Dimitar Berbatov was last season’s Premier League top scorer, although the 20 league goals he scored weren’t enough to even get him a place on the bench for the Champions League final.
Berbatov watched the game from the dressing room, to keep his emotions hidden, something he claims has lead fans to misjudge him over the years.
“I am a very proud person,” said Berbatov. “I don’t like to show my weaknesses. I don’t want to show my emotions in public. That is why people probably sometimes misjudge me.”
“Lazy” and “languid” are words often used to describe Berbatov, but the Bulgarian claims that quality doesn’t require for him to run around like a headless chicken.
“Yes,” he said, when asked if the claim he does not care bothers him. “I always play like this. That is what got me here. You are not going to see me puffing around the pitch. There is a saying in Bulgaria that great quality doesn’t require much effort.”
The highlight of Berbatov’s season was probably the hattrick he scored against Liverpool in our 3-2 win at Old Trafford, followed by the five goals he scored against Blackburn.
“I didn’t know scoring three goals against Liverpool would mean so much to so many people,” he said. “Obviously three goals – and the second one was a bit special – it will stay in my memory for ever – and after that I scored five! What makes me really proud is that there have been so many foreigners playing in English football, I am the only one with five goals. But it is something I have to push to the back of my mind. Last season I had highs in my career. But what if we didn’t win the title? Then these things wouldn’t matter so much.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Berba keep it up!
Berba, I have never loved a man so much in my life. Except maybe Chicha. Jesus Christ we have the best players in the world, best attitude by far. Compare this to Balotelli, fucking brilliant.
Without a doubt, Dimmy is a highly-skilled player. That should not be in doubt BUT it is, in opinion, beside the point. He’s the right guy in the wrong place at the wrong time – a square peg in a round hole OR a round peg in a square hole. It might surprise some of you but I consider this to be a pity because I thought that he would be a perfect fit for the post-CR7 team; but, while he offers “something”, it’s been proven that in the crunch – CL games, away EPL games – he simply doesn’t offer the right thing.
AND, of course, that’s not just my opinion but it’s also SAF’s opinion – no matter what he says for public consumption, his actions speak volumes.
Top player. Top man. Playing at a Top team.
Great player.
Denton – if SAF doesn’t trust him then he would have already been gone or will be gone. If he stays, your argument will be flawed. SAF won’t keep players he does not trust. No way.
GO BERBA!
If leaving a player out of the CL bench means SAF doesn’t trust a player, then he would’ve rid of Park after 2008. And he would’ve trimmed the squad down to 16 since he doesn’t trust any of the other 9 in the official 25-man squad.
Let’s take it a step further – everyone acknowledges Park to be one of the key figures in the 2008 CL campaign, but he was dropped in favour of JoS (who at that time was still one of those drawing criticisms). Contrast this to Berbatov who unfortunately, hasn’t been quite setting the CL alight, while Owen was able to grab a hat trick away to Wolfsburg if I remember correctly (or was that last season)?
yeah we know Denton told us 100 times before,when it comes to Berba all you have to do is cut and paste old comments
Don Berba, we love you sir
wayne – Nice one lad. Its getting fucking boring now. Without Berba we would not have won the league last year. Simple as. Top man .
A wise man once said that you don’t have to run around like Tevez if you can control the ball like Berbatov. Sometimes lazy is better.
I think others are going to regret we kept the faith ,with him .
Fuck it let’s just part exchange him for Sandro. You know it makes sense
Berbatov has every reason to be proud. Also, he hides his emotions very well.
We know you are not lazy Dimitar. Your quality and effort is clear to see.
Those who consider you lazy are poor judges, and their opinions can and should be ignored.
A top quality footballer, and a respectful and respectable man.
We are all truly blessed.
Rai – lol, nice one my friend, I bet Willie will enjoy it as well!
Golden boot! No argument!
In Bulgaria we have a saying quality does not require much effort !!!!- in England we say success is 10% inspiration 90% perspiration !!!
I admit I have never loved Berba and SAF did not rate him for key games, his arm flapping whinging at team mates also irritates me, but credit to him for some good goals last year, he loves the club, I hope he delivers next year on his outlay and wages, I cant see how he is worth more than Pea on Peas new contract – and I would prefer seeing Wellbeck and Kiko come through.
