Always had a soft spot for Anderson, I think injuries did him in more than anything. He only performed in patches, but those patches were really good and always gave us hope for the next time. Martial does something similar these days.
Anderson - is he the 'real deal'? | Retires age 31
- Thread starter Jopub
- Start date
I know I’m killing the joke but I’m old an this went right over my head. What’s the reference?
A quote from this forum from about a decade ago. Its probably in the classics.
There was also a post about making a fizzy drinks bar with ms paint drawings that we ripped the piss out of for years until they started showing up.
I've got him on the 07/08 away. Bit of a tight fit these days though!
On you or him?
Thanks for the replies and context haha don’t worry I’m not a Boss regen. Can’t say he was wrong though…
I think if he came through now as a 19 year old with those characteristics of having a good first touch, change of pace driving with the ball and big physical frame he would have been much more successful. He was quite press-resistant and able to turn away from his opponent if they got too tight. His best games and period of play came when United had runners off the ball and legs in midfield next to him. That let him to roam forward more and open up gaps to link up with forward players. But pressing just didn't happen as heavily in those days and especially not the latter years of Ferguson's Utd. So instead he ended up in a lot of games playing low risk football because he didn't have the creativity of Giggs to unlock defences with through balls (Giggs tried that a lot and most of the time was unsuccessful but he never lacked courage to try) or the expansiveness of Scholes to switch play with sweeping long passes to the wing. From memory he never quite did so well with Carrick because Carrick had a lean patch of a couple of years where he was criticised a lot by fans for being too sidewards and backwards which coincided with Anderson being in and out of the team through fitness and not being in Ferguson's good books.
Loved watching him play. At his best he was brilliant. In that sense, he was a little similar to Nani in that his best was just about world class. Unfortunately, injuries and work ethic made it impossible for him to sustain a consitently high level. Such a great ball carrier, and I wonder if there has been a central midfielder in the PL with better acceleration? He was just electric on those first few yards, good top speed too, but he could really get away from defenders when he wanted to.
Yeah, but the Carrick criticism has been proven time and time to be completely false. The guy played just about more forward passes than bloody Xavi for crying out loud. It took Scholes and a few others to tell our fanbase (me included) how great Carrick was.
It annoys me when players and fans want to blame everyone else for someone's poor performances. Anderson was at times brilliant, and he could've been a world beater. Ultimately, it comes down to hard work, and I'm not sure he had that in him? Stop blaming everyone and everything and focus on yourself. It was always someone else's fault that Pogba didn't perform either. Complete rubbish.
He looks incredible there. We didn't see enough of this. We're talking one or two standout performances a season, which just wasn't enough.
I remember being very excited for this guy. It just never happened, or it didn't happen enough. Having to wait three seasons for his first league goal was...certainly something. He scored 5 league goals in his entire time at the club, which I can't believe. I found it very odd what we tried to do with him. He came in presenting as one thing, and then we tried to use him as something else, which emphasised the parts of the game that he hasn't strong enough at. In the end, he turned out to be an ok signing that didn't really excel in any areas.
Brilliant first season followed by an unreal spell in mid-2011 and late 2012. Other than that seriously underwhelming
Generally I agree in the bigger picture but it wasn't completely false. He was great in 2006/07 and 2007/08 being quick on the ball moving it forward, screening the defence very well and having a very good passing range. 2008/09 he started to sit back and that was the year Fletcher came into his own as a tenacious engine who covered every blade of grass, dominated big games. 2009/10 and 10/11 Carrick was where he faced the most criticism for being ponderous and dillydallying on the ball and weak when put under pressure and I think after he retired he himself alluded to that being a period he worried about being sold and being in a bad head space.
But without the injuries or the pies.
Oh, we're overrating Anderson now too?
Cool, cool.
He was alright.
Cool, cool.
He was alright.
He was basically a one man midfield when most teams during that time was playing 3 in midfield.
It’s ridiculous how we’ve never signed a midfield partner for him all the way till he retired.
Don't think anyone is overrating him, but many, including me, thought he could be brilliant to watch. His top level was fantastic, and his drive with the ball quite unique. However, his workrate, injuries and other issues mean that he was overall never more than, as you put it, alright.
I still remember there had been a few games where he forned an exciting midfield partnership with Cleverley out of nowhere, it was like Barca tiki taka on roids. Pity it didn’t materialize later on.
Carrick might have played safe at times, but I really do disagree with him being ponderous on the ball. If you look at his compilations, he mostly lets the ball do all the work, and mostly he uses one or two touches. One to set up his body and another to pass. I think he is in fact one of the least ponderous players I have watched once I started to analyse him more. He very rarely kept the ball for long at all. He kind of became one of my least liked players to one of my favourites because of how brilliant he was at what he did. He wasn't fast (although certainly not as slow as some argued). He wasn't particularly strong in a tackle, and he wasn't great in the air for being such a big guy. However, his positioning both off the ball and with the ball was pure class. As Scholes said, Carrick was the reason why Scholes and others could play their game - he was a brilliant facilitator.
Throwback to an golden era.
I still remember a livestream on the Caf of some kittens mucking around and someone commented “look at how that kitten is attacking the space” and I snorted out coffee all over a Uni library PC and was asked to leave
Lazy ass