Anderson

Nate Dogg

Where is the big man...injured?

OneUnited24

Last I heard he was going to start training a few days after young

Sean_RedDevil

He should be back in the squad for the Liverpool game.

He's back in full-training since last Monday according to Fergie.

Pogue Mahone

Got the dreaded "two weeks" update today.

A quick healer he ain't...

towcester_red

He is only half fit anyway, can never be too far from that level surely

Julian Denny

Let's forget about Anderson. We have Cleverley returning, Pogba now making a serious claim to fame, Jones, Carrick in splendid form, Giggs and of course the return of the one and only ginger prince. Sorry, but I'd rather see any of those in preference to the inconsistent, overrated "Ando".

kps88

Yeah he's not that big a miss at the moment. Especially as we're play 2 up top even in the big games.

Cold_Boy

Will need him for the rest of the season surely.

kps88

Don't really need him. He's a nice option to have, especially in a three man midfield. There's a whole bunch of players ahead of him in the pecking order for me. If you look at our last few games I don't think he would have started any of them if fit.

tintedsepia

Overrated - No! Inconsistent - Yes!

Cina

Don't need him?

Jesus, you'd swear he was shit going by people on here. He's fat & frustrating as fuck but he's still arguably a potentially better midfielder than any of our other young guns. (bar Pogba if hype is to be believed)

cw1984

What's even wrong with him? I don't remember him getting injured...

lem8sh

He's not shit, average is the word. And overrated, and fat and injury prone. But he's Brazilian and is a funny fucker so none of that matters

cw1984

Apart from "injury prone" the above post consists mainly of utter bollocks.

Anderson is not even close to being average. As others have said, his problem is performing at a high level on a consistant basis.

lem8sh

Oh I've opened a can of worms now

Varun_Utd

So much wrong with this. He's far from average. his problems lie with maintaining his high levels not the lack of it. Gibson was what you'd call average, not ando. He's very good when on song, the problem lies with his consistency.

cw1984

Hardly. You're just going over old ground.

Looks like a deliberate attempt at trolling to me.

Ban him ban him etc etc etc...

lem8sh

No trolling I genuinely don't rate him.

Varun_Utd

Thats alright but do you not rate him because he's inconsistent or do you not rate him because he's just average?

lem8sh

A bit of both to be honest. Can't shoot, positionally is quite poor, passing wise is so hit and miss its unbelievable and isn't the fittest lad in the world either. He shows snippets of genuine class once in a blue moon before fading into obscurity again. Why he's so highly rated among united fans I've never understood. I would love nothing more than for this thread to be bumped in a few years though with everyone laughing about how wrong I was.

dev1l

He was signed at the same time as Nani. Both were extremely talented but perhaps raw talents. At the time I considered Anderson to be the better of the two - perhaps I was influenced by the ******** that took place over here .

Fours years on, Nani has since emerged as probably one of the best players in EPL, while Anderson is still regarded as a promising player....

My impression is that over the last 4 years Nani has put in more effort than him..

Varun_Utd

Well, speaking for myself, i rate him as a very good talent. The reason being that i see in him a player with genuine ability to pass the ball, dribble with it and drive the team on from the middle of the park. His strength and ability to play the ball out of tight areas and move forward with it is very good.

The only trouble is his consistency levels. Can go from being very good to utterly poor in a matter of games. If he can work on that and improve it with age, he'l be a class player for us.

That said, i see us signing a CM in the summer. With carrick being in the kind of form he is and if clev can maintain his levels, ando needs to do it fast or risk missing the bus imo. Specially with SAF rating pogba the way he does

dev1l

I m afraid that might not be enough for him to make it at United

lem8sh

I can see where you're coming from definitely, especially with regard to his drive from the middle of the pitch which is definitely his best attribute for me. A cm signing in the summer would put a lot of pressure on the lad to perform, agreed.

RedDevilCanuck

He was actually very good in his first season. He got some starts in some huge games and did well. Looked a good tackler and we all know that he can dribble.

It's been said on here before and I really think he should be a left back or left winger.

Brophs

Why? Almost every time he's played wide left he's been poor.

Varun_Utd

Talent alone hardly ever is. He needs to improve, he knows that better than most i'd imagine.

tintedsepia

Think injuries have a part to play in this. Every season he is out for at least 4 months which doesn't help.

I think lem8sh is overstating somewhat as he shows genuine class for 7-8 games. IN those games he can control the game, the passing and was just starting to add goals to his game at the end of last season and this season.

Then he picked up an injury, then another one etc. I think there may be a completely different approach with regards to his fitness going forward as his conditioning may have something to do with his persistent knee injuries.

