Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances

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gza the genius said:
He's 23 years old, surely he's capable of playing more than one game a week.
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Really is hard to explain why both Tom and Ando aren't starting. Van Persie and Rooney start virtually every game they are fit. They don't seem to need resting. Why does Tom?
 
Andrew~ said:
Through balls are, by definition, incredibly risky and almost never 'on'. They are high risk-high reward passes, so if you were playing the percentages, as Cleverly does, you would never try them out. And I think you have it the wrong way round, through balls are even more important against highly organised teams because they open up gaps and give the opponent an extra dimension to think about, whereas Cleverly style percentage play is better against less organised defences that will break their lines and not protect zones as effectively so keeping the ball allows you to be more methodical.

Not saying that Cleverly can't produce through balls, but he definitely hasn't done so as yet.
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Good point. Reading mine again, I'd modify it slightly: he does do through-balls, but he waits for them to be more 'on' than someone like Anderson. For me it boils down to this: in his short career with us, he's played quite a few nice through-balls, and also made a habit of almost never losing the ball. I'd rather have a player who leans in that direction than one who leans in the other. It certainly suits modern football more than a hollywood Gerrard type. And as I said, if he can get a run of games in the team, his confidence will go up and he'll lean towards being more risk-taking, and produce more through-balls and similar moments of creativity.
 
I hope he gets to play in midweek. We need someone who brings energy in our midfield as we seem to be lacking this. At least you can count on him to close down quickly and put pressure on the opposition midfield. Him and Anderson are easily our two most aggressive central midfielders.
 
Yeah and apparently fletch has played over a 1000 mins of football and this is a guy with an illness he's managing. Clev should have the energy to play most games with the occasional break. Atm he's not playing enough of the tougher games which we need him to both to build up a partnership and also so he's got a good fit in the team when the tough games start coming up.
 
He's been quite below par so far this match. If this is how he's performed in training, then I can understand why he hasn't been playing more.
 
Think he's been alright, not sure why he's so advanced tonight, seems to be playing higher than Rooney.
 
Like Anderson he doesn't look too comfortable in this system. Anderson has forced himself on the game more than Cleverley though.
 
Top said:
He's been quite below par so far this match. If this is how he's performed in training, then I can understand why he hasn't been playing more.
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Almost like he's hiding. Strange from him.
 
I think hes been good. His sharp one touch passing improves our tempo and flow, his first touch has been great, he keeps the ball well in tight areas and his movement is very intelligent.

Agree he hasn't looked comfortable out wide left though, but he looks good when he has come inside. He is better at finding the angles and space in behind their midfield than Rooney is, so he keeps finding himself where Rooney should be.
 
SkeppyRed said:
I think hes been good. His sharp one touch passing improves our tempo and flow, his first touch has been great, he keeps the ball well in tight areas and his movement is very intelligent.

Agree he hasn't looked comfortable out wide left though, but he looks good when he has come inside. He is better at finding the angles and space in behind their midfield than Rooney is, so he keeps finding himself where Rooney should be.
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Good? You need to raise your standards. The only player that had a good half is Rafael.

That said, we're doing OK against an awkward side so I'm not complaining.
 
#Carl said:
Good? You need to raise your standards. The only player that had a good half is Rafael.

That said, we're doing OK against an awkward side so I'm not complaining.
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My stream is wank but Anderson's pixels seemed to be playing well.
 
#07 said:
Very badly.
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Indeed. Usually he goes mental when he gives a bad pass away. After passing the ball away with Evra his intended target, no reaction from him. He'll see better days with more game time.
 
I think we can now understand why he isn't just being picked automatically, like many people seem to think he should.
 
Escobar said:
Bit out of form which is a shame, we need him
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He was probably our best player against Galatasaray. He needs a run of games. Was pretty bad today though. Was overhitting his passes consistently.
 
Ainu said:
Pick out his worst game of the season to make a point. Fantastic debating skillz.
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It's basically the same point that Top made, if he isn't looking like he is in the best of form then SAF is going to manage his appearances accordingly.


Also, 'skills'.
 
Fergus' son said:
It's basically the same point that Top made, if he isn't looking like he is in the best of form then SAF is going to manage his appearances accordingly.


Also, 'skills'.
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Not if you're koool.
 
Like I said before, I'd still rather see him than Giggs and Scholes. And what's the point of putting Young on for him if you're just going to stick Young on the left anyway. I would've liked to see him finish out the game. Oh well, hopefully he gets another chance this weekend.
 
Thought he was decent, myself. Didn't stand out like Ando, but that's the whole point of their partnership. Cleverley engineers the tempo, the movement, keeps everything fluid, keeps an eye on the defensive side of things. Then Anderson gets to do what he does best - drive forward and make things happen on the ball.
 
I was quite disappointed with him to be honest. His passing seemed a bit wasteful, and he might have been knocked a bit by getting dropped. But I do like him in the team. Although he plays the easy pass, he undeniably speeds our play up.
 
Great to see Jones was preferred to Cleverley, really encouraging for our attacking play in the next couple games now that our only other attack minded midfielder is injured.
 
i wonder how he felt when jones was preferred to him to replace ando. no wonder someone like pogba was pissed enough. the only good thing is that clev is a united player through and trough. he needs to start next weekend imo.
 
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