₦airaland Forum

Berba's penalty was bad. . . . did any of y'all see Del Piero's

Eastbay:
Ruudie,
I won't be satisfied with anything less than 15 league goals this season from him.

truthfully, do u think it is unachievable

@ eastbay,

its not matter of who is behind or ahead - we'll make do with whatever total he can accrue!

dayokanu:
Most players Germany used were all born in Germany

oh i see. . . Odonkor, frimpong, asamoah, boateng, podolski, miroslav, gomez, & dayokanu are now german names abi!?

dayokanu:
We have our moneys worth on Luca already 39 goals in his first season.

this is the dumbest line of argument i've ever heard - Uli Hoeness can revoke your bayern fc fan status for this statement.

dayokanu:
8 league goals in his first season midway is a whole better than 5 goals mid season for a striker who is in his second season and is not acclamatizing

A striker who scored 5 [b]8 goals mid season is a waste[/b]

In stuttgart, by mid-season how many had he scored

debosky:
As I mentioned earlier - this is Berba's type of goal - Cherry on the cake after the game is won.

When the going is tough and you need a breakthrough, don't look for Berba - he might have done it by luck once or twice but is ultimately unreliable.

wether the game is won or lost; wether from the halfway line or the goal line. . . . it matters not, the goal will count in his name.

Thumping victory. . . . . real 5-star performance from everybody - wigan were in 6s' & 7s' all thru. We certainly need more of this!

we've reduced the goal difference margin now and its looking pretty good now. Its gonna be very intriguing at the top now xpecially when UTD/Chelsea/Arsenal play against each other.

dayokanu:
Luca scored 39 and repaid the money we spent on him 11million.

What has Berbasulk done that compares to that. We didnt buy Luca to score till 2099 he has done his job and its time to offload him. What has Berbasulk done.

 u don see mumu!
thats ur xcuse. . . . d man is still pocketing #150,000+ every week and u say he has repaid the money  
Okay, we didn't buy Berba to come and be PFA player or highest goal-scorer, how about that!?

dayokanu:
Mario Gomez scored in his last 4 Bundesliga starts Has Berbasuck ever scored in 4 consecutive games for man Utd?

okay. . .  this is now a big achievement!? the man has only scored 8 since bundesliga started, so how is he better than Berba there - see pot calling kettle black  

@ topic,

definitely FAB4!

dayokanu:
English players and creativity dont go together

& i s'pose germans are over-creative & thats why they raid poor african & european nations & steal their players to make up their national teams abi

with the myriad of financial problems pompey are facing at the moment, one wonders if they can keep their focus. . . . my heart goes out to Avram Grant - be strong AG, you shall overcome!

coded guy:
[b]Dayo, U must be really confused. how can the winning of the title being the aim of a club, regardless of how the players play not make sense.[/b]Ask yourself, can a bunch of useless players win anything. Ask Arsenal, they quality players who play fanciful and sublime footie, still nothing to show for it, at least in the last 5 years

_{HNIC will pick on the 5 year now}

Help me ask him. . . .
if Berba is as useless as u insist he is, by now shebi SAF will be looking for where to offload him free - as Uli & Franz are going all over europe looking for where to offload kpa'ko toni

debosky:
In his mind, if De Laet gets an EPL medal due to appearances with Utd, he is better than Carvalho simply because he gets a medal.

even if he only plays 1min in that entire season. . . . do not undermine his contribution thats all!

@ dayo,

luca scored last season 39 abi, why is he not doing it now. . . .  i don't even know if he remembers how to kick a ball again - where is he sef and he earns how much #150,000+ per week to sit in the stands and suck on his thumb while his children's mate are out doing the bizness & u come here to open your mouth berba is waste!

as for the mario gomes u were ranting about before the season started, how many goals has he scored in the budesliga at this half-way point eight ( kpere. . . . . if berba is waste then he must be toilet paper - shebi he scored 24 last term for stuttgart, why is he not doing it now again

allboyz:
u don MARA

anyhow sha - i fink is will be a draw - 2-2 Draw with Gary nevilla doing an own-goal!

chrisical:
One apiece

God pass una!

C'mon Liverpool. . . . claw your way back into reckoning & banish all those yeye pretenders to their normal positions!