People say Berba unlocks defences where teams park the bus, but I don’t think that’s correct, at OT where teams do this we were winning everything. Away, Rooney on form, Valencia, Nani and Pea are way ahead of him. Berba in this team is inconsistent are unpredictable, he can score 5 or miss 10.
Rai @ 15:55: ” if SAF doesn’t trust him then he would have already been gone or will be gone. If he stays, your argument will be flawed. SAF won’t keep players he does not trust. No way.”
Well, that’s a may be BUT I remain to be convinced. Indeed, I’d go further and say that the proof will be in the pudding – does SAF play Dimmy in the big games or does he go with a different set of players ? My guess would be be “not”, based on what I’ve observed over the past three years BUT I am not unwilling to acknowledge that I (just) might be wrong – it’s happened before and it will happen again.
Why hasn’t SAF sold Dimmy ? Maybe no one has actually offered to buy him ? We’ve heard lots of rumours of “interest” – let’s start one, how about Dimmy for Diego Forlan ? Straight up.
smartalex
Very well said my friend. Berba reminds me a lot of Teddy Sheringham who also had excellent ball control skills, great sense of positional play and it was almost impossible to get the ball off him. Teddy never ran like a headless chicken either and finally, you guessed it, some fools back then called him lazy!
NBI Red Onion @ 17:52: “People say Berba unlocks defences where teams park the bus, but I don’t think that’s correct, at OT where teams do this we were winning everything. Away, Rooney on form, Valencia, Nani and Pea are way ahead of him. Berba in this team is inconsistent are unpredictable, he can score 5 or miss 10.”
Hey, guys. that’s someone other than me !
CedarsDevil
Thank you my friend!
Anyone who runs down our players is well advised not to cross the street when I’m driving.
@ Cedars
Dude you cannot compare Teddy to Berba. Seriously, Berba is almost in midfield half the time and when he is sole striker as when Rooney was injured this holds up play and makes for a lot of sideways passing – check number of times Evra had no one to cross to when he was sole striker, whereas Teddy was more consistent and positioned himself way better and was tough as hell – please do not compare the two Berba is not Teddy.
I’ve seen Rooney be inconsistent and miss sitters. Not a point worth bringing up.
If Berbatov sticks one of the 2 chances away against city, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.
It seems to me and a lot of other people, he got the blame for losing to city in the cup.
Almost if this, negates the goals he scored before. Flawed logic imo.
Again, while Rooney was questioning the ambition of the club(while his form was rotten) Berbatov and also Nani, were our creative and scoring outlets.
The manager has said, Berbatov has accepted his role within the squad.
If the manager has no problems with him staying, then why should we?
If he was available and wanted to go – it would have happened.
If he was available and wanted to go – it would have happened. He’s shown the boss he wants to stay and fight for his place
NBI Red Onion
My comparison is well founded, Teddy hardly ever played as a lone striker and at the time when we always played 4 4 2 he used to play off the top man, which in most cases would have been Ole. You say Teddy was tough as hell, assuming that Berba is not? Berba must be one of the toughest players to take the ball off furthermore Berba’s goal return per games played is better than Teddy’s
@Cedars
Hi mate. Yeah, Berb has reminded me of Sheringham too. Both in style of play and in the way their United careers unfolded.
NBI – Take a look at footage when Berba has the ball at his feet – you’ll see how often he keeps possession
He is gona be siting on the bench next season moaning. Sell him so we can get funds for the world class midfielder we desperately need. He slows our play down too much we have two direct wingers with young and valencia now giving us even more pace and more crosses and he is not the type to brteak his ass like chico and rooney are to get on the end of them.
Please not another berba bashing.
The hound increases…run berba! RUN!!!
Teddy used to play off the front man, in the hole. Berba played there for the first 2 seasons he was here, but it didn’t really work out for some reason.
Last season we changed his position…. he was higher up the pitch, much more in and around the box, leaving Rooney to do all the work in the ‘hole’. That’s why his goal tally improved, he was spending less time linking play up and more time near the goal.
