Dejan Savicevic
Baggio
Baggio
Has there been a player with a better first touch than Berbatov?
- Thread starter RedTillI'mDead
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Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
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Easily the best at Ball control
Yes.
Which game was that? Think I was there.
David Silva 
Zinedine Zidane & Dennis Bergkamp.
...but Berbatov's first tough has always been admired.
...but Berbatov's first tough has always been admired.
The same reason he was sold on the cheap, SAF undervalued him.
Good post. I think a lot of people subconsciously have more appreciation for players that don't have to exert a lot or much energy and still look completely classy. I certainly do.
Fellaini has a superb 1st touch. It's just the 2nd and 3rd touch which lets him down. The 2nd one is usually put out for a throw in, and the 3rd touch is an elbow to someones face.
Always knew Berba would be one of those players we'd all appreciate and drool over once he'd gone, because when he was here he was constantly getting bashed by fans.
True this. I think the contrast between how we treated Berba and Welbeck makes it no wonder we've eventually found ourselves in a position with no good world class players and having to splurge big cash just to get quality on the pitch.
Despite being an absolute marvel to watch, we treated Berbatov like rubbish because he didn't run blindly like an idiot. The man played in slow motion and still dumbfounded everyone he came across. He won us the league and the golden boot for himself with half as many opportunities as other players got. And he was just entertaining to watch. Every time he took a step in the wrong direction, people wanted him out of the club. Easily forgetting all the overhead kicks, all the gravitas he brought into our game, the hattrick against Liverpool.
We couldn't put up with 2-3 matches of slow, turgid mediocrity and wait for a stroke of masterclass, which you knew he would provide. But somehow we were able to wait 2 years for Welbeck to maybe or maybe not break out of mediocrity and actually score some goals, only because he's local and he runs fast.
I'm all for encouraging young, local talent, but this is why we lost so many marvelous players. It's because we treat local and foreign players with a massive difference. It drills holes into the team, it creates segregation. The team can't play together if they spite each other. Nobody, I mean nobody can put in a good performance if they know they'll never get an equal opportunity as someone else regardless of how good they are, solely because they're of a different nationality. Berba is a prime example of that. We were ready to cut a mediocre pace-striker 2 years of slack filled with absolutely dismal performances, but we weren't willing to give one of our best, most entertaining to watch forwards ever a month or two to shrug off poor form and instead benched him for every important match.
I'm surprised we're not worse off with that treatment of players.
Rant over.
Regardless of the stuff about Welbeck that's an incredibly rose tinted view of Berbatov's time at Utd.
Berbatov provided us with moments of great quality and for the first half of the 2010/2011 he was our best player and it looked like it was finally coming together for him but there was an awful lot of mediocrity both before and after that. Too many games where he provided nothing. It certainly wasn't 2 or 3 bad games and then a good one, although I don't even think that is good enough.
His record in the big matches was pretty awful too, the beginning of the end for him at Utd was his performance in the Cup Semi against City. I don't think Fergie ever trusted him after that, he seemed to wilt whenever the pressure was on.
I'd say Messi has the best touch when you pass it into him. Sending a long ball to Berbatov and him taking all the pace off the ball with his foot is great but then what? Messi does that whilst he's on the move and keeps the ball moving. That imo is much more impressive. Berba does have a magnificent standing touch though.
How would've Berbatov - RvP combo worked?
He was dropped after an away loss in 2010/11 in February (WBA I think), and wasn't played regularly after that. He scored a 90th minute winner off the bench vs Bolton when we were down to 10, a nice opener vs Fulham when the rest of the team was rested, his only start besides that was that City semi- he hadn't played for a while before that.
The thing is, before the loss at WBA, he had been our best striker by a distance and alongside Nani and Vidic our best player. Fergie's lack of trust in Bebra that season was quite drastic. Did the same with Nani too, replacing him with Valencia.
I was a big fan of Berbatov but that's absolute bollocks from start to finish. He was benched for the important games because he only played well in one big game for us in his entire time here.
What a load of shite. Everyone has to be able to press the ball and put the effort in to running around. Berbatov wouldn't do it. Ferguson admitted just as much.
Great quality but generally a lazy git. There are no top players in the world as lazy as him. Even Ibrahimovic runs the channels to help his team out and has far more aggression in his game than Berbatov.
Berba Love
Vicious circle with Berba....he gotten more lazy and languid because he was under loved...and lost form etc...he's a confidence and emotional player.
