Bad Berba's Back

[Carl]

He's been prrrrrrrrrretty shit in the last few games, drifting in and out contributing very little on the whole. Performances very similar to the ones he's put in throughout his time at the club.

Come on Dimi, we know you've got it in you!

 

[Devil may care]

He hasn't scored for six games but I thought his overall play has still been good except for today, his work in creating our winner against Stoke was excellent.

 

[Allforone]

He was poor today but i wouldn't say his last few games have been poor, thought he was very good at Stoke last week and linked up very well with Hernandez, just had an off game today nothing really went for him.

Probably his only genuine bad game of the season, but thats the thing now unfortunately, hes quietened the haters down for a while but all it takes is one offish performance and already people will start getting on him again (not saying you are for the record), which is a shame as if nothing else its shown what the love of the fans has done for his confidence this season.

Especially with Rooney out for another month or so we need to get behind Berbatov, some big games coming up and one poor display today shouldn't eradicate the excellent stuff hes given us this season.

 

[esmufc07]

He was excellent v Stoke last weekend.

 

[Bearded but no genius]

One 'bad' game, and it starts...

 

[lem8sh]

Was very good at Stoke last week, he's been consistently good this year

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

Erm....he hasn't scored but his link up play has been great. He was shite today but I think he's allowed a bad game here and there.

 

[Saliph]

We was poor today, but come on let's face it, our midfield is not at the standard is should be.

 

[B Cantona]

He got everyone onside this season with goals

The goals have dried up. Worse, he hasn't particularly looked like scoring for a while

That's always how a striker will be judged. He needs a goal soon

 

[R.N7]

I thought it was very harsh to sub him off so early yesterday.

I can barely recall him having any chances to score since the Liverpool game that he didn't create for himself, there was one sitter vs WBA though. Decent against Valencia, Sunderland, Stoke & WBA without scoring.

 

[Carl]

I didn't think he played well against Stoke at all. I'm clearly in the minority mind....

He was involved in some of our better plays but wasn't as involved as he had been previously and as involved as he should be given he's now the focal point.

 

[Allforone]

In all fairness neither of our frontmen were up to much today, they didnt really have a lot to feed off, Hernandez was very quiet to, Carrick and Fletcher were in more destructive get about spurs midfield mode than creative mode whilst Park and Nanis best play came more via their individual efforts than creating for the front pair.

I wouldn't worry about Berbatov at the moment, he's never been a striker who seems to fret over going a few games without scoring and in truth he's never been at club level at least a week in week out finisher, he's said himself so many times he takes as much pleasure if not more from creating a goal as much as scoring himself.

 

[Boss]

He has not been scoring but he's been playing very well so far this season. NOBODY should be able to take that from him after all the stick he has got in a United shirt.

So far I'm very happy

 

[SiYuan]

No history of back injury, if I recall.

 

[beller2000]

i wish he had more of a bulldog like approach!

 

[Bread]

What a complete load of bollocks.

One poor game after being probably our most consistently impressive forward and he's right back to being Jason Roberts.

 

[Carl]

What a complete load of bollocks.

One poor game after being probably our most consistently impressive forward and he's right back to being Jason Roberts.

You took it too far Bread..... too far.

 

[Commadus]

11 games, started 10, 1 came on at start of second half
6 goals
2 assists

That's still a one in two record. Even in his best season for Tottenham he got 15 goals so I expect him to get about that much this season.

 

[madhed]

In all fairness neither of our frontmen were up to much today, they didnt really have a lot to feed off, Hernandez was very quiet to.

I thought Hernandez was all over the shop today. Picking up balls in the midfield and defending from the front. He's got a keen eye for those nicels packaged through balls does our Chicharito.
I would put him in my top 2 players in red today.

 

[Hitchcocker]

I didn't think he played well against Stoke at all. I'm clearly in the minority mind....

He was involved in some of our better plays but wasn't as involved as he had been previously and as involved as he should be given he's now the focal point.

Same here. I was shocked that most people thought Hernandez should have come off instead of Berbatov.

 

[CentreForward]

Berba was less involved today, than he usually is. But so was Hernandez, before Berba came off for Scholes.
Any of the games before, he was excellent, whether he scored or not.

 

[evra]

Berbatov is completely selfless on the field, never going for glory when a better option is available, unfortunately the rest of the team doesn't seem to share his ethos. Park was guilty on at least two occasions of going for a difficult shot when Berbatov was wide open in the middle of the box waving his hands frantically, the service to him is pathetic and people complain when his scoring record is 1 in 2.

 

[CentreForward]

Berbatov is completely selfless on the field, never going for glory when a better option is available, unfortunately the rest of the team doesn't seem to share his ethos. Park was guilty on at least two occasions of going for a difficult shot when Berbatov was wide open in the middle of the box waving his hands frantically, the service to him is pathetic and people complain when his scoring record is 1 in 2.

Yep. I made the same comment in the match day thread.

 

[sglowrider]

Berbaflip

 

[Treble]

Berbatov was one of our better players vs W Brom, and he was our most creative player against Stoke, and easily at that. Watch the game again if you have some doubts about that. Nani, who has been our best player this year, was poorish vs Stoke, created very little and lost the ball on numerous occasions. In the last month, our midfield hasn't been at his best creativity wise. Nani has been a bit selfish and the other midfielders have been quite uncreative. And this has reflected on Berbatov's goalscoring record. Hernandez's goals in the last weeks weren't exactly created by our first choice midfielders. Two of them came after deflections, Vidic assisted for his first goal last Sunday, and Gibson, who isn't first choice, assisted for his winner on Tuesday.

