He should have left in the summer. Surely if he had requested a transfer it would have been accepted.
Berbatov | Fulham player
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He hasn't when he has played though Erica, and that is why he is not getting played now. If he consistently offered as much as Rooney, Hernandez or Welbeck then he would be played. The fact is he does not, and therefore he is not played before any of them.
I felt he was only be kept as second striker cover for Rooney, but even that has not panned out. SAF must believe that his all round contributions are not as beneficial to the team as those of the competition. It is the only explanation for why he is not being played, it is also why at this stage his Utd career has to be viewed as a massive failure.
We could have given him more than one and a half minutes though
When he was given a run of games in December, he scored something like 6 goals in 3 games. He's quality, but I do think he'll move on sooner rather than later.
Agreed, my point centres around the fact that he has not been used even when Rooney has been rested. This was a surprise to me as i thought at the time and sdaid as much, that there seemed to be no other reason to keep him.
What has been the point in keeping him really, when we could have sold him in the summer and bought someone who SAF actually wants to play? It makes no sense to me at all, i am completely baffled by SAF's thinking regarding Berba's situation.
Yes and tbh what i find most surprising is that in previous years he has been picked much more often despite looking much less enthusiastic.
The start of this season i thought he looked really lean and determined, his workrate increased dramatically, and he looked like he had pulled out all the stops to make a success of his time here.
for some reason, it just hasn't happened. I can't put my finger on it, because as i say he looks of more benefit now than he has ever been, so the real change must be in the opinion of the manager.
In that respect you can only conclude that he no longer believes in him, and therefore will not play him. Can only see us extending his contract in March to get a decent fee for him in the summer.
Why should he have left in the summer? Because you hate him?
He wanted to stay, and the club wanted him to stay.
He'll play him in lesser games. Been that way for a while because he didn't show up in big games.
Because as I predicted if he was to stay he would not get many games. It is basically a wasted season for him. Which is not what players would want at this stage of their career I would have thought.
He is obviously fine with it. So why are you bothered?
Players should not be fine with not even being bit part.
Players can make up their own minds. Or should Anderson, Hernandez, the twins, etc, etc, all be putting in transfer requests?
I was meant to say players at his age and experience should not be fine. Obviously its different with younger players
He is at the best club in the world. And despite what you think, he has a part to play. Why should he go and play for some shitty club?
Berba should have come on instead of Chicha. We needed some composure in the final third.
Same reason why Phil Neville, Brown and O'Shea left. To do their job and play regular football
If those 3 had wanted to stay, they would have been allowed. (Brown probably hung on a couple of seasons too many)
Agreed. Cheech deserved his game time at the end of last season, but for the game today Berbatov fully deserved to come on ahead of him - especially with Rooney out.
Possibly, still a bit of a strange one though. Why keep a player on such large wages to only play him in games that have the least importance? Makes little sense to me, so tbh i have stopped trying to get my head around it.
I have now simply accepted that his role is a lesser one, and while we probably will extend his contract in March it will only be to get a fee for him at the end of the season.
Those 3 players were all allowed to leave. SAF made it clear after last season that he wanted to keep Berbatov.
I am pretty sure Berbs would have been allowed to leave if he had asked for it
But like I said we need to agree to disagree. Our opinions on Berbs are very different
But like I said we need to agree to disagree. Our opinions on Berbs are very different
You can crawl back under your Berbarock now. 
So do I. I also feel we should never have signed him in the first place.
Because he didn't perform well in enough big games to warrant his exclusion now. He had his chances in big games. He didn't take them, so this is his role.
Don't you mean his 'warrant his inclusion now'? Anyway i understand why he now has a lesser role, what i don't understand is why we have kept him at all, if not as second striker cover for Rooney? It can hardly be suggested that he has failed this season, as his chances have been so limited, so therefore it must be his performances from last season which have led to his current exclusion. Or being poor in training this season, but i doubt that personally as we probably would have heard something about that.
Berba's wages must be fairly high, so why keep someone who costs so much, and then not use him apart from games of the least importance? It makes no sense to me to ever keep a player, who you have no real intention of using. Seems a waste to me, surely better to have a player you want to use, than one you don't.
He must be shit in training or something. Although Fergie did say he trains well.
If I were Berbatov I would be embarrassed. Welbeck was out of his depth out there. Didn't know when to hold the ball or run the channells.
