Andy Mitten article about Anderson in ESPN

[Revaulx]

What do you mean that he read in the press? He trained under LvG so he very much experienced him. The training methods showed on the pitch and he got a top class player in Di María and made him question if football was really worth playing. Awful manager near the end.

Well yes, but he got rid of Anderson right at the beginning of his tenure. And rightly so, as he'd been crap for most of the previous five seasons. And yet that was apparently LVG's fault.

Great interview however and some colorful anecdotes from NAndo. I wonder how he would have turned out had he not been converted.

Do you mean from an out and out attacker into a box to boxer? I'm not sure it would have made him any less injury-prone, or better accommodated his limited fitness. And he looked really good fleetingly in a midfield two, despite being alongside Cleverly. I don't remember him ever being forced to play as deep as Pogba was doing against Southampton.

Whatever. I was very sorry it didn't work out.

 

[ChaddyP]

Shed a slight tear reading that. Great interview

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Shed a slight tear reading that. Great interview

Yeah. Made me revisit early years..
Things used to be so so good!

 

[Lay]

What a guy. So many brilliant quotes

 

[iHicksy]

I loved Ando when he was great, he was a world beater in centre mid some games. But feck me Ando, things you would have done differently...."I would have done more for me". Christ, I thought pretty much everything he did was for him. Was really expecting a "keep myself in shape". It's pretty clear he as an obsession with food and is oblivious to his lack of fitness.

 

[Jaybomb]

Any excuse to post this again

 

[RedIke]

Also.... Him knowing his English was shit. Saying things like "my car no fly"

 

[MadDogg]

Any excuse to post this again '

That is just fantastic.

 

[Slevs]

Captain Batata

@McLovin

 

[Macern]

He’s probably my favourite united player ever

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

That LVG bit is very damning.

Yeah,he's got nothing against Moyes but he's pretty brutal about LVG.Our style of play was abominable...

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

I loved Anderson. Really wish he'd have kept up his early promise and became a legend at the club but he played his part in a great side and has the medals to show for it and is probably set for life so suppose he's done more than most players could dream of. Seems a cracking lad.

 

[el3mel]

He nailed it on the head regarding LVG, that's what most if not all of us were feeling at this time.

Overall he was a flop but I'll remember him for the Penalty in 2008 final, was a nice guy and had some good moments here and there but sadly it was'n enough and he never reached what was expected from him.

 

[Foxbatt]

The man bossed the midfield against Gerrard and Fabregas probably the best midfield players in the PL at that time. He was an attacking midfield player who SAF tried to convert to a holding midfield player. His partnership first, with Hargreaves and later with Cleverly was very good till Cleverly got injured. Then Ando got injured and never recovered his form. We should also remember that he had a horrific injury even before he came to United.
What many people seems to forget is his involvement in many a memorable goals United scored when he played. The Berbatov trick against West Ham, it was Ando who made the pass to him.
The thrashing of Arsenal, it was Ando's flick to Welbeck that started it. SAF do not play players regularly if he thinks they are no good.

 

[Neilwij]

Really good read. Used to love Anderson as a player. Shame he never reached his full potential but still had a damn good haul of medals. At times there were moments when used to be absolute class and thats what ill always remember him for. "killing Arsenal"

 

[Jordi]

Should have never given him a Wings loyalty card.

 

[BenjaminP]

Miss this little Brazilian.

 

[Foxbatt]

He is very difficult to be tackled. Holds the ball very well and has pace and can dribble. If only his shooting and his long range passing was up to the mark he would have been a top player.

 

[SalfordRed18]

Was he? When? He was mostly really average in his first season and largely just got worse from there.

He cost us €30m, one of the world's most expensive teenagers at the time, winner of the Golden Boy, supposedly footballs' next big talent. When did he ever look like being that talent? I seriously can't think, he had a few sporadic good games for us and one decent month in 11/12 which people seem to look back on as if he was the omega when he was just playing well along with everyone else in the team (including Tom fecking Cleverley). I mean the guy didn't score a goal for us for something like four years!