That’s also why he didn’t score a goal when Rooney was out injured. Chicha came in and took Berba’s role as the poacher. Berba had to go back to playing in the hole, and his performances dipped again.
So he’s similar to Teddy in that they’re both intelligent, not the quickest, and good passers- but Teddy was a much better player in the hole, and Berba’s shown he’s much more capable of playing as a poacher.
It’s a squad game these days. If he’s happy enough, being the 3rd striker, then I don’t see the problem keeping him for another season at least.
NBI .. “in England we say success is 10% inspiration 90% perspiration !!!” I believe you’ll find that’s actually a quote from the American inventor, Thomas Edison, or a version of it.
Cedars/Rai/Others — yeah, and he was pretty strong to outjump and out-muscle Carragher too, for that headed goal. But honestly, the battlelines were drawn a long time ago, when it comes to The Berb. I don’t think I can be bothered to argue any more because it seems pointless. I’ve always liked to think i’m capable of keeping an open mind about players, but I can’t say the same for some others when it comes to Berbatov, and I can’t see the point in arguing with a closed mind. Those minds are and always be closed, on this issue. It wouldn’t matter if The Berb scored a hat-trick in every match, they’d find a way to drag him down. “OK, he scored another hat-trick — but so-and-so would have scored four!” Or, “yeah, but anyone could have done that — the opposition were shite.” (I especially like the last one because it covers every eventuality and is virtually a self-fulfilling argument: “If the opposition were good, Berbatov wouldn’t have scored — in fact, he probably wouldn’t even have played — so since he did play and did score, they were obviously crap; therefore, Berbatov is obviously is not that good because he only scores against shite teams.”
So I’m with Willie. For as long as Sir Alex is happy to have Berbatov at the club and pay his wages, and as long as Berbatov is happy to stay here, then the rest of us should get off his back.
Those 3 goals means everything to me, while, those two goals wasted against the bitter brought down our famous 35yrs banner. But, nothing can change the 19. Berbatop, very cool a guy.
Stateside
Well said!
He’s clearly doing the business. An exceptional player and a joy to watch!
StatesideAussie
To borrow a comment from Tonka Norris:
Some people watching a video of Berbatov actually walking on water will say:
“useless shit – he can’t even swim!”
StatesideAussie
Agree 100%
SmartAlex … love it! hahaha!
I once made a joke (sarcastic) comment about how Berba is shit because he can’t get on the end of his own passes and someone agreed with me.
In the immortal words of Stateside…
@Smartalex, xol… Thats Berbaphobia for you.
hahaha … Berbaphobia!
@Scolar Visari, opinion is certainly divided on Berbatov. Many are Berbaphobic.
The vast majority seem to have believe that his quality is proven, and his contribution valuable.
Many of those are split again when considering his suitability to our style.
A different player-fan relationship to most. With Dimi, not many fans are on the fence.
@smartalex, Scolar, xol
Hillarious stuff lads.
Berbaphobia!
fucking hell said it before berbs attitude given the ECF has been top notch
hands up plenty of times ive been unsure on weather he fits in for us contributes enough blah blah but if ever a lad deserves things 2 go well for him its berba
gone up in my estimation hope he has a top season
xol
Cracked me up, I cannot believe anyone actually agreed to that! What a dumb fuck….
Yeah, but can he play central?
With Berba you either like him, or you love him. No two ways about it!
WillieRedNut @ 17:22: “If Berbatov sticks one of the 2 chances away against city, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
But, of course, he didn’t.
If horses had wings they could fly; if my aunt had bollox she’d be my uncle.
No they couldn’t fly. Stop talking shite.
Maybe your aunt, is your uncle?
Your posturing over Berbatov is weird.
Each to their own, I guess.
He didn’t do much wrong on the first of those chances. Got the ball on target fair enough, was denied by a very good save. As for the second chance, which occurred 14 seconds after the first, he had an open goal but the ball was way out in front and he has to half jump, half slide to reach it, while a defender also slid in next to him, and Berb got his foot slightly under it. His shots/goals ratio last year was only slightly worse than Hernandez’s, and both of them were way, way better than Rooney (Chicharito 0.27, Berbatov 0.23, Rooney 0.13).