May be harsh and not his fault but him coming in and Tevez going was a big mistake by SAF. In 07/08 with Tevez are frontline was the best we ever had and our counter attacking was amazing. Berba slowed that down, Though he is one of the most technically gifted footballers ever. His touch and close control was phenomenal. He wasn't lazy though it was his style and when I saw him at OT he was faster than I thought and was strong on the ball. The love has came back for him though the Caf used to hate him.
Best first touch this club, and probably the league has seen.
By then though he'd already had 2 underwhelming seasons at the club and even in his best season of 2010/2011 he went on I think a 2 or 3 month scoring drought. You can see why Fergie was hesitant to fully trust Berbatov. Hernandez was also really starting to shine around that time and we looked a better side with him in the team.
Ultimately I think the one two punch of Berbatov missing two great chances in 2 minutes against City in the Semi Final and then his comically bad performance in the final game against Blackpool finished his career at Utd. I think we made a huge mistake holding onto to him that Summer but that's a different discussion.
love that touch on 2:53.
You keep throwing the word lazy around like it has any actual bearing on a player's ability. He was a striker. He scored goals. A decent amount of them. What does it matter if he doesn't run around mindlessly and conserves his energy? He put the ball in the net often enough to warrant first team football. Honestly, kids these days with their heat maps, "distance covered" and other non essential bollocks. The only relevant statistic is the score up in the top left. And Berbatov contributed plenty to that.
Would have he been better if he tried harder? Undoubtedly. But I'd take a striker that can score over a striker that can "run and flick it past a defender" any day.
Never liked his style but yes, his first touch was impressive.
he's had phenomenal touch but the reason why he looks so godly with the ball is simply that he just looks like lazy goodfella from who nobody expects pulling such tricks
Ya he had a world beater of a first touch, pity he was such a lazy bastard though. A part of me missed him after that video and then I remember I used to nearly cry when he was starting on our XI.
When it comes to ball control/manipulation or basically doing anything with a football. Ronaldinho is unrivalled.
I hope there is another one of him somewhere in Brazil right now.
I hope there is another one of him somewhere in Brazil right now.
You didn't see George Best.
I seem to remember these two guys with a pretty good first touch... Maradona and Pelé I think they were called. I hear they had pretty good first touches.
Absolutely. Jol (who I like as a bloke even if he managed Spurs) forked up big style at Fulham trying to play 3 luxury players (Berbatov, Ruiz and Taarabt) in the same side - risky for Arsenal/Man Utd/City/Chelsea but suicide for Fulham.
I don't want to get bashed for this but Fellaini bringing the ball down and his general touch using his chest is world class. I've never seen anyone with better chest control.
To answer the topic, Berbatov is the best I've seen by far.
Yeah Thiago has one of the best first touches around out of current players.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7cPZAndWdk
For £30m you'd be looking for a striker that does both. Berbatov didn't so he was sold. In the biggest games he didn't do anything at all so if you're going to be lazy it's not looking good for you when the team stops winning.
Exactly and that's 25% of your team who aren't going to drag you out of a hole. Or look like they want to fall down a hole half the time.
I believe Scholes and Cantona does not agree?
Giggs had a better first touch than Berbatov for me. Having a great first touch is about more than just being able to kill the ball dead. Giggs' touch was a lot more inventive and could always add some momentum to an attack.
Loved the videos in this thread. Loved Berba when he was at United. I know his style annoyed a lot of people because he looked lazy but everything just seemed to go in slow motion around him when he had the ball. He always found time and space. Some of his first touches are ridiculous. I wish he still played in the PL because I love watching him.
EDIT: as for best first touch I'd say he would be in my top two or three at United.
EDIT: as for best first touch I'd say he would be in my top two or three at United.
Was going to mention both Socrates and Bergkamp too.
Lots of players with a better touch. It's not even worth mentioning.
For the league, I'd say Bergkamp had the best first touch that I've seen.
This video here
Is symptomatic of the hype. Languidly killing a ball like that without an opponent in sight is something loads of players in the league pull off. It's no more than a " that's nice" moment of a regular match. But with Berbatov, it's apparently sublime skill.
For the league, I'd say Bergkamp had the best first touch that I've seen.
This video here
Is symptomatic of the hype. Languidly killing a ball like that without an opponent in sight is something loads of players in the league pull off. It's no more than a " that's nice" moment of a regular match. But with Berbatov, it's apparently sublime skill.
This.
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