As is customary with any result that doesn’t go Man United’s way (and sometimes even when we win!), fans are out in force looking for a scapegoat to blame it on.
It is only normal to react rashly to a defeat, blaming the referee, the FA, Carrick, Carrick’s dad, Carrick’s neighbour, Berbatov, Berbatov’s entire ancestry etc.
Before the Newcastle game, where Berbatov didn’t feature, I got a bit annoyed when someone on Twitter suggested that “Berbatov’s United career might be over… Not even on the bench… he’s let the team down on important occasions too often.”
Obviously, I can’t be sure about the first bit of the statement, but to say that Berba has let us down is nonsense in my eyes. So, I thought I would write a small defence of the man (instead of sending innumerable replies) after I was challenged on Twitter by someone else about my thoughts on Berba.
Here we go:
1. Goals
I remember a time when Berba was routinely criticised for not scoring enough, after all we bought him as a striker and strikers score goals.
That is a fair criticism of his early days at United, but this season he has scored plenty. So, if we just look at goals scored, he’s having a great season. Top scorer in the league and despite people bandying around the old “11 goals in 3 games” stat (which just shows that you can add), he has scored some very important goals.
I came up with at least 6 wins where his goals were decisive: Liverpool(3 goals, score 3-2), Blackburn (5, which fans laughably downplay, 7-1), Sunderland (2, 2-0), Birmingham (3, 5-0), Blackpool (2, 3-2) and Bolton (1, 1-0). Now, please don’t come up with “3 goals in a 5-0 win is not very important”. His goals had a great influence in all of his matches that were worth 18 points.
Of course, you can prove anything with statistics; for example, he’s scored only 4 out of 21 away from home in the league. It’s fine to pick up on this, it’s also fine to pick and choose which games he was cr*p in to prove a different point. But at the end of the day, you could do that for any striker (except Hernandez probably, who is having an awesome season!). The sad thing is that, with Berba, people tend to pick up on some misses, as if strikers should NEVER miss, and then affirm that he has let us down and he is sh*t.
2. General play and teamwork
OK, goals are evidently not the only important part of a player’s performance, even if it’s a striker.
General performance is a lot harder to measure with stats. Let’s look at the criticisms: lazy, bottler, doesn’t track back a la Rooney/Tevez/headless chicken, sulks a lot, doesn’t help out.
Now, about tracking back, tackling and “helping out”, Rooney does it and it looks impressive and is (nonsensical) barometer for energy. Nevertheless people fail to realise that Berba is NOT that kind of player. He has a role within the team, which is assigned by Fergie and I am pretty sure Fergie doesn’t give him the hairdryer because he didn’t run 1000 yards to win the ball back.
The “sulking” bit is another straw being clutched at. Berba does get annoyed on the pitch at times, but I fail to see how that is a negative thing? When Rooney does it, it’s called passion. How is that fair? Man United has always been blessed with spirited dynamic players. What Berba offers is supreme technique and intelligence disguised as nonchalance, his link-up play is magnificent. Yes, it is frustrating as a fan to see him seemingly slowing the play when we are chasing a game to create something, but that’s what his game is about and Fergie clearly accepts it. He has the ability to change games on his own when on form and currently, few United players can do that.
I think fans only criticise him because they expect ‘Rooney-like’ enthusiasm from him, which is wrong because simply, he is not Rooney. Whether you like his ‘lazy’ brilliance is up to you and subjective.
very gud and interesting article dis is… I had a hot argument wif a friend abt dis controversial player who seem to hv split d fan base into 2 just last nyte… Ma boy was insisting berbs is not gud enuf n out of form n dats d only reason y he is nw being benched.. I asked him y was rooney nt benched wen he was crap.. Fergie knew d type of striker he was signin.. He knew he was no rooney nor tevez yet he signed him 4 30mil… D guy is just gud i wonda y sum fans r just too blind to see dat…
straight to HELL for any human who comdemn berba still top scorer after not playing for close to 8 games….. he doesn’t perform in big matches…. but 3 against livrpool GOD give him a break…. now u blame him for FA semi defeat…..lol u must be kidding me…. if rooney is without a ban….. then… he won’t play…. thanks berba for wasting the oppurtunity in that game against man city…. no berba against new-castle…. what happen then….. please berba enjoy ur game and i pray u become highest goal scorer
your article was great.