HNIC:
Snow ke??
Dont worry, Berbatov will pass the Blunt round in the dressing room and no one will feel the effect of the Snow on the field
Meanwhile, why u dey fear sef
didn't you beat them 5-0 a few months ago?

i no fear dem, na weather i dey fear. . . . u neva play ball inside bad weather b4 even barca wey dey form over-tapping, d day dem play rain-ball, dem change 1 hand to gidi'gbo

Eastbay:
Ruudie,
The topic is about Berbatov,not Luca Toni or huntelaar.
We've mentioned those players previously.

i know. . . but am just tryna point out a difference here - they are what you can term waste. Berba plays, he gets a handful of goals, puts in some good performances albeit not as consistently as we'd all love; he is waste!?
its totally unfair!

presido1:
Waste of space and resources. I even prefer Wellbeck. Kiko or Owen to that puff.

Wonder what you think about hunteelar & luca toni

MrCrackles:
Detractors?

Yeah detractors. . . . listen to NTA news more often and you'll hear a lot of that!  

MrCrackles:
He's gotta hit the back of the net consistently. . . .Double figures a season is not a big ask
He has gotta play more team football - Ball retention & bringing other's into play has been ya'all's weapon but then has he even been spotless @dis?

Good. He does score the odd, spectacular goal every now and then abi but he has to score much more often than he does at the moment, right!?
This, I totally agree - but on the other hand, we don't mind 10-15 goals in the ligue this season from him, wanna know why!? becuz we are not solely dependent on his goals or the goals of any 1 individual for that matter.
If all he does is assist and the goals can come in from all others, that is fine, we'll take it. In that light, it doesn't translate to a waste i any way!

I just hope the snow doesn't have an adverse effect on the flow of our game. . . .

Eastbay:
We don't agree on a lot,but for once i hold up my hand to concur with you on dat one
The less I see of him the better for me and every other united fan,what a waste of space!!!

speak for yourself. . . . i'm happy enough with his contributions however meagre!

Eastbay:
As long as our Berbatov refuses to score in the ton,then any other thing is just like dereliction of duty,i.e. abandoning what you're paid primarily to do.
Let Fergie convert him to a midfielder instead,and send him on loan to Holland,where skills abound,so that we don't get reminded of the 30 million fee we paid on his mop-head on a weekly basis.

oh well. . . . close your eyes and cover your eyes whenever you're watching a UTD game cuz you ain't seen the last of him. . . . . . . you can start from tonight!

Eastbay:
GOALS.
Plenty of GOALS.Especially someone with a track record for club and country.

Good. . . . same as me, many a UTD fan and probably even Berba himself.

Okay, the man has come but the anticipated goal flood didn't come with him. . . yes, we are disappointed becuz we'd have very much loved that; but on the other hand, the man gives something else, a goal every now and then, and other bright spots we can tap into and utilize. . . so how does that amount to a waste from MUFC's perspective!?

to debosky, eastbay, a-40, mrcrackles, dayokanu & all the other detractors / even sauron, jalether & other interested party.

lets even break this argument down further - we've been constantly yapping expectations, expectations. . . .
what are your expectations of a striker who comes with a considerable amount of money on the price tag attached to him

debosky:
Who made such a claim? Did I say Utd will lose the title because of Berbatov? I don't understand the need to so passionately and often irrationally defend something. Granted you can defend your club and it's enviable achievements, but you should also be able to rationally look at a particular issue on it's own merit.

If you simply came out and said it's irrelevant how well/badly Berba does as long as the title is won, then we would have restricted the responses to Sharon who claims the sulk is doing well.

As regards, your post quoted from The Times even that implies that there must be a level of frustration within Fergie when he watches some of Berba's lethargic performances.

Track-back and read thru. . . i never said you made that statement, someone else did and i was responding to that person.

dayokanu:
Berbetov is one of the most overrated players in Europe. Another David Healy replica

hold ur horses now, we'll still come back to the issue of Luca Toni & Mario Gomes. . . . .

where is bluespice

we dey wait for her speech, thanks of vote & all d normal sen'ren're dem

debosky:
This is a very irrational line of reasoning - so Chelski won something in the year DD blew his top in the UCL. . . . would anyone in his right mind say DD's behaviour was ok simply because Chelski won something?

Did Chelski not win something with Sheva on the books? Did that stop him from being an unmitigated disaster at the club?

Even in the season Utd won the league, was Tevez not released cos Fergie felt he wasn't as effective as he wanted?

in the same vein, it is equally very irrational for anybody to raise doubts over UTD's title claim becuz of one player not firing on all cylinders!

In this age of clipboards and computers, number-crunching and ProZone, there seems to be a growing view that football and footballers can be reduced to a set of statistics, like anonymous data in some gigantic calculation.