This is quite serious - we've had bad luck with injuries in CM - at the beginning of the season we'd sold O'Shea (ok - not technically a CM), Scholes retired, Hargreaves gone, Fletcher out, and then Anderson got injured. That's a hell of a list!

Hope we can bear with him but feel that SAF will say that unless he can remain fit on a consistent basis he is of no use to us and ship him out a la Saha!

RedDevilCanuck

He's only played there a few times.

I just think he has all the attributes. He is also very one footed and his passing in the middle of the park is very hit and miss.

He is strong and fast.

I just think a central player who shoots that badly shouldn't be playing there.

MPTutd

I think we should sell him and replace him with a specialist defensive midfielder.

Too many chances, and continues to let us down.

kps88

Err. Just to clarify, when I said we don't need him, I meant for this season. He won't be missed at all if he's injured for the rest of the season. Unless a bunch of our midfielders decide to get injured at the same time.

Cina

Why not? None of our other midfielders are great at shooting either, bar Scholes who doesn't do it anymore.

A lack of midfield goals isn't sn issue for us because we play 2 strikers as opposed to 3 midfielders.

I've not lost all faith in the lad, he still has it in him, I hope

Theon

In what way is Pogba making a serious claim to fame? His 20 minute cameo against Stoke? That’s slightly presumptuous, I think. Against Aldershot and Leeds, despite growing into the game, he didn’t especially stand out as deserving a chance in the fist team, I thought Morrison outshone him quite comfortably against Aldershot. That’s not to mention the issues with his contract which make it questionable whether he’ll even be here in a few years. Seems foolish to write off Anderson in preference of an unproven youngster, who isn’t even on a long term deal.

Also, what makes you so confident Pogba will be a success? Do you not think he will have a dip in form, or have a period of regression, like all youngsters do? He’s only a year younger than Anderson was when we signed him, but Anderson was by far the higher rated prospect, starting for Porto and starting for Brazil in the Copa at 19. My point is, if you think Anderson’s failed as a player and should be shipped out/dropped, then considering he was a superior player to Pogba at a similar age, what makes you have so much faith in Pogba’s ability? In reality I bet you were showing the same level of confidence in Anderson when we signed him, and similarly, if Pogba’s career were to stall in the same way as Ando’s you’ll write him off in the same fashion.

As for the Cleverly’s return being a reason to forgo Anderson, I think that’s influenced by Cleverly’s games pre-injury coinciding with the teams best performances. If you remember the games against West Brom, Tottenham and Arsenal, Anderson played every bit as good as Cleverly, he was actually better in my opinion and continued that form in the 5-0 against Bolton. Cleverly needs to play more games before proving himself fully, the games early on in the season aren’t sufficient to fully judge him on, because the whole team was playing brilliantly, especially Rooney, Young and Nani, which made his job much easier.

And as for writing off 23 year old Ando, in favour of 37 and 38 year old Scholes and Giggs, surely you can see how ridiculous that is? As good as those two are they aren’t going to stay forever and the club needs to carry on when they retire. Anderson’s shown glimpses of being more than capable of stepping up in their absence, and no doubt has the talent to do so, he just currently lacks that bit of consistency required, but that will hopefully come with maturity and the added responsibility of a consistent role in the first team.

Mainoldo

I can't wait for him to come back. Anyone that is glad Cleverley is back and doesn't feel the same in regards to Anderson's return is just retarded. The both contributed to our fantastic start and free flowing football at the start of the season.

Pexbo

Call him injury prone by all means but don't doubt his quality when fit. Have people forgotten his form early this season before he got injured?

Amir

Not giving up on him in terms of ability, there's something about him on his good days that makes the whole team better, more dynamic. But obviously there's the consistency issue, and just as worrying - fitness issues. He was out for a couple of months, came back for one or two games, and has been for for a month or so now again. And it's not like he hasn't had injury issues on a yearly basis...

cw1984

Well actually before he got injured he was a bit shit. He started the season fantastically though.

Pexbo

I wouldn't say he was shit at all. In fact the only "poor" game he had was the one against City where the result suggests a shocker when in fact it was the defence's fault for the score line and he was playing in midfield with Fletcher against Toure, Silva, Barry and Milner. Hardly a fair match up and more the fault of Ferguson, tactically speaking, in my opinion.

Cheesy

They may have both contributed, but some could claim that our free flowing football stopped when Cleverley was injured, not Anderson.

Cina

Great post.

It amazes me that people say we don't need him or that he's way behind the pecking order now because of a 20 minute cameo by a 19 year old and good performances by 2 37/38 year old veterans. Strange place this.