Anderson

Status
Not open for further replies.
When I think of Unstoppable I think of powerful players who's physicality and skill makes it difficult to play against and I think Ando definitely fits into that term. His strength and bursts of acceleration make it difficult for the opponent.

I don't think it necessarily means a player who can beat an opponent all on their own.
 
The difference between Cleverley and Anderson is quite varied. Whilst a lot of people underrate Cleverley (me not being one of them) a lot of people tend to over compensate and in turn overrate him. Find a balance in between and then you'll have Cleverley.

The one thing about Cleverley that sets him apart from all our other central midfielders (Scholes aside) is his intelligence. As long as his teammates are on his wave length then he has the capacity to shine but I don't think he would be as effective if he were to play with lesser players who can't play the quick one touch play and anticipate his movement. You'll rarely see him take on driving runs, he would rather unlock the defence passing in triangles and finding gaps in space.

Anderson on the other hand, he's able to single handedly take the game by the scruff of the neck. He has the power and guile to drive the ball forward, the only midfielder in our team who can be in his own half with his back to the opposition and with a quick turn of pace completely bulldoze past his opponents and take the ball towards goal. He has the strength to win 50/50's and he has the tackling ability to win the ball back. He's not afraid to play the killer balls and is becoming more consistent with his long range over the top through balls and he can spray a ball diagonally as well as Scholes.

That's what I mean about dominating and being unstoppable because on his day in his position he is unplayable and if he shakes off these injuries he should be the first name on the team sheet IMO ahead of all other midfielders.
 
peterstorey said:
Pure fantasy. I have never seen Anderson do anything of the sort in 5 years at your club.
Click to expand...

Sometimes he doesn't play at his best granted. But please don't talk about fantasy, I have seen him do it many times.
 
Anderson is not a " great " player by any stretch of the imagination. He hasn't done consistently well, ever.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
Anderson is not a " great " player by any stretch of the imagination. He hasn't done consistently well, ever.
Click to expand...

Consistency has been his biggest problem, but to dismiss him is stupid. I'm not saying you're dismissing him btw. For one reason or other, whether it be his injuries or consistency he hasn't fulfilled his potential yet but I do believe there's a great player in him.
 
He's been consistently inconsistent... If that counts?

He's been very promising when he's been fit over the last 12 months. But that's all it still is with Anderson. Promise.
 
Genius Me! said:
Consistency has been his biggest problem, but to dismiss him is stupid. I'm not saying you're dismissing him btw. For one reason or other, whether it be his injuries or consistency he hasn't fulfilled his potential yet but I do believe there's a great player in him.
Click to expand...

Genius has it just about right.

I think even "peterstorey" would concede that Ando has shown flashes of brilliance. He may not have the stamina we'd all like to see but he does have a very high octane engine while he's still fresh and moves the ball quickly and accurately with near fanaticism.

That said, we know the obvious:

Ando is injury-prone and even when healthy, he's inconsistent.
Ando underperforms as a finisher.
Ando lacks the stamina required of a top class midfielder.

But if you give me a healthy, fully fit and in-form and confident Ando, you're giving me an outstanding footballer. If he could somehow find his shooting boots, you've given me a world class midfielder. I can't wait to see him come back and help up haul in at least two trophies this season. Fukk that...I want three!
 
Genius Me! said:
Consistency has been his biggest problem, but to dismiss him is stupid. I'm not saying you're dismissing him btw. For one reason or other, whether it be his injuries or consistency he hasn't fulfilled his potential yet but I do believe there's a great player in him.
Click to expand...

Anderson has 2 problems even when he is at his best - he can lose the ball in dangerous positions and his positioning is never good defensively. Having said that - he has improved in both areas the last 8-10 times I have seen him.

Cleverleys problem (as I have stated before) is partly that he has a tendency to hit 2-3 absolutely horrible passes each game (which usually ruins a good counter-attack) and partly that he as well can be slightly poor in his positioning defensively
 
lysglimt said:
Anderson has 2 problems even when he is at his best - he can lose the ball in dangerous positions and his positioning is never good defensively. Having said that - he has improved in both areas the last 8-10 times I have seen him.

Cleverleys problem (as I have stated before) is partly that he has a tendency to hit 2-3 absolutely horrible passes each game (which usually ruins a good counter-attack) and partly that he as well can be slightly poor in his positioning defensively
Click to expand...

Every player can lose the ball in dangerous positions, Carrick has done it many times, Scholes does it nowadays. I can't remember which game it was when he was playing this season but it was late in the 85th minute where he ran the course of the pitch and put in a very good last ditch tackle. He has tackling ability but I don't want to see him in this position. If he was allowed to roam free in the attacking third interchanging with Cleverley him and Carrick sitting in the holding position I think we'd see the best out of him.

