Tom Cleverley | 2012-14 Performances

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Following everyone else's comments here, he did do very well. Passing was excellent, did his defensive duties and was solid.

BUT, I still think he did this well because Chelsea didn't press him, and this allowed him to do a lot more. If they had pressed him he would not have been half as creative, and this has been his downfall in the past. I know that is a negative thing to point out but I do believe it's the truth, and I really want to see him prove me wrong in the future by showing this sort of performance in a pressing game.
 
Brilliant game by Cleverley! Easily one of our best players! He was so good that he actually made Carrick's insane job seem easy. If he can keep this level up, then Carrick will have less responsibility, which again means that he can play at top level all the time.

Keep this level up and stay fit Tom, and we'll have the best CM in the PL by a country mile.
 
Red Shorts said:
Following everyone else's comments here, he did do very well. Passing was excellent, did his defensive duties and was solid.

BUT, I still think he did this well because Chelsea didn't press him, and this allowed him to do a lot more. If they had pressed him he would not have been half as creative, and this has been his downfall in the past. I know that is a negative thing to point out but I do believe it's the truth, and I really want to see him prove me wrong in the future by showing this sort of performance in a pressing game.
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He has done well against pressing teams in the past with quick short passes and then receiving it with off the ball movement (I'm specifically thinking of Arsenal last October for some reason). His issue has been his lack of stamina, which has led to some ugly moments against pressing. However, his fitness looks to be greatly improved when compared to previous seasons.
 
Terrific today. Chelsea couldn't get close to him times, he was popping the ball off first time before they could get their press on. When he plays like that our midfield is not such an issue, only the depth.
 
Great way to bounce back after last weeks lacklustre performance, chuffed for him.
 
Mad Winger said:
Brilliant game by Cleverley! Easily one of our best players! He was so good that he actually made Carrick's insane job seem easy. If he can keep this level up, then Carrick will have less responsibility, which again means that he can play at top level all the time.

Keep this level up and stay fit Tom, and we'll have the best CM in the PL by a country mile.
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Don't know if serious
 
Stack said:
Well thats your opinion, however a couple of us think you are completely and utterly wrong.
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You think he's good enough to equally be able to earn a place in the Barca, Bayern or Real 1st teams? That's the level we should be aiming for from our 1st team midfielders.
 
Encouraging performance. He has the discipline needed against a top team. Still lacks a cutting edge around the opposition penalty area, much like Anderson.
 
Mad Winger said:
Brilliant game by Cleverley! Easily one of our best players! He was so good that he actually made Carrick's insane job seem easy. If he can keep this level up, then Carrick will have less responsibility, which again means that he can play at top level all the time.

Keep this level up and stay fit Tom, and we'll have the best CM in the PL by a country mile.
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Are you American? But I suspect your optimism would even surprise them!
 
I've been critical to Cleverley, but that was a truly majestic performance. I don't think many midfielders would have done much better. His one and two touch play is brilliant, and yesterday he showed pace and awareness as well. He still lacks a little bit in attack, which is surprising as he started out as a winger (correct me if I'm wrong).
 
I posted this in the matchday thread before the game:
LR7 said:
Cleverley is going to have a big job in midfield looking after that lot. He needs to be positionally disciplined and not chase the ball when we aren't in possession.
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I thought he carried out his role brilliantly. Always involved, and more dominant in the midfield than Carrick imo (who I don't think has hit form just yet). He kept his position when we were defending too, rather than expending a lot of energy running after the ball but not getting it. He got more interceptions than Carrick, and I don't remember that ever happening before which just shows he was reading the game and positioning himself well when we weren't in possession. Overall a good game for Tom, but I'm a big fan of his anyway.
 
I just don't see the hype on here after that. Tidy performance? Yes. Kept possession well? Absolutely. But did he offer anything going forward? Feck all that I remember anyway. He's not defensively strong enough to play deep, he doesn't have the stamina to excel box-to-box and he's not creative enough and doesn't have a good enough shot to be a playmaker for us. He's good at most things and not great at anything. Look at our best midfielders under SAF, they all had enough qualities to excel in at least one of those roles.

Personally I thought the main reason we didn't win that game is, despite all our possession and tidy passing, was because our midfield offered almost nothing going forward and that was Cleverley's job more than Carrick's.
 
