Berbatov | Fulham player

gbgary

...is alive.

Rado_N

I thought he did well when he came on.

Sunny Jim

did nothing of note.

acnumber9

Kept possession better up top than Rooney or Welbeck and we looked more dangerous from the moment he came on.

Snow

I can't assume that. It's poor management given how much Hernandez and Welbeck have been out of form. Welbeck today managed his 8th league goal ever for United. Berba already had 7 this season in much fewer games. You think you'd want a player like that when competing for the title.

Whatever the reason is from our point of view Berbatov has acted well if he did something wrong, hasn't thrown a fit. No one has accused anyone of anything. SAF or anyone else hasn't made any criticisms.

It would be great if he'd stay if not only for the reason to show that football pundits and reporters are being paid for doing a nothing job.

Orton

He can trap a ball and bring others into play, something Hernandez is unable to do lately. That's enough for me

Lance Uppercut

He did.

kouroux

you tell us you're a football coach

Rado_N

We've agreed quite a bit of late.

I don't like it.

Randall Flagg

Did fine when he came on. Perhaps a kick up the arse for
Hernandez?

Hectic

He kept possession very well and brought others into attack. Considering Wayne's distribution through the game, who he was brought on for, I'd imagine that was exactly what he was asked to do.

Lance Uppercut

Neither do I. Look, it happened again.

kps88

Did exactly what we all know he's capable of doing. Neat touches, kept the ball, absolutely no urgency.

Would have been interesting to see him come on if we needed a goal.

LLMU

Tidy in possession and more assured than rooney

ricky-romeo

nice to see him getting an appearance again, even for just 15 minutes...

Ash_G

Tbh I genuinely think he's been written off early. Even if he's not a fast moving player in keeping with the others around him, that precisely could be what we need as he's completely different to everyone else. Also I reckon that if we gave him some time in the current team he might surprise some people. I still think that part of the reason he struggled in the past is that we didn't have enough people getting beyond him. That's changed completely now, even scholes/carrick, whoever is in the middle are much more actively breaking forward and I think that would play right in to his hands as it would allow him to drop off.

Oh well though, hope he gets some more time before he leaves.

EricaNo7

Would have been a good option v Wigan

Bape

Berba already proved his worth during the christmas period of the season, but was dropped when Welbeck returned from injury. Theres not much he can do more to be honest, it just seems like SAF has lost interest in him and would prefer to blood the youngsters even if they are somwhat inconsistent.

acnumber9

When teams come to Old Trafford to camp in the penalty box as we've seen in recent weeks Berbatov's clever play is a lot more useful than pace in behind.

mariachi-19

You mean like Nani who created a good chance for Berbatov and slotted a fantastic goal?

We were 3 goals up against Aston Villa, thats best chance came from a piss weak Heskey header. I very much doubt he was given a specific role. He should have been on there to have some fun and say goodbye to the fans.


Although it was close to 3 in the morning, I should have said 'with regards to the useless sub comment' I was more angry at the fact he came on when Carrick and Scholes were both nursing yellow cards. I said as much in the match day forum. You could see neither was interested in going after the ball and with Everton next weekend, it really isn't worth the risk of one being suspended.

charlenefan

Personally given the fact that not only did he make the bench after weeks of being a glaring omission from it but also being put on to replace Rooney no less I'm going with that he's actually been injured all this time rather than just being overlooked.

Damien

If Berbatov had an injury it would be reported somewhere and he has been pictured in training photos from the 6th of April and earlier. He was frozen out but I'm glad he was on the bench and had a bit of playing time today. I thought he did well.

charlenefan

Was that full training though? For all we know he may have had an injury and was only doing minimal work on the training pitch. Makes no sense to freeze him out completely but bring him back now

Damien

I'm pretty sure it was.

It does make some sense as his absence coincided with Berbatov's agent saying that he has been told he will be leaving in the summer. With Hernandez and Welbeck not looking great on the goalscoring front of late I think that prompted Fergie's change of mind in bringing him back to the side.

charlenefan

I could maybe agree if he was kept on the bench but the fact he actually came on it just doesn't make sense to me why we'd do that if the player had previously been frozen out? It does however make perfect sense to me that we'd give him a cameo if he's just returned from injury (like we did with Nani)

mariachi-19

Fergie doesn't seem to trust Berbatov at all. I imagine the only reason he was on the bench now was because Welbeck and Hernandez are struggling to score and we might as well throw him on there as he couldn't be any less of a goal threat at times.

If Hernandez and Welbs were in good form, he wouldn't get a look in at all I dare say.