For those who insist on seeing the world in such terms, allow me to give you the stats on Dimitar Berbatov’s first season at Manchester United. He has scored 13 goals in all competitions; eight goals in 27 matches in the Barclays Premier League; he has had eight assists; has a shooting accuracy of close to 50 per cent; and a chance conversion rate of 20 per cent. Many argue that these numbers provide conclusive proof that the Bulgarian, for a player who cost the small matter of £30.75 million, has had a woeful season.

Now, I don’t know about you, but while I find these statistics interesting and, in their way, enlightening, I also think that they fail to convey the essential meaning of Berbatov’s contribution. They fail, for example, to convey the artistry of his volley through a packed penalty area against Middlesbrough in December; they fail to describe the elegance of his take and pull-back for Carlos Tévez to score against Liverpool in September.

Most important of all, they fail to convey the audacity of his lightning turn and intuitive flick past James Collins, the West Ham United defender, and his cut-back for Cristiano Ronaldo to score in October, arguably the most audacious, revelatory and intricate piece of creativity all season.

Sure, football is about results and instances of individual brilliance must be seen, to an extent, in that context. But even the most zealous statistician must also concede that results have to matter to people. We have to care. We have to want to travel across the nation to watch our teams in action. And it is players such as Berbatov — his individuality, his elegance and, yes, his neuroses — who make football matter to so many of us.

This is about more than sport; it is about life. Sir Alex Ferguson, for all his ruthlessness and single-mindedness, has always acknowledged the aesthetic dimension; he has always recognised that football is about more than the scoreline at the end of 90 minutes or the points tally at the end of the season.

Neutrals often proclaim their dislike of United, but we have never suppressed a feeling of gratitude that Ferguson has stayed true to the poetic ideals of the Busby era. For Best read Cantona; for Charlton read Scholes; for the tragic Edwards read Ronaldo; for Law read Rooney. Not necessarily similar players, but men with marvellous skills whose contribution to English football is measured not just in medals, and certainly not in statistics, but in hearts and minds.

There is an entire body of academic work seeking to explain the ascent of English football over recent years: the dominance of English teams in the Champions League, the legions of fans around the globe, the predilection of the world’s richest men to purchase our clubs, the sense of glamour and excitement.

Many cite the business model of the Premier League and the canny stewardship of Richard Scudamore, its chief executive, for all this, and in so doing they grasp an aspect of the truth. But the fundamental reason for the success of English football is to be found in its peerless spectacle. It is to be found in the willingness of some of our greatest and most visionary managers — Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, of Arsenal, in particular — to embrace something beyond the functional and the utilitarian; to hire and encourage players who have the rare spark of genius capable of elevating Saturday afternoons beyond the merry-go-round of home and away, victory and defeat.

We would do well to remember that no fan’s love of football has been consummated by statistics and that no spectator has left a game with his mind in hock to a player’s percentage of completed passes.
All of us, even those in anoraks, seek poetry and passion, magic and moments of creativity; all things that make life and sport matter and that are never to be found in ProZone’s matrix of numbers.

And that is why Ferguson will persist with Berbatov. An old and wily fox, he will ponder the sometimes damning statistics and will even experience pangs of anxiety when reflecting upon his forward’s infuriating unwillingness to track back and tendency to spend huge chunks of time swathed in anonymity.

But then the old boy will remember those life-affirming detonations of genius and his granite heart will soften, and he will reach for the teamsheet to scrawl the Bulgarian’s name at the top of the page once again.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/matthew_syed/article6143793.ece

maybe, just maybe for this reason only SAF is keeping Berba - as long as he hasn't said zilch, then our 30milla is very well spent!

Eastbay:
This ball retention story is what we'll never hear the last of.
So it's ok to pay 30 mill for a ball retainer.Why didn't we get Olofinjana instead?
We woulda gotten 10 of him for that sum.
How many crucial goals does Berbatov score?
Can you count on him when the chips are down?Honestly could you?
So as it stands,only Rooney alone should shoulder the scoring threat,while Berbasoft dances Atilogwu in the final third?
And you expect us to win something at the end of the season.

you yarn as if Berba doesn't score - i keep saying what does it matter if he doesn't & UTD still keep winning the titles

maybe thats why UTD have won the last 3 and are on course to make it 4. . . . y'all spend so much time mounting needless pressure on your own players for nothing!

@ eastbay,

& what if we do win something at the end of the season

MrCrackles:
Pretending to be igorant, in Berba's case what are the factors and variables

could be anything ranging from formation to the kind of players he plays with - i can't put my finger on it, i can only speculate!