Anderson should go down as nothing other than a massive waste of money and talent. He contributed sweet feck all in his time here to justify all the chances he got and the injuries and fitness issues the club put up with from him. He was a total waste of space.

The weirdest thing is that he never actually looked remotely as talented as he was made out to be. He couldn't shoot or finish for shit, his fitness was shite, his tackling was crap, his passing was risky and rarely found its man. His dribbling was decent I guess, but he never looked anything like this world beating talent we were supposed to be getting. Nani always looked like the far more talented player out of the two.

Didn't read the whole past because you made up history in your opening paragraph. Anderson was awesome in his first season.

 

[jem]

he can feck right off, he was 99% useless for us and by all accounts seemed to have a dire attitude. not sure why he feels the need to give these shitty interviews now, he has nobody to blame but himself.

but i'm sure some will still say "worth every penny for the penalty".

Strange level of bitterness here.

 

[Ed9]

Don't get the love in for him. Couldn't get himself fit and looked lazy and fat after first few seasons. Thank you for the penalty in Moscow but he was a failure here.

You've answered yourself I think.

 

[fcbforever]

Was he? When? He was mostly really average in his first season and largely just got worse from there.

He cost us €30m, one of the world's most expensive teenagers at the time, winner of the Golden Boy, supposedly footballs' next big talent. When did he ever look like being that talent? I seriously can't think, he had a few sporadic good games for us and one decent month in 11/12 which people seem to look back on as if he was the omega when he was just playing well along with everyone else in the team (including Tom fecking Cleverley). I mean the guy didn't score a goal for us for something like four years!

Anderson should go down as nothing other than a massive waste of money and talent. He contributed sweet feck all in his time here to justify all the chances he got and the injuries and fitness issues the club put up with from him. He was a total waste of space.

The weirdest thing is that he never actually looked remotely as talented as he was made out to be. He couldn't shoot or finish for shit, his fitness was shite, his tackling was crap, his passing was risky and rarely found its man. His dribbling was decent I guess, but he never looked anything like this world beating talent we were supposed to be getting. Nani always looked like the far more talented player out of the two.

Breno was a waste of money. He didn’t set the world on fire, only his house.

 

[Maradona10]

I was so hopeful, he would just burst out as a world beater. I think his leg break and those knee ligament injuries fecked him well. Loved the player, hope he has a good life after football.

 

[FootballHQ]

Always thought he was overrated. Never really had a stand out season like Nani did who was also widely criticised for first 2-3 years.

That said a good open interview. (First time I've actually heard him speak English).

Most interesting bit for me was when he was talking about the game at Wigan and wanting to play behind the striker but SAF put him in the Carrick position.

That was surely a problem, trying to mould him into a deep lying defensive midfielder when he made his name at Porto as an attacking right sided player.

Then after 2010 it was a case of "Anderson.....he still plays for Man. United?!"

 

[ravelston]

Always thought he was overrated. Never really had a stand out season like Nani did who was also widely criticised for first 2-3 years.

That said a good open interview. (First time I've actually heard him speak English).

Most interesting bit for me was when he was talking about the game at Wigan and wanting to play behind the striker but SAF put him in the Carrick position.

That was surely a problem, trying to mould him into a deep lying defensive midfielder when he made his name at Porto as an attacking right sided player.

Then after 2010 it was a case of "Anderson.....he still plays for Man. United?!"

So you've forgotten about the start to the 2011-12 season? And, come to think of it, his 26 games in 2012-13.

Someone else has observed that he played well in excess of 150 games for United - hardly likely that SAF would have given him that many games if he didn't think he had a lot to offer.