Cina said:
I just don't see the hype on here after that. Tidy performance? Yes. Kept possession well? Absolutely. But did he offer anything going forward? Feck all that I remember anyway. He's not defensively strong enough to play deep, he doesn't have the stamina to excel box-to-box and he's not creative enough and doesn't have a good enough shot to be a playmaker for us. He's good at most things and not great at anything. Look at our best midfielders under SAF, they all had enough qualities to excel in at least one of those roles.

Personally I thought the main reason we didn't win that game is, despite all our possession and tidy passing, was because our midfield offered almost nothing going forward and that was Cleverley's job more than Carrick's.
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Agreed. It was a good performance but we've seen these tidy performances from him before. He will have to do more than this if he truly wants to make that central midfield position his own.
 
Agreed. It was pretty easy for Chelsea to shut us out the whole game as they knew Carrick and Cleverley - despite controlling the game, wouldn't hurt them in advanced positions so could afford to let them have the ball.
 
Majestic? really... He had a neat and tidy performance, nothing to criticise him about but nothing to write home about either. He really needs to work on his play in the final third, said it before he gets himself into brilliant positions but doesn't know what to do... I'd get him some serious one on one coaching with Scholes and develop his game in the final third.. if he could add goals and creativity, then we really could see him producing 'majestic' performances.
 
Cina said:
I just don't see the hype on here after that. Tidy performance? Yes. Kept possession well? Absolutely. But did he offer anything going forward? Feck all that I remember anyway. He's not defensively strong enough to play deep, he doesn't have the stamina to excel box-to-box and he's not creative enough and doesn't have a good enough shot to be a playmaker for us. He's good at most things and not great at anything. Look at our best midfielders under SAF, they all had enough qualities to excel in at least one of those roles.

Personally I thought the main reason we didn't win that game is, despite all our possession and tidy passing, was because our midfield offered almost nothing going forward and that was Cleverley's job more than Carrick's.
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Your criticism is misplaced.
Cleverley played deeper than he normally does for us - I'm guessing he was instructed to play deep by Moyes cos of the Mourinho factor. The fault really lies with the front four. Rooney was horrible offensively & Valencia has the urgency of a centipede in the final third. We really really missed Rafael last night....His crosses are better than anything Jones can deliver.
 
Hannibal said:
Your criticism is misplaced.
Cleverley played deeper than he normally does for us - I'm guessing he was instructed to play deep by Moyes cos of the Mourinho factor. The fault really lies with the front four. Rooney was horrible offensively & Valencia has the urgency of a centipede in the final third. We really really missed Rafael last night....His crosses are better than anything Jones can deliver.
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No it isn't.

I want our midfielders to offer something offensively, I don't think that's too much to ask.
 
He had a good game, but the problem was that it was only played in our half.

He never found that incisive forward pass, and even though his work rate helped Carrick and helped us take out the midget band of playmakers, there wasn't really anything more to that performance than keeping possession well.

I think if he's to get to the next level he'll have to force himself to find the forward passes. On a number of occassion he chose the safe option when RvP, Welbeck, Rooney etc demanded the ball in front of him.
 
Cina said:
No it isn't.

I want our midfielders to offer something offensively, I don't think that's too much to ask.
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No, I don't either, but if you flip the coin you will see that Chelsea were unable to break down our midfield just like we were unable to break down theirs. He was very good at defending and offered quick feet that both Hazard and Oscar struggled to get away from. He lacks a little something going forwards though, which as I said above I find strange as he started out as an attacking midfielder/winger. If we were going for the win, I would have wanted to see Ando come on.
 
Rossa said:
No, I don't either, but if you flip the coin you will see that Chelsea were unable to break down our midfield just like we were unable to break down theirs. He was very good at defending and offered quick feet that both Hazard and Oscar struggled to get away from. He lacks a little something going forwards though, which as I said above I find strange as he started out as an attacking midfielder/winger. If we were going for the win, I would have wanted to see Ando come on.
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...because Ramires and Lampard lack the same thing our midfielders do, the ability/confidence to thread passes through a tight midfield.
 
