Berbatov | Fulham player

I'm one of his biggest supporters, but a few good performances don't really address the biggest issues with him in his time with us: too few big performances against top teams and the effect of his style of play on our overall style of play.

Hope he does brilliantly at Fulham. But we haven't dropped a clanger letting him go.
 
Cutch said:
Can't think of too many players that leave United that I really want to do well for another team. Delighted to see him doing the business at Fulham. Class player
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Absolutely this. Fantastic footballer who should be spending these years of his career playing week in and week out.
 
Brophs said:
I'm one of his biggest supporters, but a few good performances don't really address the biggest issues with him in his time with us: too few big performances against top teams and the effect of his style of play on our overall style of play.

Hope he does brilliantly at Fulham. But we haven't dropped a clanger letting him go.
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I think only a small handful believe we were wrong to sell him
 
What!! For what pittance we got for him! He is a fantastically gifted player and will be for many years.
 
Randall Flagg said:
I think only a small handful believe we were wrong to sell him
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And most of them say it without even trying to really reasonable.The move was the best thing that could have happened to him.It wasn't just about United, today he was smiling, he was happy playing football in a team where he is the leader of the attacking play.
 
Selling him was the right thing to do, but we underused him in the last season sometimes IMO. Seems to enjoying things at Fulham and showing his class there. Fair play to him.
 
He was fantastic for Fulham today, oozes class. Love to see him play so well, hope he has a great season and takes points off our rivals.
 
Absolute class today. His touches are just so sexy. Dominated the gooner backline today and basically has found a team that can be built around his genius.
 
I'm happy for him and we were right to let him go. Things didn't suit him here towards the end and he really deserved to be the main man at a decent club again. He's reminding people how much class he still has.
 
Randall Flagg said:
I think only a small handful believe we were wrong to sell him
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I think it was a win-win for all involved. I don't share your negative views on Berbatov, but the fact remains that RVP is arguably the best striker in the world and is a perfect fit for our style of play.

As for Berbatov (along with Scholes and Keane, my favourite ever United player,) he deserves to play every week, and Fulham is the ideal showcase for his talents.
 
Fulham is a great place for him, there is no pressure, something that, with the best will in the world, clearly affected him at Old Trafford.

I said that he was better than Fulham when he went there, but now I actually think they are the right kind of club for him to thrive at.
 
Unfortunately Berba exacerbated our zombie play, so getting rid has only benefited both parties. Definitely the right move
 
Could have told you he wouldn't fit at the club from when he was a Spurs player to be honest. Glad to see him doing well at a club which is probably just below his level.
 
Waltraute said:
Count me in!

Although I'm happy to see him playing regularly. I just wished he could play every week for us. A genius footballer -- I'll always regret we couldn't utilise him properly.
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Some players make the step up...others never look like United players. Look at RVP, he was born to be a United player, he's taken everything in his stride, whereas other players..perhap no less talented look like rabbits caught in headlights, or something...Berba, Veron et al fit into that category. Well, thankfully it's worked out for all parties concerned, we've bought a truly top class striker, and Berba has found a level where he's showcasing his obvious talent. Big fish, small pond syndrome.
 
I wonder whether SAF is drawn to sell players who have little desire to improve themselves; Berba's comments while at United ('This is how I play, I won't change') remind me of Nani's recent 'I'm still the same Nani'.
 
Crustanoid said:
Unfortunately Berba exacerbated our zombie play, so getting rid has only benefited both parties. Definitely the right move
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Notwithstanding how old that expression is getting, didn't our so-called zombie play begin during the second half of last season (at least according to the zombie hunters on this board?) If so, then how could Berbatov have exacerbated something when he was hardly on the field in the first place, or in the case of this season (when the zombie hysteria seems to have really ramped up,) when he's been playing for a different team.
 
Spoony Kobayashi said:
Some players make the step up...others never look like United players. Look at RVP, he was born to be a United player, he's taken everything in his stride, whereas other players..perhap no less talented look like rabbits caught in headlights, or something...Berba, Veron et al fit into that category. Well, thankfully it's worked out for all parties concerned, we've bought a truly top class striker, and Berba has found a level where he's showcasing his obvious talent. Big fish, small pond syndrome.
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Totally agree with this, and I've heard this "he just doesn't look or feel United" loads of times, especially by older supporters. Fantastic talent on his day. Things have worked out well for everyone involved. The best we could've wished for.
 
I think the issue with Berba here was that there weren't enough players getting ahead of him and that just didn't suit his game. He likes to drop off and so that requires others to get past him and with the midfielders usually very deep and the wingers usually fixed to their flanks there just wasn't enough movement, especially coupled with Rooney who likes to drop off.

When we did try slightly different teams such as with Hernandez and clev etc he looked a lot better, I remember the first half against Ajax, attackingly was very encouraging from Berba as the players around him suited his style.

It's funny with us experimenting with a more narrow system and the emergence of clev/ando as more energetic players looking to get forward and beyond the strikers and the addition of Kagawa of a similar mould, Berba probably would have fitted in better, but with the addition of RVP there was just no room for him and for me he's too good to sit on the bench.
 
The difference is that RVP has the speed and versatility to take up any role in the attack, so others can go beyond him and receive his passes from the left or right side.

Berbatov could only play through the middle and the players who are currently doing well supporting Van Persie are Rooney and Hernandez, two players who were here with Berbatov and who didnt have half the same chemistry with him as they are showing with RVP. Part of the reason we're having so much success going forward this season is that we're back to having an interchangable front line with lots of movement and that went out the door when we signed and played Berbatov because he's a rigid central player and doesnt have speed.
 
I dunno I think Berba would have linked up well with Hernandez and Welbeck but he rarely got a chance to play with either of them, certainly not often when we were full strength bar Rooney.
 
RVP hasnt been here long, you think that he's had more chances to play with Hernandez and Welbeck or something?
 
I've seen RVP and Hernandez scoring, haven't seen them exactly linking up much. Welbecks had one good game with RVP that I can think off, don't know how much time he and Berba spent on the pitch together, can't imagine it was lots though. I don't think you could say they both clearly play better with RVP than Berba, jus that RVP both fits in to our system better than Berba and is a better player. Given how varied Hernandez, Rooney and Welbeck are as players you'd think Berba could link up with some of them but when he was here it was primarily Rooney and x. Last season Berba barely got a look in, doesn't mean he couldn't play with any of them.
 
Yeah but he was here more than a season. And regardless of how many times he started next to Hernandez and Welbeck, and there were a fair few of those games, he was also training at United for what 4 years. You'd think if he had a good partnership with Hernandez or Welbeck the manager might have spotted it. As he's shown this season he's not against using Rooney in another role, which was a nice myth a while ago as for why Berbatov couldnt be playing in the team with Rooney.
 
He was brilliant today. Him and Ruiz could be at top four sides and play regularly. My personal view was that he was misused to a point at United, but it's just nice to see a player like that strut his stuff, even if it did have to be at our expense. Bastard.
 
I think moving Rooney left is something Fergie would only really consider when we have other really star players or strong form players, before we had ronaldo, now we have RVP. Berba isn't the same level as either. I'm not saying berba didn't contribute to his lack of games but he also wasn't given much chance towards the end and Fergie clearly marginalised him. In 10-11 he was top scorer but still got dropped in the second half of the season following Rooney's return and the emergence of Hernande. Last season he was just frozen out and Fergie clearly wanted to focus on Welbeck and Hernandez, despite neither really playing that much better than Berba, certainly wouldn't say Hernandez played better than him, but both linked up better with Rooney and were/are favouites of Fergie.
 
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