Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances

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ghaliboy said:
This is Tom Cleverley and Michael Carrick's dashboards for the game against Swansea.

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If this role is anything to go by then his positioning never see's him get even near goal to create chances. I honestly don't think it's playing to his strengths but he's good enough to adapt in that role and partner Carrick.
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We clearly played conservatively in that game though, we did not want to get caught on the counter attack as they have a lot of pace / movement in their team - something we do get caught out on.

We quite rightly made the 2 CM sit back and protect the defence, and let the wide/forward players do the main attacking.

I think if you do a chalkboard for his first game against a weaker team, we will see he does get in more advanced positions than that conveys.
 
ghaliboy said:
This is Tom Cleverley and Michael Carrick's dashboards for the game against Swansea.

QZgiDnO.png
8DBoFAX.png
XbkxRjN.png
If this role is anything to go by then his positioning never see's him get even near goal to create chances. I honestly don't think it's playing to his strengths but he's good enough to adapt in that role and partner Carrick.
Click to expand...

Doesn't surprise me at all to be honest. It's been evident for the last 9 months or so that he's being groomed for a deeper role. The improvement in his defensive work rate and positioning has come on leaps and bounds.
 
Adam-Utd said:
We clearly played conservatively in that game though, we did not want to get caught on the counter attack as they have a lot of pace / movement in their team - something we do get caught out on.

We quite rightly made the 2 CM sit back and protect the defence, and let the wide/forward players do the main attacking.

I think if you do a chalkboard for his first game against a weaker team, we will see he does get in more advanced positions than that conveys.
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Agreed, you could see both of them being deliberately disciplined in that match, ignoring opportunities to go forward in favour of staying defensively solid. They are certainly capable of offering more going forward if that's what the game plan demands.

Besides, I've always thought people are too keen to demand goal-threat and advanced play from our CMs without really thinking about it. We have an incredibly potent set of attacking players - AMs, wingers and strikers - who are more than capable of getting the goals we need. What we really need from Cleverley and Carrick is control over matches. Compare our formation to Madrid's - it's the equivalent of demanding goals from Khedira and Alonso. It's not really what they're for.
 
Carl said:
Doesn't surprise me at all to be honest. It's been evident for the last 9 months or so that he's being groomed for a deeper role. The improvement in his defensive work rate and positioning has come on leaps and bounds.
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No I don't think it has and that is my one major gripe with him. He consistently ball watches when United are not in possession, and consequently fails to track runners from midfield. It's strange seen as when United are in possession his off-the ball movement and awareness is very good.
 
Ball watching? He has stats for high pass rate and high pass rate completion (that is he rarely gives the ball away)....hardly someone not involved in game due to 'ball-watching'.

I though that's what we want from a midfielder....retain possession, find a red shirt and keep the play moving.

We won 4-1 at Swansea...scored over 100 goals last year as Champions and people say he should be more attacking???

His pass for Walcott for England last week shows what he can do in terms of creativity and passing...he has about 30 league games behind him and people are comparing him to Iniesta!!!

Thank god Ferguson, Hodgson and Moyes don't listen to some people on here!

:rolleyes:
 
Mr. MUJAC said:
Ball watching? He has stats for high pass rate and high pass rate completion (that is he rarely gives the ball away)....hardly someone not involved in game due to 'ball-watching'.

I though that's what we want from a midfielder....retain possession, find a red shirt and keep the play moving.

We won 4-1 at Swansea...scored over 100 goals last year as Champions and people say he should be more attacking???

His pass for Walcott for England last week shows what he can do in terms of creativity and passing...he has about 30 league games behind him and people are comparing him to Iniesta!!!

Thank god Ferguson, Hodgson and Moyes don't listen to some people on here!

:rolleyes:
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This should be made into a poster and put on certain caftards walls.
 
Thought he was fantastic tonight, and personally my man of the match.



 
He was great tonight, didn't take any real risks with his passing but didn't fade in the 2nd half which was a big plus. Probably the best he's played for a long time.
 
He was decent, but we struggled as a whole to link defence and attack.
 
Encouraging. Hopefully he can show that last season was a temporary downturn.
 
He was very good but again, he offered feck all offensively. That game was crying out for a midfielder to make things happen and nobody did.
 
Excellent game, I would have him as our MOTM alongside Vidic probably. Defensively he was excellent, I would like to know how much distance he covered in this game, he was everywhere, closing wide players which wasn't even his job, great attitude.
 
Did the job that was necessary as a deep CM next to Carrick. Showed he's responsible enough to fulfil that role and maybe even has a future in the Carrick role himself.
 
He was pretty good, but once again little creativity going forward which was really needed tonight
 
Probably the most complete 90 minutes he has played for us in a big game to this point in his career.
 
Theon said:
He was pretty good, but once again little creativity going forward which was really needed tonight
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I think it was clear his detail was mainly to help out Carrick and help sort out the space between midfield and defence that Neville was talking about for half an hour before the match. A top class player you'd have hoped he could do that and still create something, but being reasonable Tom did what he had to do tonight.

For anyone thats spent the summer saying we need a DM, someone like Fellaini next to Carrick to protect the defence, tonight was proof that Carrick and Cleverley are up to the task when asked to do so on a one off big match. We'll have to see if they can do it all season in big matches where teams play in similar dangerous spaces
 
Been critical of Cleverley in the past but thought he was excellent tonight!
 
The best performance of him in months. He did his job well and what impressed me most was that he was great at reading the game. Really OutCarricked Michael Carrick tonight.
 
Like pretty much every United player, he was good tonight.

I'm a little disappointed that he and Carrick had obviously been instructed not to go forward much - often it seemed like we didn't have anyone joining the attack, leaving the four 'forwards' on their own against the eight or nine players Chelsea kept getting back. But it was obviously a tactical decision - and to be fair probably one which stopped us from conceding ourselves - and so you can't blame Cleverley for it any more than you could blame Carrick.
 
Big step forward tonight, I thought. He was exactly where he was supposed to be the whole match. Retained possession, joined in occasionally further forward but gave us something tonight that I wasn't convinced he could beside Carrick.
 
Put himself about quite well tonight, I can't remember when but he had a really nice touch in our half which stood out.

Still think when he got forward he was quite timid but, overall he played well.
 
One of his best games for us in a while. He's never going to be good enough to deserve a guaranteed 1st team place but he could be a very good squad player for us if he keeps it up.
 
I didn't really notice Carrick and Cleverley much besides their winning of the ball in the middle. They were pretty good I guess.
 
Great game tonight. He's fantastic when we have plenty of the ball and aren't under to much pressure in the middle. Its when we're in a backs against the walls situation that he does tend to shy away a bit. Still, he's only young, and will improve on that.
 
sullydnl said:
One of his best games for us in a while. He's never going to be good enough to deserve a guaranteed 1st team place but he could be a very good squad player for us if he keeps it up.
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Actually, he IS a guaranteed 1st team player, unless we sign somebody better, wich is not happening.
 
George Owen said:
Actually, he IS a guaranteed 1st team player, unless we sign somebody better, wich is not happening.
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That's why I said "deserve". He really shouldn't be a 1st team player, that's down to lack of alternatives rather than his actual quality.
 
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