set himself a high benchmark in saying he wants to be like Xavi and Iniesta but I think he has the work ethic and intelligence to pull it off. It won't happen overnight, even Xavi wasn't Xavi at Cleverley's age and he's played far more games at a far higher level in centre midfield than Tom has. However, the more opportunities Cleverley has to apply what he's learning the better he'll become.
Cleverly is a good player but some on this forum and in the media are getting seriously carried away...
Yep, if he's playing for someone else, we'll never hear the end of all the pleas asking SAF to sign him for £20M+, like Wilshere.
do you think he's better than wilshere?
not to mention wilshere is 3 years younger.
Yeah he's a good player with obvious potential, but the likes of J.Wilshere, McEachran (if he gets a chance at Chelsea) are in an entirely different potential bracket. There's a subtle difference but a difference nonetheless.
With my red tinted glasses on, I'd say yes. Or let's put it this way: I'm not going to swap Cleverley for Wilshere. But this takes Wilshere's prolonged injury and Cleverley being a United homegrown into account. Given their potential, both have a chance to be top class midfielders. Age differential at this stage of their respective careers doesn't mean much IMO.
Paul Scholes had all of that, look how highly rated he was by England.
As in a step below?
I think past England managers have regretted not using Scholes as they should have, judging the way they have pleaded with him to come out of retirement. Roy probably has seen this and is starting Cleverley and hoping not to make the same mistake like his predecessors. Scholes was only ever rated outside United in his early 30s
He is not going to be another Xavi or Iniesta (and i don't think he will ever be), so why the comparison? It's like comparing Nani to Ronaldo and i don't like to see that really. Let him be his own player. It wouldn't hurt to add more components into his game, and goalscoring is a very good one, just see Frank Lampard
I'll give you Wilshere, but McEachran has done nothing to suggest he'll be better than Cleverley.
exactly.
McEachran? Biased bullshit. .
Why would he be biased about a Chelsea player?
Wilshere is quite a bit ahead of Cleverley but it's looking promising. Wilshere has figured out how to play CM already, whereas Cleverley will need more games there having been shifted into a few different positions over the years.
Wilshere is quite a bit ahead of Cleverley but it's looking promising. Wilshere has figured out how to play CM already, whereas Cleverley will need more games there having been shifted into a few different positions over the years.
Woops, confused him with someone else, a Chelsea fan.
Its still a statement without much substance. What has Mceachran done at the top level to be rated higher than Cleverley?
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