I have always been pretty hard on Berbatov but to see him make a few minute cameos when our young strikers are struggling is hard to watch.
If I were Berbatov I would be embarrassed. Welbeck was out of his depth out there. Didn't know when to hold the ball or run the channells.
I have always been pretty hard on Berbatov but to see him make a few minute cameos when our young strikers are struggling is hard to watch.
He'd better play on Wednesday. Him and Welbeck have done quite well when they've played together this year and shown some signs of promise.
The whole thing baffles the shit out of me too. With no Rooney or Nani I thought there'd be a place for Berbs. I'd have played him from the start, but once the game settled into its rhythm it became even clearer, we needed someone who can conjure a bit of magic and berbs is that.
But like you say, there's no point in trying to fathom whats going on there.
He won the golden boot despite playing barely more than half a season because as soon as golden balls Rooney had decided we were, infact, good enough for him afterall, Berbatov was on the outer. Rooney has been between crap and peripheral for at least six weeks but still the sun shines out of his arse. Had he played yesterday he would've put in his usual non-appearance as is his habit on Mersyside.
I think SAF has treated him like shit, to be honest. Neither I nor anyone else on here know the full story obviously, but I really am baffled.
With hindsight it was a mistake to not bring Berbatov earlier in tne game. But it wasn't a big mistake by SAF, IMO. I mean, Welbeck scored 3 goals in the previous 3 games, he's been on good run of form lately. Hernandez doesn't seem to be in great form but he has scored 2 goals in our last 2 visits to Liverpool, such facts play a big role in Fergie's decisions. And we were drawaing several miniutes before the end of the game, which given the injuries to our players was a good result. So, it wasn't an irrational decision.
Berbatov was a bit unlucky with the Newcastle game. The team was shit in that game and barely created anything, Berbatov had one chance and hit the post. And that was his third game in a row in short space of time, his match fitness wasn't the best possible as he hadn't played a lot this season. SAF seem to have scapegoated him for the poor team performance against Newcastle. He'll get other chances though.
Berbatov was a bit unlucky with the Newcastle game. The team was shit in that game and barely created anything, Berbatov had one chance and hit the post. And that was his third game in a row in short space of time, his match fitness wasn't the best possible as he hadn't played a lot this season. SAF seem to have scapegoated him for the poor team performance against Newcastle. He'll get other chances though.
He's been poorly treated by Ferguson, he doesn't deserve this treatment.
feck off we might as well move rooney on then by your logic.
At face value you're right. However we don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
Couldn't agree more. A class striker, second only to Rooney IMO. Deserves much better.
You admit that you don't know the full story and yet are quite comfortable making the audacious claim that Fergie has treated him like shit. Baffling indeed.
Not baffling Raoul. Maybe wrong, but understandable. It's not the first time that a player appears to have been treated unfairly, and it's hard not to feel that Berbatov is getting a raw deal, because if a player isn't going to be used, you have to ask why. I doubt that Berbatov is happy with the situation and his talents are being wasted. This is time the player can't get back. If he isn't going to play, he should be sold, for his own sake.
Berba's backup for rooney. simple as that tbh. We went 4-5-1 at anfield and hence left him out. Also, i believe berba would have been sold in the summer had Sir Alex had a clue welbeck would have the kind of season he's had.
That's one way of looking at it Liv. Another is that over the past year and a half, Fergie has developed a real selection headache at striker and has chosen to groom Welbeck over Berba and Hernandez. The latter two seem to be taking it all in stride. Berba has been fantastic on the odd occasion he's played, but then so too has Welbeck, so its not really a cut or dry issue given that we don't know the hidden variables that are in play during training. Berba is 31 and probably won't mind collecting his weekly wages with minimal effort these days.
Back up for Rooney?
Apparently not. He didn't even get on as a sub.
Keeping him is plain selfish.
I'd be surprised if Berba doesn't mind - but that's where the 'maybe wrong' bit figures in my earlier post. Maybe he's happy to stay and not play, but that seems unlikely doesn't it?
Hernandez has a future at OT so is more likely to be happy to fight for his place. Berbatov's career is coming to an end. Does he want to spend what time he has left on the scrap-heap?
I really couldn't see the point of giving him two minutes - what was the point in that?