versa said:
I don't think Berbatov played well today or made any meaningful impact for the team but he was not as bad as some put it.
Still, I think there are also some valid genuine concerns from fans alike, generally speaking, especially after fluffing 3 chances in midweek for his previous game before this. Besides, 3 months have already passed so he is not exactly 'new' in our set up anymore. And of course, he is not new to EPL or the teams that we play.
Personally, I prefer to wait till the latter stages of the season....
Ronaldo could not have been "the worst of the lot". He was our only threat!
Did Ronaldo even have a shot today? He was very, very quiet. Today I was even asking him to be more selfish as at times it seemed as if he just didn't want to take it past Clichy, so he'd cross it to Rooney and Park - not exactly the best threats in the air.
Berbatov set up the chance where Ronaldo pulled the ball back and Rooney skied it, he also, when under alot of pressure, managed to keep hold of the ball and played it out wide, usually to Park. He did a lot of quiet things that kept the ball rolling.
I'll watch the match again tommorow on MUTV but there were loads of times where he'd put the ball through to the wings, only for them to fluff the cross or get tackled, or something of that nature.
He also won the ball a lot aswell. I remember this especially because I kept thinking "when he wins it back why is he always passing to Evra".
He had a decent game, no worse than Rooney and Ronaldo, who had zero end product, the only bit of 'magic' that Rooney did was the shot which Alumina saved to his right hand post, Ronaldo decision making was poor (remember the run where he could have shot ons of times but he kept running with the ball?)
tbh we never carved them wide open apart from in the first 10 minutes or so, but most of our chances started with Berbatov.
Berbatov isn't a 'finisher' or 'predetor'. Thats not why we bought him. Fergie wanted someone to slow things down up top, a player who was ver composed and could create many chances for his teammates - Berbaotv is doing all of this.
We also have to remember that Berbatov is playing 'in the hole' right now - he won't score a couple of goals a game doing this. If we're critising him for his poor finishing then why haven't we got a thread with about 10,000 posts critisizing Rooney and Tevez's finishing? The amount they missed last season, and still miss today* and quite frankly embarrasing. Ronaldo saved them from being very embarrased last year.
Berbatov created more chances than Rooney and Ronaldo, he won the ball back more, and didn't miss as many sitters today as Rooney did.
Why is it that Berbatov is getting most of the stick? Because he cost £30M? We have to remember that Fergie said so himself that we were forced to pay more than we wanted.
If everyone thought they were getting a clinical finisher type of player then they have clearly been watching the wrong Berbatov for Spurs. He is playing like he always had, but with more work ethic.
Like I said, if people want to start a thread compaining about Berbatov after today then there should be one about Ronaldo's peformace, Rooney's performance, and Tevez's poor showing recently. Berbatov is being used as a scapegoat and its unfair IMO.