berbatov has skill,passing a ball like no one,
set up rooney is world class.
you see hernandez pass,only score 3to5 yards out.
big mistake let berbatov go.he score 5 goals,and
sit out next game,that is a confidence booster
or what. m.u for ever..
straight to HELL for any human who comdemn berba still top scorer after not playing for close to 8 games….. he doesn’t perform in big matches…. but 3 against livrpool GOD give him a break…. now u blame him for FA semi defeat…..lol u must be kidding me…. if rooney is without a ban….. then… he won’t play…. thanks berba for wasting the oppurtunity in that game against man city…. no berba against new-castle…. what happen then….. please berba enjoy ur game and i pray u become highest goal scorer…..
Berbatov was on the field at Newcastle and United wins that game PERIOD!!!
i remember reading somewhere about berba having an uncle that is a priest and told berba he was never gonna shine playing for the “devils” , maybe is kinda silly but religious people is crazy like that 😛 maybe he is having mix feelings about playing for the red devils, sad berba
Berbatov is a terrific player and can do some great things occasionally. He has had his best season by a far for us. I think he is an easy target when things go badly like the FA Cup semi-final.
However I do actually think Ferguson might sell him this summer if a good offer is made. A good offer being £17-20 million upwards. He has never truly fulfilled the expectation we had when we signed him. He was suppose to be a player that decided big games for us. It hasn’t really happened. Except for the Liverpool game he hasn’t performed in the big games, and hasn’t scored in the Champions League for nearly two years.
I don’t necessarily think a replacement will be signed either to partner Rooney. If we consider how well Hernandez has done and we also have Welbeck and Macheda returning next season. It would be a youthful strike-force.
It could work if we sign stronger midfielder’s. A creative player like Wesley Sneidjer would have a big effect on our team. We should also look at Hulk (FC Porto) who is capable of playing upfront or on the wing. These two players would bring greater creativity and energy to the team.
A very rare case of sophistication,bravo to the author! People, you do not hire an artist of genius to plough the field and dig in the mine. I am really disappointed in mainstream United fans, I apologize in advance, but they reacting like swine to the pearl…
Frankly, I am disappointed in SAF too. It seems that he has developed a very peculiar taste for tormenting and destabilizing Berbatov’s psyche.Remember Ferguson making public fun of Bebatov, that was way below a knighted person’s expected manners. When he hired him I was jubilant that the team would be built around Berbatov and lead him to become one of footballs few players of genius. Instead, a massive attack of hatred from many fans, most of the media, and SAF insults are about to ruin the last years of his career.
We are witnessing yet another example of the commoners, the mundane, the suppostates hating and ruining someone who just happens to be so unreachably higher than them. Historically, this is one of the human breed’s most persistent shortcomings.On the other hand, someone who swears at the whole TV audience, whores around while his wife is pregnant etc. etc. is considered a hero- just because he is one of the crowd’s own.
My opinion is that being misled to go to ManU/ one of his childhood dreams/ was a huge mistake, but there is still time for damage control. He shiould slam the door at Old trafford and leave behind onece and forever the humiliation and neglect. How many times greedy egoists like Ronaldo,Tevez,Nani have ignored passing the ball to him in a perfect position? Why hasn’t he been given a chance to shoot from a static position- he has scored goals of genius from fowl kicks in Leverkusen!
Dear Mitko, run away while it is not to late, and go to a place where beauty is still valued! My dream has always been that the one who feeds you the ball is somebody like Andrea Pirlo…
One last thing- the English public is understandably ignorant of the ideosybcracies of Bulgarians. Berbatov comes from Pirin Macedonia, where people are often very distant and private. KJust as a Cocknet and a ,say, Cornish are Englishmen but are very different, Macedonians are Bulgarians, but with a difference.
All in all, the intelligent football world should finally become aware of the fact that one of the last great football romantics has been systematically destroyed. This should not be allowed to happen!
They took his jeeeewb!
What is “jeeeewb”?….
BERBATOV IS GOD