I dont think Fergie lied. He was saying the truth in my opinion. Like mentioned in here before as well, he saw Berbatov as someone who can still dig his way out of trouble and re-invent himself. It didnt happen. And I suppose it will never have happened anyway as he is not the person to play our 'new' kinda football. It was kinda a 'hoping' answer. He didnt get what he had hoped for.
Berbatov | Fulham player
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I dont think Fergie lied. He was saying the truth in my opinion. Like mentioned in here before as well, he saw Berbatov as someone who can still dig his way out of trouble and re-invent himself. It didnt happen. And I suppose it will never have happened anyway as he is not the person to play our 'new' kinda football. It was kinda a 'hoping' answer. He didnt get what he had hoped for.
That's actually a fair point. We haven't actually played that quick paced style regularly since the start of last season (which was some 5 or 6 games). The Everton game was one time when we did so and it was one of our best attacking performances in a long long time only to be undone by useless defending.
I'll be honest, this is one period where I'm not really sure where the United way of playing is headed. We start a season playing one way, hit a few bumps and then transform into a completely different side for the rest of the season. One style involved quick short passing exchanges and a very high intensity overall game with fullbacks (and sometimes centre backs) bombing forwards and getting involved. When I saw that I saw that this could be something special. Then we changed completely to a slow, cautious approach where we wore teams down gradually. There are so few similarities between the two it's amazing.
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exactly - haven't noticed lightening counters or lightening anything since berbatov last played and have made the point elsewhere.
Sorry but. Berbtov is the one central forward we've had for a few years now who hardyy ever gave the all away. Infact give away man in chief is usually Rooney. Especially when he is just a bit off form.
spot on - he probably loses less possession than either Rooney or welbeck as I pointed out to this chap, below
why don't you read properly and address the point instead of making silly remarks and and implying that I said I was clever? Anyone trying to make out the player has behaved improperly really has issues understanding basic concepts of decency or fair play.
When the player was repeatedly told he was an important part of the squad, yet left on the sidelines and often not even the bench, really points to Fergie being dishonest. Nobody admires or supports SAF more than I do but I can only suggest that he was keeping his options open whilst leaving Berbs in limbo, whilst he monitored Welbeck's progress, probably for the overall good but SAF hasn't come out of this very well. From initially sanctioning us overpaying Spurs, not using the player to his strengths and finally the shabby way he treated the player and kept him on, needlessly for another season when he could've sold him for a higher fee and also save a year's salary. To criticise berbs is to criticise Fergie's choice in signing the player in the 1st place. Did he not watch the player before he signed him? All this "lazy" and "slow" cliched bullshit is just that. His workrate has been proved to be well in keeping with the average and he can do more with thought and technique that several other players won't manage with endless huffing and puffing, not to mention umpteen sideways and backwards 5 yard passes.
We'll move on and it won't hurt United because Fergie knows what he's about. He just didn't handle this one very well.
To me the issue is the playing staff we have is completely divided. There are a bunch of players who only seem able to play the high energy way, a bunch who only do slow and steady and precious few like Rooney that can do both. It means the team looks at times like a bunch of strangers or lost as to what they should be doing. After Wembley 2011 it seemed that the Boss wanted to try to replicate out first 10 minutes of that match in every game but then realised the squad wouldn't allow that and went another way. We've been stuck between both approaches ever since. At times pressing, at times playing like a c.95 Italian team sitting off and regrouping in our own half. It's hard to see the philosophy of the team at times and if you were Berba I reckon you'd have thought 'this is the fast style I'm not pacey enough for? Don't seem fast to me..'
wonder who Rooney will nip outside with, for a quick fag now?
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I don't really get what was wrong with what he said to deserve the rolleyes. Berbatov wasn't treated like shit, he was treated like a professional footballer, and for that he was paid very handsomely. All just common sense really, hardly a need to start dishing out rolly eyes.
right
exactly - haven't noticed lightening counters or lightening anything since berbatov last played and have made the point elsewhere.
spot on - he probably loses less possession than either Rooney or welbeck as I pointed out to this chap, below
why don't you read properly and address the point instead of making silly remarks and and implying that I said I was clever? Anyone trying to make out the player has behaved improperly really has issues understanding basic concepts of decency or fair play.