To get the best out of Anderson I think we need to allow him to do what he wants to do (within reason of course). Of course when we don't have the ball then he should have a fixed place or area that he will need to occupy to keep formation, but when we do have the ball I think he can be the master of the football pitch if used correctly. Again this is all assuming he finds his top form and stays injury free.

peterstorey said:
Anderson has never 'grabbed a game by the scruff of the neck', he usual blows up after 70 minutes in CM. Facht.
Click to expand...

Ill give you that granted, but there's many times where he's the best player on the pitch. From the way you're talking it doesn't appear to me that you watch every single minute of our team play and I don't think you can really give a fair review on Anderson.
 
I think the whole 'grab a game by the scruff of the neck' thing has little place in modern football, at least at top teams anyway. For a player to do that they have to be the sole creative fulcrum of a team. And the only players who have been like that in recent years are Schneider at Inter during their Treble winning season, and Christian Eriksen for Denmark and Ajax.

Teams like United, Madrid, Barca et al rely more on a schematic way of dominating games. Some players will obviously benefit the most from the systems and stand out above the rest, but you rarely ever see completely dominate the ball on all phases like Eriksen does for Ajax. And the only reason that happens at Ajax is because relatively speaking, the Ajax squad has less quality than any of the top sides.
 
peterstorey said:
Anderson has never 'grabbed a game by the scruff of the neck', he usual blows up after 70 minutes in CM. Facht.
Click to expand...

Quite.

Here's one example, for your delectation and delight: dominated a near full-strength Chelsea team in the League Cup despite the fact that we started a much-weakened side with youngsters like Wootton, Keane, and Powell and second stringers like Buttner and Fletcher. We were in the lead and in control until he was taken off in the eightieth minute for Ryan Tunnicliffe, and we lost all control of the match and conceded three extra time goals. Anderson assisted all three of the goals we scored when he was on the pitch, and was very unlucky not to get another assist and a goal of his own.

In the match ratings thread, these sorts of things were said about the performance:

Anderson - 9 - Absolutely class. Power, drive, composure and precision passing. Just why we paid the money for him. What is even more enjoying was he was doing it against good players, not Chelsea's kids.
Click to expand...

Anderson - Brilliant. Chelsea have reported him for a brutal attack on the space.
Click to expand...

Anderson 8 - Three assists from him, and he almost scored a goal. Our best player tonight.
Click to expand...

Anderson - 8 Really bizarre decision to unallow him just as Chelsea were being forced to leave him in more and more space
Click to expand...

Anderson -8.5 - Brilliant. Also against a proper midfield n not a league cup one.
Click to expand...

Anderson - 9
Click to expand...

I can do the same thing for lots of performances. Let's be clear again: I'm not arguing that he's good, because these performances are all too rare, and his injury proneness is the level below Hargreavesian. But there's no doubt that he's dominated some good teams and some difficult games in his time with us.
 
peterstorey said:
No, you can't - otherwise you wouldn't choose a half-arsed league cup game.
Click to expand...

I think he chose that game because it was one of his most recent matches. Do you really want us to dig through all the posts just to prove a point to you? You're views on Anderson are slightly narrow minded.
 
peterstorey said:
My view on Anderson is that he's wide-bodied and not a CM. This is sheer nonsense about his stunning performances , he's done pretty much feck-all apart from a couple of cameos in 5 years.
Click to expand...

You're very mistaken but were just going round in circles so ill leave it at that.
 
peterstorey said:
No, you can't - otherwise you wouldn't choose a half-arsed league cup game.
Click to expand...

Wow, for a WUM you don't half bite easy. How about a famous demolition of another top Premier League team? 8-2 put you through it, but...

From the post-match ratings thread for the 8-2 defeat of Arsenal:

Anderson - Boss - 8
Click to expand...

Anderson - Mature performance. Good passing. Set up 1st goal - 8
Click to expand...

Anderson 9 Great assist for the first, controlled the game.
Click to expand...

Andow: 8 Excellent - bossed the game and was all over the park.
Click to expand...

Anderson: 8: Simply brilliant. Positional play getting better. Great midfield control with Cleverley and what a pass to Welbeck. Xavi like
Click to expand...

Anderson - 8.5: Growing with every game. Brilliant scoop for 1st goal.
Click to expand...

He and Cleverley bossed Arsenal's three-man midfield, and were at the heart of everything we did that day that led to such a complete demolition of your team. To put those comments and ratings in context, incidentally (lest you claim that a United forum isn't a fair way to judge a player's performance), one poster noted that in general the ratings were incredibly stingy:

Win 8-2, average team rating 6.29. Only on the Caf.
Click to expand...

If you want another couple, I can provide. There are more Arsenal ones too.
 
