Dimi, Dimi, Dimi.
Maybe I shouldn’t judge him on his performances for the Red Devils thus far because lets face it, its only been a few months, but at the same time you have to consider that for a player that is dubbed “World Class” he is clearly been performing well under par. I had also better not judge him on his awful, greasy hair, which is perhaps the main reason why he is dubbed as “lazy” as he always fixes his hair whilst doing his weekly walk, often during a match.
Using Sir Alex Ferguson’s words from last season, it is fairly clear to understand the problem that existed in the Red Devils squad, and why Berbatov was not the solution to that problem. After the defeat to Portsmouth in the FA Cup last season, a trophy that Portsmouth would go on to win in the final against Cardiff in a 1-0 scoreline at Wembley, Sir Alex hit out at the referees but also hinted at the type of striker United needed in order to get the best out of the team and produce a squad that would be more difficult to pick up a result against than ever before when he said “We’re out and you could look at a lot of things, we missed a lot of chances for one“. This may just be my opinion but exactly what kind of striker do you believe would have helped to have solved this problem? Because if you ask me, a talented goal poacher would have been the answer, not necessarily one who would replace Rooney or Tevez as a first team regular, because let’s face it, the partnership of Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez was one of the world’s finest last season but we need a striker who can come off of the bench, and who can produce a goal, scrappy or not that would help us to win or draw against teams that were playing to our weaknesses.
Sir Alex has once again pointed to the fact that United are not converting the vast number of chances being created this season, much like last and it was after the 2-2 draw with Aalborg in the Champions League Group Stage that he said “As we’ve experienced recently and again against Aalborg we’re missing too many chances“, and this yet again adds to the idea that we need an out and out, goal poaching striker, who could convert some of the many chances we create and at the most crucial of times, so basically a player who can score Tevez-esque and Solskjaer-esque late goals, but on a more consistent basis.
There are several non-playing reasons as to why I hate Berbatov, with one of them being the treatment he dished out to Tottenham Hotspur. Last time I checked he wasn’t forced to sign a contract by Spurs or his agents, he signed it himself, he didn’t have to, he chose to, he must have realised that Spurs had the challenge of trying to break the grip of the top four and that it would be difficult, yet when they failed to achieve that in his first season, he seemed to think that he was above his team mates and wanted to move to a bigger club. It seemed he had given up on Spurs after one season, got sulky and decided he was too big for the London club and wanted to move to a bigger club, in the hope of getting to play Champions League football, and this was a major factor as to Spurs’ dismal performance in the Premier League last season. When people say “he chose us over City because he loves us and he’s always wanted to play for us”, I feel like saying “please, please wake up and smell the coffee, roses whatever”, people have to realize the reason as to why he wanted to leave Spurs in the first place, not for money, but for Champions League football, so he didn’t choose us over City because he loved us, but because we could guarantee Champions League football, I would imagine if it were between us and Chelsea, they would have won his signature, because they could offer higher wages, along with guaranteed Champions League football, and he wouldn’t have to move far away.
I want the club to move forward and sign players who will help solve the problems that we had in the previous season. I feel that Berbatov ruins what we did so often last season, which led to us scoring not only a whole heap of goals, but also earning us valuable points, this was our fast exciting counter attacks, which often had Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo all playing a part in these counter attacks. Not only do I feel that he has ruined our counter attacks but I also wonder why so many people wanted him, people say that he is more of a provider than a scorer, but this makes me wonder even more, as I would’ve liked to have signed him, but only if we were in dire need of a creative player or a creative forward, but last time I checked, both Rooney and Tevez were creative forwards in a team full of creative players, not only that but Tevez and Rooney also had such a fantastic partnership, so the way I see it, is that if we needed a player it would be a player that could come on, when we were struggling to score, and be able to poach a goal, either to secure all 3 points, or to claim a draw against the opposition, not only a player who could poach a goal, but also a player who would not have minded staying on the bench and not starting too many games.
In a team full of players who create chance upon chance, why did Sir Alex sign yet another player who can create, but doesn’t score so many? We need a goal scorer, otherwise we just start to turn into Arsenal, creating more and more chances, passing and passing and passing but not scoring so many, and with the injury to Ronaldo meaning it has taken him longer to hit top form, it means we are lacking a real goal scorer, and without a goal scorer, goals are harder to score, and without goals, teams cannot win matches, trophies cannot be won, and eventually, if the problem is not solved and gets worse relegation becomes and all too real possibility. Today Berbatov took on the mighty Southampton along with his United team mates and even the kids only just out of their nappies/diapers managed to pressure him enough to make him make a mistake, I bet Inter’s defences are running to the hills as we speak. Now don’t get me wrong, Berbatov is a great player, but the solution to United’s problems, at a whopping £30.75million? I very much doubt, in my honest opinion an overpriced midfielder cleverly disguised as a striker.
