It never ceases to amaze how you feel the need to jump into every Berba thread to repeat the same thing over and over. Troubling.
Has there been a player with a better first touch than Berbatov?
- Thread starter RedTillI'mDead
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Four years yesterday since that hat-trick against Liverpool.
Four bloody years! Where has time gone?!
Four bloody years! Where has time gone?!
I couldn't get a ticket for that game but made the trip up to Manchester anyway for the atmosphere. I'll never forget that third goal, fecking mental scenes.Four years yesterday since that hat-trick against Liverpool.
Four bloody years! Where has time gone?!
It's still Zidane.
I always liked him and he was capable of the sublime but that wasn't all that special.
Many Wife's will vouch for our Ryan...
Hope he becomes mates with Falcao and Rooney, that touch was perfect.
Now it might just be Isco.
Berbagol 
Isco has a better touch that Berbatov for me. He seems to control every type of ball effortlessly. Iniesta and Messi deserve a shout too.
Best first touch I've ever seen from a Spurs player (not saying much, but we did have Modric). Ronaldinho and Messi probably better but doing it at over 6 foot and with lazy shoulders and a shrug just looks cooler.
I think Iniesta and Isco have better first touch that Messi, not judging the feet alone, but Messi and Iniesta are something else when it comes to close control and dribbling. Isco can be that.
God I love Berbatov! My favourite United player after Keane and Scholes.
Astonishingly talented player.
Always loved Berbatov, we just didn't play to a style that suited him.
What a talent. I wanted him when he was on Germany, and used to talk about him all the time to my mates at school. Was over the moon when we signed him.
What a talent. I wanted him when he was on Germany, and used to talk about him all the time to my mates at school. Was over the moon when we signed him.
Berba's youtube highlights videos could be loaded on youporn
One of my favourite United players ever, despite him not being a significant part of our history. A joy to watch play, like watching Scholes pass the ball or Vidic defend.
Cant' help but feel that he cheated himself out of having a better career. Supremely talented footballer, but it just seemed like he refused to play any other way but the Berbatov way. At a top club, that attitude was never going to fly. It was no shock that he chose to go to Fulham over a great club like Juventus. Fulham would've allowed him to do as a he pleased because they were so enamoured with having a player of his quality in the team. That would've never happened at Juve and the same thing would've happened there as it did here, with him being on the bench. It's kind of a shame really, that his talent never got the recognition it deserved because he was never really a high profile player. The highest level he achieved was with us and that time isn't looked back with high regard by most people, in fact he's looked at as a huge flop here. Again nobodies fault but his, it's just a shame.
Cant' help but feel that he cheated himself out of having a better career. Supremely talented footballer, but it just seemed like he refused to play any other way but the Berbatov way. At a top club, that attitude was never going to fly. It was no shock that he chose to go to Fulham over a great club like Juventus. Fulham would've allowed him to do as a he pleased because they were so enamoured with having a player of his quality in the team. That would've never happened at Juve and the same thing would've happened there as it did here, with him being on the bench. It's kind of a shame really, that his talent never got the recognition it deserved because he was never really a high profile player. The highest level he achieved was with us and that time isn't looked back with high regard by most people, in fact he's looked at as a huge flop here. Again nobodies fault but his, it's just a shame.
Nothing surpasses the beauty of a player who just oozes elegance with a ball. The glamour he radiates on the ball is merely sublime. He has the appearance of a Bulgarian street robber but an elegant style of play like an elegant Bourgogne Chardonnay wine. Must…stop…fandom..
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Chardonnay wine has a style of play?
Would have been interesting to see him in 2011 Barca:
Valdes
Alves Pique Puyol Abidal
Iniesta Busquets Xavi
Messi Berbatov Villa
Alves Pique Puyol Abidal
Iniesta Busquets Xavi
Messi Berbatov Villa
See your point there. Was referring to his style of play being an elegance.... like an elegant wine
Messi is undoubtedly better.
What's the actual technique involved in brinding down a longball so softly like that? How is he absorbing so much energy from the ball?
Lots of training to make it instinctive, talent does the rest. I think his leg has to be "soft" when controlling the ball otherwise it just transforms the control into a pass.
Maradona, Messi and Ronaldinho for me, when it comes to first touch. Zidane and Zlatan not far behind.
The thing with Messi is that his first touch is so often unspectactular, so it's hard to gauge whether he has the "best" (how ever you would define this in the first place), but for my money he certainly has the most consistent first touch I've ever seen.
Still a nice player to watch.
On a slightly unrelated note: I've never understood why anyone thought/thinks van Persie could play the Bergkamp role as he aged.
Berbatov is much closer to having that style. His link-up play is on another level, in my opinion.
On a slightly unrelated note: I've never understood why anyone thought/thinks van Persie could play the Bergkamp role as he aged.
Berbatov is much closer to having that style. His link-up play is on another level, in my opinion.
Barba was a stylish footballer and a clinical finisher. It always surprised me how much stick he got for being lazy from the same fans who adored Law-man and Skip-Lou Macari. LVG would have turned him into CB.
I don't know if it's hard for others to see because of what you said but for me it really is too obvious.
What really sets him apart, imo, is how often he uses his first touch to turn and run with, even with high balls. Few others, if any, in the game who can do that as reliably as he does.
Yep, that's why I say "consistent" rather than "best". He does it almost without fail, regardless of the situation he's in. He's the only player I've seen whose team mates routinely pass the ball to in almost impossible situations, being surrounded on all sides in such tight spaces. Yet he rarely loses the ball due to an errant touch.
Watching him play is so....soothing. Genius
Doesn't that make hiim the best? I mean he's touch is so good he can take it in any situation?
Maybe you mean its not the most stylish?
Giggs had a magical first touch too, especially later in his career
Even though he's a little behind the very best, Mata's first touch is excellent. Probably the best in the league.
Sorry if that has been posted, but just wow.
At United, Giggs and Berba were the best I've seen.
Giggs could control those long diagonals on his thigh very well.
Berba could do just about everything, the long-legged astonishing ones which he plucked from the sky (and which youtube remembers well), killing dead the low fast passes pinged into his feet when he's under pressure, passing/flicking it or beating a defender with his first touch.
Yesterday also showed how good he is at keeping the ball. 43 passes over ~80 mins with ~85% accuracy for a forward in an away game is excellent. Won a few headers vs the CBs too. Berba-Sanchez would be a delicious front 2.
Giggs could control those long diagonals on his thigh very well.
Berba could do just about everything, the long-legged astonishing ones which he plucked from the sky (and which youtube remembers well), killing dead the low fast passes pinged into his feet when he's under pressure, passing/flicking it or beating a defender with his first touch.
Yesterday also showed how good he is at keeping the ball. 43 passes over ~80 mins with ~85% accuracy for a forward in an away game is excellent. Won a few headers vs the CBs too. Berba-Sanchez would be a delicious front 2.
My favourite footballer.. Sad it didn't work out with us..
Blimey. I find the outpouring of man love in this thread very strange. I think he got a lot of unfair stick during his time at United but was watching last night thinking he was showcasing all the more frustrating aspects of what we saw at United. Taking too many touches, slowing play down, pointless show-boating and a lack of physical strength. Was not an impressive performance at all IMO. Then he scored. After that he seemed to enjoy himself and the pattern of the game suited him a lot better. He's a joy to watch when he's on his game but he's proven himself to be a tier below the very best and his United career will also go down as disappointing.
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