Hail the Berbs.
Want can a man do to please some people but I like his attitude…it is what got me here.
Willie/StateSide – he missed; at that level it’s all about finishing. Dimmy didn’t do that in the crunch – twice ! – of an FACup semi-final against the noisy neighbours.
That was inexcusable and he paid for his failure. I really don’t see any other explanation for why he was not even put on the bench against Barcelona for what could have been the biggest game of his life.
Every forward misses chances.
denton davey
By saying that you really don’t see any other explanation for why Berbatov was not even put on the bench against Barcelona, you are effectively saying that a single result was the only reason. Therefore you absolutely consider that in every other way Berbatov should have played. You consider Dimi to be entirely deserving of selection to play in the biggest game in the world last season.
Which means that you totally agree with willierednut’s “If Berbatov sticks one of the 2 chances away against city, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
smartalex @ 14:29: ” you are effectively saying that a single result was the only reason. Therefore you absolutely consider that in every other way Berbatov should have played. You consider Dimi to be entirely deserving of selection to play in the biggest game in the world last season.”
Actually, it was a double-result – he missed two sitters, not one. But more to the point, Dimmy did himself no favours by missing the target six or seven times against Blackburn. That’s why WIllieRedNut’s claim (@ 13:49) that every striker misses is really beside the point – Dimmy missed not once, not twice, but multiple times in the previous weeks.
For what it’s worth, I think that SAF made a mistake not having Nani in the starting line-up against Barcelona and made an even bigger mistake by not having Dimmy available from the bench. Even if he was “punishing” him for those misses, Dimmy would have been a much better option than LittleMikey who wasn’t even put on the pitch.
After the match in Wembley, I wrote a critique of SAF’s team selections and, more significantly, his in-game, strategic non-response to being tied 1-1 at half-time in this forum. In brief, my opinion – and let’s not get bent-out-of-shape about this ‘cos it’s just my opinion – was that SAF’s nerves cracked in that game. If SAF was “lucky” to have gotten to the half-time with the score level, he was intimidated to keep the same team/set-up on the pitch from the beginning of the second half.
While – obviously ! – Dimmy isn’t my-cup-of-tea, just like Nani (who wasn’t brought on until the game was effectively over) he could have been a useful strategic game-changer if he had been available. My opinion was – and remains so – that SAF “punished” Dimmy for his crucial misses at Wembley a few weeks earlier.
Not having Dimmy on the bench was a strategic mistake – and, who knows, maybe inserting Dimmy into that match at half-time would have been a strategic act-of-brilliance. We’ll never know the answer to those questions but it makes no sense to ignore what seems to be the only explanation for not having the option of a 20-goal scorer to insert into the CL final while making a weaker, like-for-like replacement of LittleMikey for Chicharito.
So, to answer your point that I block-quoted: NO, I don’t consider that Dimmy “was entirely deserving of selection” but, nevertheless, I can’t understand why he was not even selected for the substitutes’ bench.
Finally, SAF has been a fantastic manager but that doesn’t mean that his managerial career is without mistakes. Just saying, like……
It’s not beside the point Denton. It is the bloody point!
All strikers miss chances.
My main point still stands.
If you want to blame Berbatov for us losing at Wembley.
Then, Scholes must accept some of the blame as well, for his sending off.
As much as I love the wee man, when he went, our chances of getting back into the game, went with him.
WillieRedNut @ 17:42: I disagree – obviously.
SAF is renowned for being a very, very tough taskmaster who goes ballistic (the famous “hair dryer” and SirDavey’s black-eye being outstanding examples) when his guys don’t do-the-business.
The point is that Dimmy didn’t do the business; it’s “beside the point” that other guys have also screwed up because the point-in-question being why was Dimmy left out of the CL team.
And, yeah, the GingerNinja’s leg-gouge (the footie equivalent of GBH) on Zabaleta was another reason why TheLads couldn’t beat the noisy neighbours. And, undoubtedly, it was a contributing factor to the decision Paul Scholes made that the game was finally – and inexorably – passing him by. It was, you could say, his RedNevMoment.
Of course you disagree. Wouldn’t be you, if ya did not.