Rossa said:
No, I don't either, but if you flip the coin you will see that Chelsea were unable to break down our midfield just like we were unable to break down theirs. He was very good at defending and offered quick feet that both Hazard and Oscar struggled to get away from. He lacks a little something going forwards though, which as I said above I find strange as he started out as an attacking midfielder/winger. If we were going for the win, I would have wanted to see Ando come on.
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A fair point to an extent but I think the difference here is that we were looking for the win where as Chelsea were clearly looking for the point and weren't overly trying to break us down. They were mostly looking for chances on the counter. We had far more possession than them so you'd naturally expect us to create more with it.
 
marjen said:
He had a good game, but the problem was that it was only played in our half.

He never found that incisive forward pass, and even though his work rate helped Carrick and helped us take out the midget band of playmakers, there wasn't really anything more to that performance than keeping possession well.
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Go to the 28th minute of the game for just 1 example of his incisive forward passes. There are others. Watch the replay of the game.

This reminds me of the Fletcher debates a few years ago. I remember watching one game where everyone was complaining he gave the ball too much. Watched that game a second time and he lost the ball twice in the first 10 minutes and then once more after that. The stats showed he lost the ball the least of anyone in that game but everyon e thought he lost it the most.
 
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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In the last 12 month he's started away at Spurs, City and Chelsea (twice) and against Liverpool, Madrid and Chelsea (twice) at home. The only big game he didn't start was Madrid away. Pretty sure he's as close to a 1st choice partner we've had for Carrick since Fletcher in 2010.
 
Cina said:
A fair point to an extent but I think the difference here is that we were looking for the win where as Chelsea were clearly looking for the point and weren't overly trying to break us down. They were mostly looking for chances on the counter. We had far more possession than them so you'd naturally expect us to create more with it.
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Fair enough, but United have been criticised for not having enough possession against the best teams; yesteday they managed just that and won the ball back on Chelsea's half several times. All in all, I think Cleverley and Carrick did a great job. Cleverley has been criticised in the past for not having good defensive awareness, but his defending last night was top drawer. Definitely lacks that sparkle in attack though. Blame it on Jones?
 
Stack said:
Go to the 28th minute of the game for just 1 example of his incisive forward passes. There are others. Watch the replay of the game.

This reminds me of the Fletcher debates a few years ago. I remember watching one game where everyone was complaining he gave the ball too much. Watched that game a second time and he lost the ball twice in the first 10 minutes and then once more after that. The stats showed he lost the ball the least of anyone in that game but everyon e thought he lost it the most.
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It's the same as saying that Carrick never played a forward pass really. People see what they want to see and follow the crowd in their chantings. Good post.
 
Showed some exceptional first touches during the game and passed the ball very well. Promising signs of him returning to his previous form. Good stuff Tom.
 
Stack said:
Go to the 28th minute of the game for just 1 example of his incisive forward passes. There are others. Watch the replay of the game.

This reminds me of the Fletcher debates a few years ago. I remember watching one game where everyone was complaining he gave the ball too much. Watched that game a second time and he lost the ball twice in the first 10 minutes and then once more after that. The stats showed he lost the ball the least of anyone in that game but everyon e thought he lost it the most.
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That doesn't really work, see. I always had faith in Fletcher.

And I do rate Cleverley, and thought he played a good game yesterday. Fact of the matter is that he's too fond of the cautious option, and several times yesterday he neglected a pass into RvP, Welbeck and Rooney in dangerous positions, instead opting for the easy ball out to Jones or back to Ferdinand.

If his role was that of a holding midfielder, then sure he did his job very well. But to me, partnering Carrick in a two-man midfield, you need to offer a bit more in an attacking sense.
 
I like Cleverley a lot. We need a player like Fellaini in case Carrick gets injured but like I've said in the Fellaini thread, I'd much rather see Cleverley partner Carrick than Fellaini.

I think he has it in him to be more creative as well, yesterday he was extremely disciplined in his defensive duties and as a result Chelsea didn't have many chances at all. In games where we don't need Carrick and Cleverley both sitting deep I think he'll be able to help out a lot offensively. Even if he isn't the one making defense splitting passes his one touch passing and movement will open up plenty of space.
 
This place is funny. He plays in a more defensive role and excels at whats required there but yet he still gets criticed for not providing enough of an attacking threat?

Something doesnt really add up there....
 
He showed that we already have potentially cover for Carrick if needed and its name is Tom Cleverley. It'll be slightly different to put in that kind of performance when he's not playing next to Carrick doing the same, but that'll be part of his development
 
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