SAF plays Berbatov when he feels we need to break the opposition down and also when we need to hold the ball and keep posession of the ball. Berbatov will possibly never start against Arsenal because we need pace on the break and power to score against them and Berbatov offers neither.Also,this season he has scored the winners against Stoke,Blackburn,Burnley and that cracker against Sunderland when we were playing poorly and was good against Wolfsburg,Bolton and Tottenham without getting a goal.

Similarly looking at last season, the games against Inter away he was pretty good as the lone striker.After being outplayed by porto in the 1st leg at Old Trafford, SAF knew we had to keep the ball better and hence played him in a withdrawn role behind Ronaldo. Thought he did pretty well in that game.Its not all about scoring goals,certainly not in Berbatov’s case.

My problems with him are Lack of Confidence at times,Hesitancy to shoot from distance and dropping too deep.

Sprite, he is slow. It isn’t even worth debating. It isn’t the worst bad quality to have in a player but why do you think so many supporters wanted a striker more like Torres?

” average finishing? I would like to see some stats about how much he shoots/how much he scores contra someone like rooney, ronaldo or tevez.. It is rare that I see the anti-berba people arguing about his finishing”

Part of the reason that his goal stats arent’ great is because a) he doesn’t shoot often and b) when he does, he tends to miss a lot of sitters. It was the same at spurs.

“As you said he prefers roo to berba because he fits more as a lone striker and he wants more power in midfield (4-5-1).. but I am sure that berba is one of the first players on the list when SAF is preparing for a game where we need to brake down a solid defence.. Hull at home?? well he has been injured lately.. therefor he missed 4 of those games you just listed CC semi finals, arsenal (He had been on the bench if he werent injured).. I dont think either I, SAF or Berba think berba had the best of 1. seasons, therefor it is unfair that you list so many mathces from last season and the very first part of this season when we faced arsenal.. He played vs Liverpool and were injured vs Chelsea.. ”

Berbatov was on the bench for three of those games actually and there was no mention of him being injured. only city away was he not on the bench. Why would he be on the bench if he was injured?
Funny thing is, I highly doubt SAF bought Berbatov to sit on the bench in the big games. He started of as you say with playing Berbatov in a 4-4-2 against arsenal, chelsea and liverpool. I think the final straw was against Inter Milan in the CL where he was useless in both matches, so from then on when we did play 4-4-2, Tevez took his place or if we went 4-5-1 Ronaldo went up front. I thought when Ronaldo and Tevez left, SAF would play Berbatov up front in 4-5-1 games and push Rooney out wide (who did perform well there last season) but he didn’t. I am sure it disappoints him that Berbatov is not proving worthy enough to play in such big games.

“I was rather hitting out to all those saying how lazy he is.. as much as you like berbatov (irony alarm) you dont think he is NOT lazy do you?”

I don’t think he is as lazy as some make out but all too often he isn’t willing to match team mates runs or bust a gut to get in to the box.

“you are one of the more reflected berba critics spencer..most people I have seen criticizing berba are those with manu in their nick, or 1-5 forum posts, typing with caps lock on and so on..”

and I respect your posts as well sprite. it is good how you are willing to debate as you say and not just throw abuse like some. the bottom line is we will agree to disagree. we both want berbatov to do well for our club at the end of the day

“Oh yes he is. Thats why Fergie opted to start Berbatov in the carling cup semi finals, champions league semi finals, champions league final, arsenal last week, arsenal at OT in october, Hull at home, Arsenal at home last season, Liverpool at home last season etc.Oh wait”
As you said he prefers roo to berba because he fits more as a lone striker and he wants more power in midfield (4-5-1).. but I am sure that berba is one of the first players on the list when SAF is preparing for a game where we need to brake down a solid defence.. Hull at home?? well he has been injured lately.. therefor he missed 4 of those games you just listed CC semi finals, arsenal (He had been on the bench if he werent injured).. I dont think either I, SAF or Berba think berba had the best of 1. seasons, therefor it is unfair that you list so many mathces from last season and the very first part of this season when we faced arsenal.. He played vs Liverpool and were injured vs Chelsea..

sprite:
“there are strikers out there who are just standing still all the time up front, waiting for others to create chances for them.. berba is often dropping deep interfering with our build-up play”
spencer:
“You don’t get it do you. You have compeltely missed my point”

I was rather hitting out to all those saying how lazy he is.. as much as you like berbatov (irony alarm) you dont think he is NOT lazy do you?

‘why the fuck do you care spencer? fergie is obviously a big fan of berba if you keep your eyes and ears open once in a while’

Oh yes he is. Thats why Fergie opted to start Berbatov in the carling cup semi finals, champions league semi finals, champions league final, arsenal last week, arsenal at OT in october, Hull at home, Arsenal at home last season, Liverpool at home last season etc.Oh wait. Now whilst true that in the majority of those games we went 4-5-1 and naturally Rooney is going to be the choice ahead of Berbatov, Fergie did at times last season experiment with Berbatov in a 4-4-2 for example Inter Milan and Chelsea and Fergie obviously quickly realised that either another midfielder or Judas Tevez would offer us more than Berbatov in such games. My ears were working fine thank you when I, seven years ago, heard Fergie tell the press ‘he is a great player and you are all idiots’ about a certain Sebastian Veron, and to then sell him shortly after, despite constant denials that he would sell the player. He rarely criticises players in public, in fact he regularly hypes them up to the max to give them confidence. Only players who can take it get critisied (Berbatov isn’t one) and even then it is a rarity. And I care because I want players at our club fulfiling their potential. If this is as good as it is going to get for Berbatov, you can’t blame the majority of fans for not being impressed.

“he has had 4 goals and 2 assists in the last 4 games he has played.. at least wait until he has a period with lack of goals to spread your shit and negativity.”

Stats can be misleading. Those goals were against Hull, Wigan, Burnley and Portsmouth. The Burnley one was pleasing and fair enough and if you read back on a previous blog, I praised him for that. Against Hull, Rooney laid it on a plate for him. Portsmouth and Wigan, we were cruising. He missed easier earlier chances in both when it was more nervy and 0-0.

“there are strikers out there who are just standing still all the time up front, waiting for others to create chances for them.. berba is often dropping deep interfering with our build-up play”

You don’t get it do you. You have compeltely missed my point. I am not talking about standing up top waiting for the ball ala target man/RVN. I am talking about how he will track back, and then demand for the ball to be played to his feet, without trying to work around his team mates movements. Instead he expects his team mates to move around him. The only other player I have seen like that is Ibrahimovic, who still has much better stats than Berbatov, even last season in a mediocre Inter side. That is because he is a much better player. And he has had a bad few games, which has annoyed the Barcelona supporters who don’t just ignore it and bury their heads in the sand when a player isn’t fulfiling their potential.

“Only thing is that he lacks a bit of acceleration(not pace) and of course most people would see him run around like a certain tevez…not me”

He is one of the most slowest strikers in world football. And his finishing is average at best as well. As well as his mobility. And no I wouldn’t like to see him run around like Tevez. I said about Tevez last season that his running around was masking his poor performances, people didn’t listen

‘I’m a big fan of Berba but I realise that he’s not always effective and he’s not had that one big performance in a big game yet’

One of the few times he’s played in games against the top 4 I can think of is Chelsea in the 3-0 home win.

He assisted for Vidic’s goal and scored. Oh, and Liverpool last season 1 assist for Tevez in the 2-1 loss.