He has always seemed to do well against Arsenal, seem to remember him been a big part of a midfield free in 2009 when we met them in the CL with Carrick and Fletcher when the latter was in the form of his life. That midfield 3 was amazing and so exciting until Fletcher had his obvious health problems and Anderson continued his bad luck with injuries.
 
Eboue said:
:lol:

How can "simply brilliant" be an 8? Whoever wrote that is a weirdo.
Click to expand...

The ratings threads always seem to be at their weirdest after great wins. People gush in the comments but brutally underrate in the actual ratings to try and compensate.
 
That Charity Shield against City on second half. He and Cleverley took the game to their strides, and totally bossed the midfield.
 
peterstorey said:
Pure fantasy. I have never seen Anderson do anything of the sort in 5 years at your club.
Click to expand...

Then you should watch us more often, he done it against your lot once or twice
 
Peter is right, Anderson isn't what some here would like to think he is.
It's debatable that he would get a game in CM at other top clubs, I doubt He would to be honest.

He is a good player but not brilliant.
Right he has had a few brilliant games over 5 seasons but not nearly enough.
And please nobody mention the word potential, he is here a long time now.
 
When on form he is the most physically imposing CM option we have at present, this will tend to elevate his standing.
 
Only reason Anderson is not already a top central mid because of his injuries and thus the stop start career.

Its clear to see he is talented. Peter will never rate Anderson even if he was the BPITW.So why are you wasting time arguing with him?
 
peterstorey said:
My view on Anderson is that he's wide-bodied and not a CM. This is sheer nonsense about his stunning performances , he's done pretty much feck-all apart from a couple of cameos in 5 years.
Click to expand...

Peter, I can see why you'd want to slag Ando, but this is a classic case of a player who shows us some pretty good stuff but then gets cut down with injury, over and over. It's real easy to have a laugh at him.

I've never been a huge fan of Ando. It seems obvious to me his injuries are a result of his poor conditioning and, shall we say, nutritional intake -- which to me unfathomable. But others and even you have acknowledged that he's put in some incredible performances over the years. Way too few, no doubt, but his natural ability is there for all to see. At least for those with honest eyes willing to see it.

Give the man a four month without even so much as an ingrown toenail and I guarantee he would hang with Yaya Toure, Marouane Fellaini and Jack Wilshere.
 
McGrathsipan said:
Peter is right, Anderson isn't what some here would like to think he is.
It's debatable that he would get a game in CM at other top clubs, I doubt He would to be honest.

He is a good player but not brilliant.
Right he has had a few brilliant games over 5 seasons but not nearly enough.
And please nobody mention the word potential, he is here a long time now.
Click to expand...

He's only 24, can't be that many midfielders that young of better quality.
 
McGrathsipan said:
Peter is right, Anderson isn't what some here would like to think he is.
It's debatable that he would get a game in CM at other top clubs, I doubt He would to be honest.

He is a good player but not brilliant.
Right he has had a few brilliant games over 5 seasons but not nearly enough.
And please nobody mention the word potential, he is here a long time now.
Click to expand...

He is not incorrect to an extent but he is definitely not right. He has a habit of exaggerating the negatives of our players. I guess it gives him some kind of solace when looking at his beloved Arsenal team.

I concur with the second part of your post. Anderson, injuries or else, hasn't fulfilled the potential that he showed when he joined us 5 years back. Due to his style, he runs out of gas around the 60 minute mark in most games and still hits some of his passes too hard for my liking. I believe he would be best utilized as the most advanced player in a midfield three. I am in no way saying that he cannot be used in a two but his ability to last a full game without declining in quality is still very much a question mark. I don't know what heights can he reach by staying fit for a considerable length of time but we'll never know his true quality unless that happens.

Rafael has turned it around this season despite his doubts. I hope Ando does the same and Peter has to eat a crow, again.
 
peterstorey said:
My view on Anderson is that he's wide-bodied and not a CM. This is sheer nonsense about his stunning performances , he's done pretty much feck-all apart from a couple of cameos in 5 years.
Click to expand...

You are insane. He has dominated your midfield several times.
 
McGrathsipan said:
Peter is right, Anderson isn't what some here would like to think he is.
It's debatable that he would get a game in CM at other top clubs, I doubt He would to be honest.

He is a good player but not brilliant.
Right he has had a few brilliant games over 5 seasons but not nearly enough.
And please nobody mention the word potential, he is here a long time now.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly adamant that's because he isn't a CM, when he's fit he's a workhorse though, and does put in a shift. Box to box style of play, but his main strength is taking the ball around half way and moving forward. Cleverley and Carrick are much more suited to actual midfield roles in term of possession, and movement of the ball. I don't think you can deny that Anderson does bring something to the pitch that no one else seems capable of though, his movement with the ball going forward is actually very impressive, and always has been.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.