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“Half the people might like me, the other half might not, but throughout my life I’ve had high expectations for myself so I just try to make the non-believers into believers.” - Dimitar Berbatov, February 2009
Lazy, unprofessional, infuriating. Not fit to clean Eric Cantona’s boots. Juan Sebastián Verón Mark II. They were some of the more polite barbs aimed in the direction of Dimitar Berbatov on fans’ forums yesterday when Manchester United supporters vented their spleen over the Bulgaria striker’s dire miss in the FA Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat by Everton at Wembley on Sunday.
The outpourings on a phone-in on MUTV, United’s official television station, were similar in tone. But while it is common for fans to find a scapegoat when things have gone wrong, the misgivings did not centre simply on a lame effort from 12 yards, rather on the wider contribution this season from a player who has polarised opinion since signing for a club-record £30.75 million from Tottenham Hotspur last September.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, attempted to defend Berbatov yesterday before his team’s Barclays Premier League match at home to Portsmouth tomorrow and the statistics would suggest that the 28-year-old has enjoyed a profitable first season at Old Trafford.
Berbatov has been responsible for setting up a sixth of United’s 54 goals in the Barclays Premier League — only Frank Lampard, the Chelsea midfield player, Robin van Persie, the Arsenal forward, and Steed Malbranque, the Sunderland midfield player, have as many assists — while four of his 13 goals in all competitions have been winners.
Dig a little deeper, though, and the picture becomes less flattering. Only one of his goals has come against a team in the top six — in the 3-0 win at home to Chelsea in January — while he has found the net once in his past nine matches and has not scored in the Champions League since October 21, the one arena in which Ferguson felt the forward would bring an added dimension to United’s attack.
Delve farther still and an alarming trend begins to develop, one that helps to explain why United have failed to replicate the fast, free-flowing football of last season.
Partnerships have been a fixture of Ferguson’s teams, but in the 20 games that Berbatov and Wayne Rooney have started together, they have combined to score only once, in the 4-0 demolition of West Bromwich Albion in October. Rooney has not set up one of Berbatov’s goals, while the Bulgarian has been involved in only one of the England forward’s 17, a troubling statistic that becomes all the easier to understand when you consider that of the 551 passes United made against Sunderland in December, only four were between the front two, Berbatov and Rooney. That was by no means an isolated statistic. No wonder this may be the first time in four seasons that United do not finish as the league’s top or joint-top goalscorers.
The form of Rooney, who should return to the starting line-up against Portsmouth after missing Wembley because of a foot injury, has not been adversely affected, but it is worth asking how much better the England forward might have been this season had he had the benefit of a strike partner with whom he shared a better understanding, not one whose body language inspires little confidence.
Ferguson, nonetheless, seems willing to persist with Berbatov. “I don’t see any evidence of it tailing off,” he said. “He has had his injury and missed a couple of games, but he came on and actually did quite well.
“He is disappointed to miss a penalty, of course, and he will get criticised for that. When you pay £30 million for a player, then everyone thinks he should be able to score a penalty, but it is not just about that. Anyone can lose a penalty shoot-out.”
One of the accusations most often levelled at Berbatov is that he does not appear to care, but Ferguson said: “Dimitar was upset, but they all were. You lose a semi-final and it’s hard, it’s not easy to take.”
Lazy, unprofessional, infuriating. Not fit to clean Eric Cantona’s boots. Juan Sebastián Verón Mark II. They were some of the more polite barbs aimed in the direction of Dimitar Berbatov on fans’ forums yesterday when Manchester United supporters vented their spleen over the Bulgaria striker’s dire miss in the FA Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat by Everton at Wembley on Sunday.
The outpourings on a phone-in on MUTV, United’s official television station, were similar in tone. But while it is common for fans to find a scapegoat when things have gone wrong, the misgivings did not centre simply on a lame effort from 12 yards, rather on the wider contribution this season from a player who has polarised opinion since signing for a club-record £30.75 million from Tottenham Hotspur last September.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, attempted to defend Berbatov yesterday before his team’s Barclays Premier League match at home to Portsmouth tomorrow and the statistics would suggest that the 28-year-old has enjoyed a profitable first season at Old Trafford.
Berbatov has been responsible for setting up a sixth of United’s 54 goals in the Barclays Premier League — only Frank Lampard, the Chelsea midfield player, Robin van Persie, the Arsenal forward, and Steed Malbranque, the Sunderland midfield player, have as many assists — while four of his 13 goals in all competitions have been winners.
Dig a little deeper, though, and the picture becomes less flattering. Only one of his goals has come against a team in the top six — in the 3-0 win at home to Chelsea in January — while he has found the net once in his past nine matches and has not scored in the Champions League since October 21, the one arena in which Ferguson felt the forward would bring an added dimension to United’s attack.
Delve farther still and an alarming trend begins to develop, one that helps to explain why United have failed to replicate the fast, free-flowing football of last season.
Partnerships have been a fixture of Ferguson’s teams, but in the 20 games that Berbatov and Wayne Rooney have started together, they have combined to score only once, in the 4-0 demolition of West Bromwich Albion in October. Rooney has not set up one of Berbatov’s goals, while the Bulgarian has been involved in only one of the England forward’s 17, a troubling statistic that becomes all the easier to understand when you consider that of the 551 passes United made against Sunderland in December, only four were between the front two, Berbatov and Rooney. That was by no means an isolated statistic. No wonder this may be the first time in four seasons that United do not finish as the league’s top or joint-top goalscorers.
The form of Rooney, who should return to the starting line-up against Portsmouth after missing Wembley because of a foot injury, has not been adversely affected, but it is worth asking how much better the England forward might have been this season had he had the benefit of a strike partner with whom he shared a better understanding, not one whose body language inspires little confidence.
Ferguson, nonetheless, seems willing to persist with Berbatov. “I don’t see any evidence of it tailing off,” he said. “He has had his injury and missed a couple of games, but he came on and actually did quite well.
“He is disappointed to miss a penalty, of course, and he will get criticised for that. When you pay £30 million for a player, then everyone thinks he should be able to score a penalty, but it is not just about that. Anyone can lose a penalty shoot-out.”
One of the accusations most often levelled at Berbatov is that he does not appear to care, but Ferguson said: “Dimitar was upset, but they all were. You lose a semi-final and it’s hard, it’s not easy to take.”
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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