I'm making this thread before he returns from his injury so that people can start discussing why we should get rid of him this summer and not wait until a bad performance. I'm trying to avoid a knee jerk reaction from everyone. Out of all the players we've seen in the past few years; Anderson's the one who keeps a low profile and receives the least amount of criticism from the fan base. Carrick, Berbatov, Nani, Evans, Gibson, the list goes on and on. Unlucky with injuries? Bags of potential? I don't buy it. I think he's a limited footballer. We overpaid and we're stuck with and won't offload him because we keep hoping/praying he'll eventually become good. He shows glimpses of brilliance for a game or 5 and then disappears for weeks. For all his flashy passes and gimmicky tricks, he's more likely to give away possession than play the killer ball or turn up with a goal. I know we've converted him from an AM to a CM. He's become a utility player but that doesn't explain why his international career also took a complete nosedive. Ramires and Lucas Leiva are ahead of him for Brazil. Stop and think about that; Ramires, Leiva. 2010/2011: Appearances in all competitions Anderson: 30 Ramires: 41 Leiva: 47 Lampard: 32 Modric: 43 Barry: 47 Milner: 41 de Jong: 40 Get the picture? He had a few great games at the start of the season with Cleverley against some piss poor opponents and then same thing every year. Rinse Repeat.
Simple fact is Fergie has tried to turn him into something he wasn't - a defensive / box to box player. Anderson needs to be up top in a free role, ala Ronaldinho. That is what he was when we bought him, he was doing well for Porto in that role, never needed an invitation to shoot and more often than not at least worked the keeper. I've often said he's a reverse of Kleberson (bought as a DM and then converted into an AM) Unfortunately, Anderson is now in the position of being confused with what role he's expected to perform. He's hesitant to pull the trigger, or to allow himself the expression of his dazzling array of skills (check youtube vids of him at Porto and Gremio) I would say this, if we do sell him, he is exactly the sort of player who would come back to haunt us - because I believe that if he was allowed to be his natural free playmaker type self - he'd be awesome. However, I wonder if now he could ever get back to that. I'd be sad to see him go, because since we signed him I've been excited about him realising his potential, and as I said - I would hate to see him doing the business for another club.
I really like Anderson as a character. He's been unlucky with injuries in his short career so far. Some of them have been very serious, almost career ending. This is one of the reasons why he hasn't become a top player. He has a lot of attributes that you would look for in a player, but he's too inconsistent. He hasn't stomped out the flaws in his game, but that's because injuries and Ferguson's player loyalty have stopped him from playing regularly. He's had some very good games for this club, and I still think that he has potential. However, I don't think that he'll become the world class player that I once thought he could become. He needs to be more composed and stay focused in games. He badly needs a run of games and to stay injury free.
He is only 23 but i'd sooner see Cleverly Carrick Jones all picked ahead of him. We should only sell him if we sign a better replacement. We're weak in CM, Fletcher is out until who knows. Giggs and Scholes are not going to be around too much longer. I agree we need a better player but buy first, and not someone developing. Someone with proven class.
Get rid of Paul Football. Lucas and Ramires are both quality players, Anderson can be similar to Ramires in what he does.
I hope he proves me wrong as I don't believe he'll be sold this summer. I'm very comfortable and prepared to eat humble pie; wouldn't be the first time nor the last.
I've come to the conclusion that Ando only plays really well when he's highly motivated - and that doesn't happen too often. I also don't think anyone has a clue what motivates him - including Fergie. He's just a free spirit it would seem.
No the lad still has potential to be a top player for us, only 24 in April. I hoped this would be Ando's breakthrough season and I'm certain it would of been the case, if not for how unlucky we've been as a team in the injuries department. If we can improve on injuries then I'm still sure Ando can be our future box to box midfield star. btw we haven't "ruined him" by switching him to box to box, Fergie has identified his true role which also happens to be much more suitable to how we play football.
As I said above, I think he'd benefit from Fergie allowing him to just go out there and express himself, free of more defensive responsibilities. He once said he saw Ando as his natural successor to Scholes - but he's never allowed him to do it.
Anderson has been playing in the wrong role as a defensive box to box player when he rightly should be in that attacking midfielder role right behind the strikers. I still have faith in him, though he needs to prove himself as soon as he gets fit.
It's accepted among fans that his best position (or what was his best position) is attacking midfield but he does have some attributes you look for in central midfield - aggression, plenty of energy, good short passing. His long passing accuracy is pretty poor but alongside Cleverley early in the season he looked disciplined in a deeper role. I'd give him one more season, and just hope that for once it's uninterrupted.
Except that Ramires is a consistently good passer, scores goals, makes runs that Anderson doesn't and is overall a smarter, better player. Anderson is a strange case. On his day he's brilliant and exactly what we need. The bad thing is he rarely has his day. One of the most inconsistent players in recent history. People like to defend him with the injury excuse. This is a player who seems to have a lengthy injury lay off every season, so he is just unreliable and we can't keep waiting for him to produce consistently when he's not good enough or he's not fit enough. His seasons follow a similar pattern. G - Good performances B - Bad performances GGBBBBB(3-4 months injury lay off)BBGG(more injuries)BBB(Out for a month)GG(leaves us hope for consistently good performances next season)
To all these people saying Anderson should be played in the hole, just because he did early in his career, I completely disagree with you. He has virtually none of the attributes needed for that role. He hasn't got fluid movement or an ability to find space in tight areas in the final third, he hasn't got good short-range passing near the front and his finishing is poor. That said, he can make a pretty good box-to-box deeper midfielder, using his pace and power to cover a lot of the pitch, keeping the tempo high and finding the occasional very good long pass. He is much better as a box-to-box midfielder than a trequartista.
I researched Anderson at Gremio once he'd signed for us - With Porto I saw him in the Champions League a few times.
When you say researched, did you watch a few clips on Youtube? It would have been hard to know much else about it, given that he only played in the Brazilian 2nd division for them. And I'm sure he only made a couple of fleeting appearances in the Champions League for Porto. From what I see of him there and what he displayed when he first moved here, he was quick and powerful and could run past players at speed, but never to me displayed any of the playmaking qualities of a trequartista.
It is pretty hard to have a run of games in the midfield with so much competition; Carrick, Scholes, Cleverley, Pogba (coming through), Giggs (as he admitted that hes no longer physically capable of playing on the wing) and would add Jones (i think he would make a great DM). With Ando it's 7 players competing for a role in that CM position. As fans demand a CM transfer, somebody will have to go. On a side note, Rooney claimed that AM position, but I say he plays as good on the out and out striker position without preventing our attacking minded midfielders from showing what they've got.
