I'm definitely in the "Berbatov is a genius" camp as well, fantastic footballer Spudz could do a lot worse than get him back, I'm amazed he ended up at Fulham, I thought Wenger might have been interested a year or two ago.
Berbatov is pretty special. You have to wonder why he isn't still at a big club. Fulham are nothing special.
I meant the ability to do it, not do it all the time. The ability to switch play. I also said be able to thread passes through and spot runners whilst in possession. Berbatov is an amazing footballer, he really is. At Man u he was doubted but I think it is clear for all to see that he is special player and a goal scorer.
Yep indeed, If reports are correct that he has actually worn the yellow and green and it wasn't some kind of robot. Hooper could be tied up and gagged in Neil Lennon's cellar at home, you never know.
The robot did a good job of threading some good balls through last night, by all accounts. At the risk of agreeing with Carrabuh, I think long passes are a low percentage option, though IMO, there were fewer of these last year than with PL the year before. I think the key will lie in the play of RvW, Hooper, Hoolahan and Fer. Hopefully we will get some idea of this in the next 3 friendlies.
Re. Surman, don't forget that he was given a new 3-year deal last summer, which he signed on 20th June. That deal must have had Chris Hughton's endorsement, since he was already installed as manager by then. So I am not convinced that the loan to Bournemouth signals the end of Surman's City career. I think it is quite possibly the outcome of discussions between manager, player and physios about the best next step for Surman himself, given that he is recovering from a make-or-break knee operation designed to ensure he is available for selection on a more regular basis than in the past, and needs to be playing regularly. I also happen to think that Surman is the type of forward wide player Chris Hughton likes, someone whose instinct is to look inside and play WITH the central attackers rather than hug the touchline and cross from wide. Like carrabuh I find a lot to admire about him, he is an elegant and intelligent player; but as well as fitness concerns, I also detect a degree almost of the dilettante when he is playing. Given that he is on a pretty good wage in our terms, that together with the other factors suggest to me that a loan deal makes sense. If he breaks down at Bournemouth, he will no doubt be returned to us anyway.
There's no actual ban on agreeing with carrabuh! Indeed, the opportunity occurs so seldom we should all jump at it when it arrives!
I think surman needs to reinvent himself if he's going to play regular football. He's not a bad player and has the intelligence when match for to be a decent central creative midfielder but with no real pace or trick he's not going to get in on the wing against pilks snodgrass or Redmond, who is going to be a great player for us. Berbatov is a goalscorer, no doubt, but I've never seen anything that would indicate "genius" to me. He's a decent player in his category though.
I'm going to have spit my coffee all over the screen. Berbatov's touch is by far the best in the Premier League - he almost always gets the ball out of his feet in the penalty box and his boot otherwise appears to have velcro on it. He is the only player in the Prem who can make space by standing still and very few can create it walking like he can - I think he plays on a different level and his understanding of where the ball is likely to be is second to none. He is the Brian O'Driscoll of football. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFba3m8v8Fk He suffered at Man U because they are (in substance) a counter-attacking team (though with good enough players to keep possession at times) who need hard-working energetic (as well as skillful) players with pace. He was almost too skillful for them. He would have been perfect for Arsenal, but I think the Tottenham connection was always a block to that. His biggest fault, though, is that he wants his teammates to do things they are not capable of doing. If he was better able to understand the limits to others' abilities, I think he could have been regarded as one of the best players of all time, rather than simply a very good player of his generation.
Since no one can see me, I'm sagely shaking my head at this! Pace is a virtue when added to basic essentials; likewise the odd trick or two. But the essentials are ball control and the ability to pick a pass and execute it. Surman is not lacking in those, and is not out of place wide-ish rather than central. Hence I see him as a player in the right mould for how I believe, contra carrabuh, Chris Hughton wants us to play.
i have to agree rob with everything you've said and i think he is one of the most naturally gifted footballers to play in the premier league. his languid style makes him look at times as though he's not doing much but his brain is always computing and his little movements to find space by moving off his marker or dropping deeper are very subtle but achieve what he needs. his touch is always sublime - i can't recall ever seeing him have a poor touch. fulham pay him well over £100k a week and you can see why. i can understand why some people don't rate him highly though, in a similar way to why ibrahimovic isn't rated... and wilbraham... it never looks like he's doing anything but he is!
Which "fault" one sees also in Wes Hoolahan, though I don't think any of us would claim that Wes is quite in Berbatov's league.
of all the players to leave so far this summer i think surman is the one i'm most disappointed by but i understand why he's been loaned (not sold) to the championship - great signing for bournemouth by the way - my dark horses for promotion. i'm a fan but i agree his ability is being vastly over-egged by one or two. he's one of those players whose ability sits somewhere between the top of the championship and the bottom third of the premier league. surman is a neat and tidy player, keeps things simple, uses the ball well and is capable, when on form, of scoring and creating goals but as said before, he does lack pace and more importantly stamina. i honestly can't remember him ever finishing a game when starting. that may just be my memory being rubbish but there were plenty of games that passed him by and we aren't able to carry players too often, especially if he plays more centrally which surman does (his best position is not as a wide man, i don't care what anyone says - his best position is central midfield where he can get involved with his passing and keep the ball moving). i don't see this necessarily as the end for surman - its no secret he's had injury concerns and needs to be playing games regularly - but much would depend on how we develop as a club over the next 12 months. he's a high earner and if we have another summer like this one then he will be surplus to requirements. as it stands, even though i'm a fan, he would likely only be a fringe player this season. i'd have kept him here but its good that the lad wants to play more football after a frustrating year in 2012-13.
He needs regular football after last seasons horror show for him. Wen I've seen him recently in the odd cup games he looked useless but only because he's not the kind of player that you can just drop into a game at whim I think he needs a good run of games and that works out the problems he has. At this stage in his career and sitting on a good contract it is refreshing he chooses regular football over sitting in the training ground. Hopefully next year he can either be retained or sold on the back of a good season.
There were two things that hindered Surman last year. The first was yet another knee injury. Unfortunately it is something he's had difficulty with since he signed for us. Since signing in 2010 he's managed just 56 games for us out of a possible 135 we played in the time he was here. The second thing that hindered him last season, but not so much under Lambert, was Hughton was playing him out wide. As Beef said, he is not a wide midfielder. He ended up looking worse than he was at the start of last season because he was being asked to play out wide, but kept drifting into the middle of the pitch as that's his natural position.
Lambert's preferred (for a while) 'diamond' system suited Surman much better, as he had licence not to stick to the wing like glue. He operated in a kind of old 'inside left' channel. (Dave and 1950 will know what I'm talking about ) I don't know if Eddie Howe plans to use a midfield diamond, but he'll see the best of a fit again Surman if he does.
Exactly Cromer, we ended up with a very weird looking midfield. Snodgrass was out wide right while Johnson, Howson and Surman ended up being very congested in the middle of the park. Surman subsequently got a lot of flack because he was the one seen to be constantly out of position. The fact that he was being played out of position and was actually drifting more towards his preferred position was seemingly lost on a lot of people. The 5-2 defeat to Liverpool instantly springs to mind as Garrido was left exposed down the left when Liverpool attacked, but was also left with few options when going forward because Surman had drifted inside. Ironically in that game, we looked better when Surman was replaced by Hoolahan and we ended up playing closer to the diamond formation that would have suited him better.
