Last season when Sir Alex was doling out praise on United’s youngsters it served as a precursor to what would occur this term.
Danny Welbeck has indeed grow into his role as a United first teamer but perhaps more enjoyable has been Tom Cleverley adding verve to our midfield.
Manchester United’s midfield has been a contentious area for years, some put it down to Roy Keane’s departure in 2005 although some say it is only a problem that became apparent in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo.
United have had some monumental midfielders and traditionally it has been an area where we have displayed our strength with the likes of Keane and Robson usually the first names to spring to mind when asked about the position.
Paul Ince, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and to a lesser extent even Juan Sebastian Veron are just some of the quality we have rolled out in the middle of the park so the derth of apparet talent now stands in stark contrast.
But this season Tom Cleverley came in and for a while things changed.
United were dynamic again, playing slick fast attacking football and whilst it left us a little exposed at the back nobody complained as we swept aside Arsenal 8-2 or as he set up goals in United’s 3-0 win over Tottenham.
It’s weird because people were happy to see him starting and but it was somewhat of a luxury, he wasn’t as heralded as perhaps he should have been due to our failure to snap up players like Sneijder or Ozil the season prior but the second he disappeared after being injured by Kevin Davies in the game at the Reebok Stadium it began to sink in just how important he was to the team.
United reverted to type with stagnant, static play in the middle of the park. Our performances suffered as the swashbuckling displays disappeared. By no means am I saying that he would have prevented us from losing 6-1 to Man City but he didn’t look too shabby against them last time out either.
Now this is where the argument starts.
There is no doubt this isn’t one of United’s best midfields, we are clearly missing components and some say that is why Cleverley seems so refreshing. It’s not that he is exceptionally good rather he fulfils a need of the team but others (and I myself too sit in this boat) believe that it is no coincidence that Cleverley has stepped into the team and makes us look better, it is because he is that good.
Over the summer we got to see Cleverley in comparison to other talents, against Barca he he faced Thiago and Iniesta and whilst it was a friendly he didn’t look out of his depth by any means and against a strong Man City midfield he did his reputation no harm either.
At just 22, for whatever reason you choose to subscribe to Cleverley has become integral to our midfield. The phrase ‘ticking over’ will have been used 100 times in reference to what he does but it is a suitable subscription. His short passing particularly seems to make everything less complicated and it is a quality that we missed in his absence where we seemed to make hard work of games we shouldn’t have.
I won’t go as far as saying Cleverley is (borrowing a phrase from Charles from The Busby Boys) the ‘midfield Jesus’ but he continues to show us how good he is as a player and how good he is for the team.
And I don’t think I’m the only person happy to see him back after that lengthy lay off and just hope this new setback is as minor as Sir Alex claims.
3-0 win over spurs. check em plz.
No doubt cleverley is ‘a breath of fresh air’
Thank you!
Everythng u are saying is ryt. But i dare say the massacre wont hav hapened with clev on the team, jones in the team and evans on the team. i also suggest that fergie should SELL all his other useless midfielders and buy Big Fellaini whom no one disposses the ball in a million years. then buy someone for the sjneider/martinez hole to help cleverly. there is a lot of dead wood in our weak mid whch tym and agen is humiliated and overrun by real middies. i.e. yaya,silva overrun fletch n co. can this current mid compete with messi xavi fabregas iniesta? if fergie wont buy, prepare for a very humiliating day agst barca, bayern munich and city away….again
…sorry..,i meant Evans OUT OF THE TEAM
i agree with chudi and jaylani only but that evans is very good without dreadful rio!
Jaylani is right, millions of others are right. Evans is a dud, is unfit to play in the Prem Lge but SAF keeps playing him, why?? Nobody knows. And SAF had a Crystal Ball last summer? He foresaw Cleverley would do miracles so that he didn’t buy anyone? Why buy another winger when CM is totally devoid of any talent? We all saw what happened against City when you play 2 wingers against powerful midfielders in the opposition. No top team plays 2 out and out wingers anymore. Check out Barca,Madrid, Milan or even City. We are losing the plot and perhaps already lost the title.
Yep because titles are decided in October/November.
I’m growing tired of your act
Manchester United is the best club..
And the most painful aspect of it as John Tring observe is that whenever we play with two wingers it doesn’t make us unpredictable. Infact it makes us much more predictable. There are the following advantages when we play 4 2 3 1 or 4 3 3 . . . . . One, we can play Chico, Rooney, Welbeck, together. . . . . Two, our mid field wil be tighter and wont be overrun by the likes of Norwich and Clev will have a free role ahead of the other two holding mids,. . . . . Three, we will still have width. . . . . Four, full backs can overlap and there would be a midfielder to snuff out any threat while the team hold shape.
There is one thing we have to learn as manchester united….. we should not play much to suit who we play. we should impose our play so that we can say this is our game…beat us…like the 99/2000 lads. At the moment everyone changes their style to stop barca from playing. can’t we do it?
Unfortunately we can never do that with a weak team. yes we are weak in mid and strong everywhere else. we will look so solid at the back when we will play DE GEA SMALLING VIDIC JONES EVRA ANDERSON (only with combination with cleverly) CLEVERLY NANI YOUNG WELBECK ROONEY. Cleverly’s type of play is what was missing for us for several years. He brings the best out of the wingers and attackers but above all he infects others to play one two’s, attacks never cease and suddenly we look like challenging barca. unfortunately when he gets injured(and he does more than often even in wigan last season)we remain…yes static, boring and just the gutsy mentality of fergie sometimes inspires a point or three
Loved seeing him back and since I watched him playing for Watford, I’ve believed he’d be huge for us.
It may be a bit premature and too much to ask at this point; but if he could add more attacking initiative to his game when closer to the penalty area by taking on defenders, shooting, assisting goals etc…then he’d really move to the next level. As it stands, he generally seems in favor of defering those responsibilities to the forwards or wingers when in that position. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it wouldn’t hurt to allow himself to jump in to mix things up at times.
But as you mentioned in the article; he’s doing a lot right at the moment and it’s amazing to see the positive effect on the team of having someone who always avails himself to his teamates, makes good decisions and passes accurately and progressively.
ticking over thats exactly the phrase to describe what he does and its what every team needs midfielders that keep their head up and pass then move to receive carrick has a great passing range but hes movement isn,t what it should be cleverley is short in stature which is whats needed to play where he plays just look at barca.i still think we need more leadership and steel a la keane but has the game changed is it all ball players like barca if fergie wanted to buy a midfielder this summer with the loss of scholes he would of got one its too important a position not to be filled he knows what hes squad can do always has and always will so theres something coming a transition fueled by the youth ..i,m sure a lot of us felt worryed when ince hughes and kanchelskis went in favour of youth and we all know what way that ended up so lets not worry too much i know as fans we can,t help ourselves utd means so much to us but in fergie we trust…