When the player was repeatedly told he was an important part of the squad, yet left on the sidelines and often not even the bench, really points to Fergie being dishonest. Nobody admires or supports SAF more than I do but I can only suggest that he was keeping his options open whilst leaving Berbs in limbo, whilst he monitored Welbeck's progress, probably for the overall good but SAF hasn't come out of this very well. From initially sanctioning us overpaying Spurs, not using the player to his strengths and finally the shabby way he treated the player and kept him on, needlessly for another season when he could've sold him for a higher fee and also save a year's salary. To criticise berbs is to criticise Fergie's choice in signing the player in the 1st place. Did he not watch the player before he signed him? All this "lazy" and "slow" cliched bullshit is just that. His workrate has been proved to be well in keeping with the average and he can do more with thought and technique that several other players won't manage with endless huffing and puffing, not to mention umpteen sideways and backwards 5 yard passes.
We'll move on and it won't hurt United because Fergie knows what he's about. He just didn't handle this one very well.
Agree with you 100%.
Let's be honest, the few times he played, he slowed the game down to an even slower pace than we normally play. He would come deep, collect the ball, look around, complain about the lack of options, and pass the ball back or sideways and saunter off again.
I was thrilled when we bought him, but the last couple of seasons, he just did not play like a player who should have realized his place in the team was on the line.
I was thrilled when we bought him, but the last couple of seasons, he just did not play like a player who should have realized his place in the team was on the line.
I can see why he was frustrated...and I can see why he's a little bitter. He was the top scorer in the country and then left out of a European Cup Final and dropped the season after.
I can also see how he might not have fitted into Fergie's plans for the side. Shame, I enjoyed watching him play.
Nice that he left until after he moved to voice such anger mind.
I can also see how he might not have fitted into Fergie's plans for the side. Shame, I enjoyed watching him play.
Nice that he left until after he moved to voice such anger mind.
I think the plan is to play the one-touch stuff. Or rather, to play that way till we get a two-goal lead, and then shut up shop, like a sophisticated European side.
The problem is, to play that way requires a lot of confidence. You have to believe that if you go for the one-two you'll get the return and another player will be in position for a one-touch pass. And that even if it does go wrong, a swift but brutal Balkan rape will then commence in defence.
It's a self-reinforcing thing - once we'd played the first two games of last season like that, it started looking easy. But when our entire defence and much of our midfield then got injured, and we got smashed at home to Man City, that confidence evaporated.
I'm sure the players turned up at Goodison the other week wanting to tiki-taka their way to a 2-0 lead and then sit on it for a pointlessly nervy half-hour. But after a few minutes they're thinking, "Hang on, we're not taking the piss here. We're having the piss taken out of us, in fact, by a man that resembles an electrocuted beefeater. Right, panic stations."
It's so bizarre how such a minor part of Manchester United's recent history has become such a cult hero. If the sadness/outrage to contribution ratio of Berbatov applied to the Ronaldo transfer I'd fear that half this forum would have ended up hanging from a Bannister.
Brown/O'Shea deserved far more sympathy considering they had a far greater contribution.
Of course he was repeatedly told he was an important member of the squad. The last thing you want is a sulking striker because he is being kept against his wishes. Is this deceitful? Probably. But Fergie's job isn't to be as honest a Football manager as possible, it's to be as successful a Football manager as possible.
The best thing for the squad last season was to keep Berbatov in case Welbeck didn't fit in or Rooney got injured and Fergie achieved that to the benefit of the squad. In terms of saving a year of his salary and making more money, again if he felt keeping him was worth more than this (which he obviously did) then it was worth it.
Fergie obviously felt Berbatov's style would add to us being the best team in the world (which we were at the time). Unfortunately like any person, after a few seasons persevering, he realised it was a mistake. Whether it was Fergie's mistake for not recognising that Berbatov might not adapt, Berbatov's for not adapting or Fergie's for trying to get him to play a different style is now academic.
Quick, someone make a video tribute to Berbatov. I wanna see all those sexy touches and flicks.
agree re: Sheasy but not Wes.