Damien

Berbatov was last on the bench against Fulham (26th March). It was the 18th/19th March when it was confirmed that he would be leaving this summer. He had been on the bench once or twice previously but wasn't called off it and before today his last game was in the 2-1 loss to Ajax at home (23rd Feb). I think around that time Fergie decided that was it for Berbatov (probably even decided before that) and since then he's been frozen out or on the bench but not playing any games.

If Berbatov did have an injury - and one that had kept him out of action for several weeks - it would have been reported somewhere, somehow but there has been no mention of any injuries to him either on PhysioRoom or elsewhere.

I'm with marchi. If Welbeck and Hernandez were in good form we wouldn't have seen Berbatov play for us again. It's sad but true.

Rood

He didn't have an injury - he was clearly just not selected. It is a testament to the strength of our squad that the likes of Berbatov and Park are not even certain to make the bench at the moment.

He did fine when he came on but difficult to read much into his appearance today as the game was already well won by that point. This kind of cameo has the feel of being put 'in the shop window'.
If things had not gone to plan and we needed a late goal, would Fergie have bought on Berba? I seriously doubt it

EricaNo7

I don't understand why you seem to dislike him so much ?

Sunny Jim

i agree with you- taking Carrick and Scholes off should've been Fergie priority.

mariachi-19

Because his style annoys the shit out of me and mostly for the fact he use to constantly berate the likes of Nani while some of his 'berbatov's' performances were sub par.

I could forgive Ronaldo and Rooney for berating others because you knew they'd bust an arse to win United a game and they were proven winners time and time again. They'd move to latch onto balls they had to bust a gut to get to and then pull something out of nothing.

Berbatov for the most part played with a half arsed languid approach and then had the audacity to abuse others because the ball wasn't delivered at his feet how he wanted it. At one point in the title run in 09/10, Scholes put a nicely weighted through ball in and Berbatov couldn't be arsed to go after it, proceeded to turn around and abuse Scholes.

Then he made an absolute meal out of 3 chances '2 of which were easy' that lead to city winning their first trophy in 33 years.

He's consistently been a passenger in Uniteds final couple of months in the season since he came and for us, that's generally the business end. It's fine when you're at spurs and co where more often then not, your season is winding down with little to play for, but I expect more at United, and from a record signing.

It's getting to the point that at the end of his tenure at United, we've paid upwards of 50 million pounds for a sometime starter, most of the time squad player.

I wanted more and it only came for half a season.

mariachi-19

I'll be sure to remember your comment next time i'm cleaning my medallions. Or seeing three of my kiddies representing their state, and another two ripping the piss out of their A division seniors competition.

Randall Flagg

I try not to enter Berbatov discussions anymore. But I never got why so many seem to adore him. He has become something of a cult figure at Utd.

His 1st two seasons were pretty horrific and many defended him almost to a point of obsession. It was crazy and used to infuriate me. He had his excellent half a season last season and faded badly and had a couple of good outings this term too.

But that is it. I would at best give him a very generous 6/10 for his four seasons with the club.

We all need to move on from it now. These threads reading back made many of us look silly. Both those defending him and those criticising him.

Annihilate Now!

I enjoyed the rare Berba sighting yesterday... and it was nice to hear a loud chant of his name (one of the loudest chants of the day actually).

marjen

He wasn't horrific in the first couple of seasons. His contribution was fairly good in the league, both goals and assists wise. Last season he played well almost every time he was called upon.

A couple of poor performances in the big matches skews people's impression of Berbatov. I think he's a big time confidence player, who lacks the drive to win, at least in the extent Ferguson wants. That's why he's down the pecking order, not his lack of ability. And his four seasons with United have yielded very good statistics, it's just that he's never looked like the record-signing who would give us another dimension, which was what Ferguson obviously hoped for.

mariachi-19

The problem was that his performance only came in short spurts and not consistent. One week he'd look like a really top player, for the next 4 he'd miss simple chances and look like he was wallowing in self pity.

I don't think Berbatov has ever had it mentally to be a big expensive fish in a big successful pond, and there is no shame in that. Some players spend their entire career and only go close. Berbatov regardless can hold his head up and say he contributed to some form of United's success.

MUFCgal

Berbatov was only on for a short while, but he kept the ball more than Rooney did the entire time he was on the pitch. I actually lost count the number of times Rooney gave the ball away. But no, let's pick on Berbatov instead.

Or maybe SAF wants to give him his 10 appearances to make sure he's eligible for a PL medal, before he leaves us.

Randall Flagg

yesterday was his 11th league outing. So his medal was secure anyways

Nathan

It was good to bring him on, i hope that he has a role to play in the next four games. It would have been good for him to get a goal yesterday.

I wish him much success in the future as i believe that he still has lots to offer in football at the very highest level.

RedLars

This. Coolest guy in football since Cantona! Such a shame that he never reached his full potential with us, but that's the way it goes sometimes.