Berbatov had a poor game yeasterday. Still, no forward in England has scored more goals from open play this season. And only Anelka has scored more goals in all compets. Even Drogba's scored less goals in all compets. Tevez scored as many as Berbatov, two of them from penalties though. Let's keep some perspective here.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He was dreadful yesterday. His worst game of the season, by far.

Decent against Stoke, though, so no need to panic.

He's basically doing exactly what he did last season. A very strong start followed by a slight dip. The only difference is that last season this dip coincided with Rooney hitting a terrific run as a lone striker while Berbatov missed a few games with a knee injury, then took a while to get going again.

Of course, the really big difference is he's had better luck in front of goal which completely changed the redcafe narrative. Because a few shots went in earlier on that might have gone past the post last season people are actually being patient and allowing him, shock horror, to have a bad game or two without trotting out all the "Berbaf lop" shite.

 

[Feed Me]

He was very, very good against Stoke.

 

[noodlehair]

He suffers when Scholes isn't on the pitch at the moment as he either has to drop ridiculously deep to get the ball or feed off hospital passes. Yesterday he was sticking to the latter. He's been linking up with Nani a lot this season too and that didn't happen because Nani was in mongtard mode for about 87 minutes.

Hernandez was similar. His movement was top class and sharp for the whole game, but there was no hope of anyone more than 5 yards away from him spotting the pass in time.

 

[Sunny Jim]

He was excellent v Stoke last weekend.

true. (and that comes from a Berba basher after all )

 

[DFreshKing]

Berbatov is completely selfless on the field, never going for glory when a better option is available, unfortunately the rest of the team doesn't seem to share his ethos. Park was guilty on at least two occasions of going for a difficult shot when Berbatov was wide open in the middle of the box waving his hands frantically, the service to him is pathetic and people complain when his scoring record is 1 in 2.

Very good comment, but I think he needs to not look so pissed off when the ball doesn't come.

He also shoots sometimes when a pass is on, did it yesterday.

 

[kouroux]

wtf ? Even if he didn't in previous matches he was still playing well.Yesterday was a shit game for him but it happens

 

[Fletcher's Jilted Lover]

Six games without a goal isn't great reading...But I'm just glad hes starting regularly now, it's definitely the most confident hes ever been in his time here.

 

[RedThaiDevils#7]

I'd start a thread like this if he misses a few decent chances and if he has played piss poor, for me he was far from that and he still is the best CF we have if we want someone to hold the ball up front.

 

[Randall Flagg]

He was dog shite yesterday. But in his non scoring games he has played well (not amazingly well but acceptably well) against Stoke, West Brom and Bolton. So it is not panic stations yet. But as mentioned he needs a goal and quite rightly that is how he will be judged.

What he really need is a CL goal. His record in that comp is terrible really. Celtic 2008 being his last goal (only his 2nd CL game for the club) This really needs to be addressed. So he really needs to start against Bursapor this Tuesday

 

[HsJ]

He was ok yesterday. Marginally shit, but nothing to be worried about because he's been good for a while now.

The one thing I would say about Berba is that he takes the pace right out of the attack.

Obertank + Nani and Hernandez looked lethal with their pace, backed up by Scholes appearing later in the box.

 

[TheMancRedDevil]

Must say, I've noticed a bit of the bad Berba creeping back in for the last few games. What was noticably different about him during pre-season and the early part of this season (when he was excellent) was the way he was playing with a smile on his face and instead of going into his little hissy fit mode, he just laughed things off when they didn't go to plan.

I noticed last week against Stoke he was giving it out to one or two of his own players (Hernandez especially at one point) in the same way he used to give it out in previous seasons (Nani seemed to be his favourite target most of the time).

I think he's going back to his old ways unfortunately. The shitty attitude is back and I find that having a shitty attitude tends to manifest itself with things not going your way.

 

[HsJ]

Must say, I've noticed a bit of the bad Berba creeping back in for the last few games. What was noticably different about him during pre-season and the early part of this season (when he was excellent) was the way he was playing with a smile on his face and instead of going into his little hissy fit mode, he just laughed things off when they didn't go to plan.

I noticed last week against Stoke he was giving it out to one or two of his own players (Hernandez especially at one point) in the same way he used to give it out in previous seasons (Nani seemed to be his favourite target most of the time).

I think he's going back to his old ways unfortunately. The shitty attitude is back and I find that having a shitty attitude tends to manifest itself with things not going your way.

Tend to agree with this sort of thing, now you mention it.

 

[B Cantona]

Ay I mentioned that point elsewhere during Stoke, his attitude to his young team mate was rancid. Credit Hernandez, he didn't let it put him off his game

I can't stand players acting like brats in a United shirt

 

[Red Defence]

Must say, I've noticed a bit of the bad Berba creeping back in for the last few games. What was noticably different about him during pre-season and the early part of this season (when he was excellent) was the way he was playing with a smile on his face and instead of going into his little hissy fit mode, he just laughed things off when they didn't go to plan.

I noticed last week against Stoke he was giving it out to one or two of his own players (Hernandez especially at one point) in the same way he used to give it out in previous seasons (Nani seemed to be his favourite target most of the time).

I think he's going back to his old ways unfortunately. The shitty attitude is back and I find that having a shitty attitude tends to manifest itself with things not going your way.

Doesn't sound much different to Rooney when he's having one of his poor spells.

 

[Dyslexic Untied]

I thought it was very harsh to sub him off so early yesterday.

I can barely recall him having any chances to score since the Liverpool game that he didn't create for himself, there was one sitter vs WBA though. Decent against Valencia, Sunderland, Stoke & WBA without scoring.

It was a bit harsh, and I thought at the time that it was the wrong sub.

Not worried about Berbatov, he has been playing fairly well all season, but had a quiet game last night. Still an important player for us.