As for the rest, agree with all that (more or less) and Fergie has to employ a bit of expediency for the overall good. As a result, I find it difficult to be over-critical of him even if I think he could've/should've handled it much better. I think Berbatov was a fair bit better than generally given credit for. A lot of the criticism thrown at him could be equally thrown at others but.....we move on. As the great man says: "the bus is moving and you have to get on/stay on" or something like that. If the good of the team is the outcome, then that's the way it goes.
But that, for me, is an issue. To make any footballing philosophy or vision truly work you have to persist with it and be patient. Perfecting a style of football does not and will not happen overnight. You can't flip flop between styles in that manner. If you believe in one then you have to inculcate it fully and at all levels.
Barcelona spent 2 seasons in the wake of one of the poorest Real Madrid sides to win the league title before they spent all comers. Sure, Guardiola make some important tweaks to the system and was generally a big improvement over Rijkaard who was mis-managing an incredible bunch of players, but even in those two years they stuck with their style of play. They would dominate possession pretty much every game but teams would kill them on the break. It was imperfect for sure but I don't think they would have seen the success that followed if they had abandoned their possession based game in that period.
This is very true but a great shame it didn't work out for him nonetheless. I was more excited about his transfer than I had been for many years
Tribal Football - Man Utd
Sept. 6, 2012, 2:20 p.m.
Fiorentina are demanding new Fulham signing Dimitar Berbatov reimburse them for the wasted plane ticket they paid for on Friday
Sept. 6, 2012, 2:20 p.m.
Fiorentina are demanding new Fulham signing Dimitar Berbatov reimburse them for the wasted plane ticket they paid for on Friday
I agree. We spent 30m on a player who was hardly the most effective or hardworking on the pitch. I kind of feel sorry for him and things could have done better (ie we should have sold him last season). However the problem is not United but his style. No big club can afford a lay back and slow striker upfront anymore unless he's a hell of a finisher.
Yeah but can you expect him to change at 29? It's like expecting Van Persie to become a Drogba suddenly. Fergie and his staff have to take the blame for him not being the best fit. Also, we changed our tactics half way through his time here. I don't think anyone is siding with Berbatov per say. It's just an unfortunate situation where anyone in his position would feel a bit aggrieved.
Of course not. As I said, I feel sorry for him. He would have been a magnificent player during the 90s when players like him (Cantona, Baggio, Savicevic etc) ruled the world. Its a shame that such type of player is being relegated to teams like Roma and Fulham but unfortunately that's were football is heading to.
Regarding 'blame' well, I sort of agree with you. However no one expected back then that the Spanish style of game was so effective to revolutionize the football world.
Same here Erica. I really thought Fergie would've got the best from him and he'd've complimented Rooney. Sadly, not to be but a new phase beckons and Kagawa and RVP look promising on top of what we already have. At least it's never dull.
Let's not forget who we support here.
I loved Berbatov (apart from that semi-final penalty miss). He is a classy player who scored some important goals and seems like a real decent guy off the pitch aswell but if SAF thought it was in the best interest of the club to keep him here last season as backup then he was it doing because he wanted to win another title for us supporters.
Some of us seem to be fans of players nearly ahead of the club
I loved Berbatov (apart from that semi-final penalty miss). He is a classy player who scored some important goals and seems like a real decent guy off the pitch aswell but if SAF thought it was in the best interest of the club to keep him here last season as backup then he was it doing because he wanted to win another title for us supporters.
Some of us seem to be fans of players nearly ahead of the club
Very much so.
So true.It seems to be the theme on here.
Scored two in the first half vs WBA.
Yep, a sweet shot into the corner of the net and the second from the spot.
G'wan the Berb
Berba-lovers, it's on!
Missed a header as well from around the penalty spot. Great play from Kacaniklic for both goals, assist for the first and penalty against him for the second.
Top player. Hope he has a successful year
He better do else Sir Alex will be blamed again
Are you not watching the Utd match?
Oh dear .Guess he scored then.
Good stuff Dimitar
I still find it hard to believe that a player like him couldnt make it in a team like ours
They were showing the Fulham match back home because of Berb so I was watching Utd online paralelly. Why you asking Randy?
Very happy for him.Come on Berba !!
Wait, Berbatov scored two? I thought he was finished
Seriously that's sweet to hear, keep up Berba.
Seriously that's sweet to hear, keep up Berba.
According to Kamara he put the penalty away as if he was putting a penalty away. Impressive