He suffered two major injuries - the broken leg before he joined us and the ACL in 2009-10 - in both cases he probably came back too quickly (a function of our abysmal medical staff - Hargreaves anyone?). After the ACL he had chronic knee problems - he could play for 6 or 8 games but then the knee was shot for a while. Overall he was good for us even though he didn't fully realise his early promise - the injuries made sure of that - but, when he played, the class was there to see. One of my favorite players in over 60 years of watching United.

 

[Ubik]

I think people in England need to give a bit more love to Rooney, to protect him more [...] He's more respected in Brazil. We know him as crazy English guy

Still remember the day he and Nani signed, was glorious! Spent the next few weeks when I should have been revising imagining how we'd fit this "new Ronaldinho" into the side... Didn't quite work out like that despite occasional false dawns, but ah well.

 

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Yep, still eating well here in Brazil:

 

[Toad]

Been released from his contract.

 

[SirAF]

Yep, still eating well here in Brazil:

That face

I just skimmed through the new edition of the Scandi Supporter's club magazine. Andy Mitten's column this month was about United's communications director Phil Townsend - he apparently said to Mitten after his interview with Ando: "Did he tell you about the time he tried to bribe a waiter to have food delivered to his room even though we had ordered him to eat less?"

Just proves that the fat jokes definitely had roots in reality

 

[Ish]

That face

I just skimmed through the new edition of the Scandi Supporter's club magazine. Andy Mitten's column this month was about United's communications director Phil Townsend - he apparently said to Mitten after his interview with Ando: "Did he tell you about the time he tried to bribe a waiter to have food delivered to his room even though we had ordered him to eat less?"

Just proves that the fat jokes definitely had roots in reality

 

[Catt]

Any excuse to post this again

My god, the look on his face

 

[SirAF]

My god, the look on his face

What a character

 

[Skills]

That face

I just skimmed through the new edition of the Scandi Supporter's club magazine. Andy Mitten's column this month was about United's communications director Phil Townsend - he apparently said to Mitten after his interview with Ando: "Did he tell you about the time he tried to bribe a waiter to have food delivered to his room even though we had ordered him to eat less?"

Just proves that the fat jokes definitely had roots in reality

 

[Catt]

Was he really fat though? I'm not so sure.

 

[Catt]

What a character

Indeed. Still amazing how long he lasted at United.

 

[SirAF]

Was he really fat though? I'm not so sure.

Not in terms of a normal person, but for a pro athlete he definitely wasn’t in as good shape as he could/should have been. Basically confirmed by Mitten’s anecdote too.

 

[sunama]

Yeah this weird cult around Anderson baffles me to be honest.

He was rubbish for the vast majority of his time here and incredibly unprofessional. How he managed to stay at Utd for 8 years is beyond me.

The same can be said for Luke Shaw, who IMO, he is the new version of Anderson.
Overweight.
Has good natural ability, but doesn't take advantage of it.
Seems content to sit on the bench or not even make the match day squad.

 

[Charles Miller]

My god, the look on his face

 

[JohnnyKills]

he can feck right off, he was 99% useless for us and by all accounts seemed to have a dire attitude. not sure why he feels the need to give these shitty interviews now, he has nobody to blame but himself.

but i'm sure some will still say "worth every penny for the penalty".

Yeah agreed.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Never ceases to amaze me how vile some of our "fans " can be to our ex players

Probably not good enough for us but played with a smile on his face and loved the club

I always remember watching the players doing a lap of honour after winning a title and most as usual just milking every moment with there kids / family on the pitch ( understandable ), but remember Anderson dancing along then taking his shirt off running to the side of the pitch and presenting it to a little girl in the crowd , absolute class thing to do ! Good on you Ando you will always be welcome back

And that's enough is it? To smile and love United? If that was the benchmark then every one of us would deserve to play for them.

He may be a nice guy but he wasted his talent and should have been so much more. He had to be taken off in games because he wasn't fit enough to finish them, even though he was earning 30-40k a week to kick a ball around.

If it's "vile" to expect people to do their jobs with the minimum of professionalism then I'm vile as well.