He arrived to a fanfare of how did Fulham pull that one off, he is a truly world class player, he will be amazing for Fulham! There's no denying he's great when he is playing well and the team as a whole are playing well. However, he cuts are disinterested, unmotivated and passionless figure when the going gets tough! His attitude is definitely permeating through the whole team and this is a massive concern to me. One thing that stood out last year was team spirit. So my question is this. Would we be better without Berbatov?
no he is not the problem.there is no denying he added a touch of class. the biggest problem is when the service is no good. all strikers need there team to play well.
The problem with players who think they are better than their team mates, is that when things go wrong they start to apportion blame to every but themselves. But what they forget it's a team game, and if they were to show the effort, they might drag a better performance out of their team mates, but if they just sulk and can't be arsed then the opposite happens. We get told by the media what a one man team we are (which isn't true). But since he's supposed to be our demi-god we expect him to put in a shift above and beyond each game, not give up after the first goal goes in, which he's done against QPR and Liverpool. Harsh but true, since he didn't get a reputation as the big sulk for nothing.
To be fair, before our last two games he's been one of the few players showing a bit of fire and putting a shift in. I think the whole side is out of form and he's fed up with it.
Berbatov is definately NOT the problem. He continued to try to be the spark at Anfield. However, he needs someone else: Petric, or Hugo. Maybe also with Ruiz when fit. OK so no one is quite on Berbatov's wavelength yet (not helped in a changing team). We were better in the second half with Hugo; the runs of Richardson were not so effective in the first half (better when Frei came on for him) - Albeit too late.
What they said. Super Brian's comment about players berating team mates reminded me of what I've read about Johnny Haynes and his frustration with less-gifted team-mates. I'm not sure anyone ever accused the Maestro of failing to put a shift in though, or of sulking! At the risk of being accused of baseless optimism, I think we will look a very different, more coherent, team when we can combine Ruiz and Berbatov as our front two again. That's not to say that there aren't other areas of the team that need improving, probably with new signings, but give Berba his playmate back and he'll soon be a happy bunny again. Do you remember when everything was going well and we were talking about the way those two in particular had the knack of inspiring better performances out of the other players? It's not just that they play well, they make the other individuals in the team play well. There's no reason to think that can't happen again. The leadership thing is, as others have said elsewhere, an important issue to address though.
He is not The Problem, but the fact that he's so demonstrative about his teammates' mistakes is a problem in terms of team spirit. I"d say team spirit was a strength for the team, but I think Berbatov is hurting that.
Merry Christmas Our problem isn't Berbatov, our problem sits firmly in the lack of creativity in midfield recently. This has led to our man in question playing as No10 and having to change our No9 due to injuries etc. The fact that the team must know they are lacking in the area of making chances, some are trying to do this but it then harms our defense when it breaks down. I believe this is also affecting the morale of the team knowing that when a goal down we are not in a good place to come back and when we do try the defense suffers. We are not making many chances at the moment which also proves the case. We need Ruiz back and we need to find 2 others as cover or to play. So Jol's shopping list is at least 2 creative midfielders, simples (I wish it were). And a Happy New Year!
I think the title of this article needs more thought and analysis than people are giving. I think to an extent Berbatov is the problem. Jol sets the team up to play around the Bulgarian, which makes marking for the opposition defenders a lot easier, as they all surround Berbatov. If he were drawing defenders and bringing others into play this would be fine, but he isn't doing that at the moment, and his lack of work-rate against Liverpool was there for all to see. I have little doubt that he will improve when Ruiz comes back, but he will have to learn to play without the Costa Rican, who has also known to be somewhat injury prone.
Agree with you that the team is currently being set up around Berbatov and pretty much the other points Bandit. However our players should have enough intelligence not to attempt a pass to him if he's surrounded (as you say) by the opposition. Associated with that is. at the moment, few others make any intellligent runs off the ball. The biggest problem though is that they are all too hurried in trying to offload the ball to him - it's getting beyond a joke that not one of them runs with the ball from our the midfield and in turn draws the opposition. PS You are being uncommonly benevolent when you euphemistically refer to Bryan as "somewhat injury prone"
Will Jol have the bottle to drop him? We don't have the players to carry him, which is what we're doing.
I was saying to my son this morning that for me the issue is that Berbs is so far above all of the other Fulham players in the team. He's on a different plain most of the time, gets frustrated when they can't see what he sees and eventually gives up. Much as i like him and think he is probably the most talented player we have ever had here, I can't see him staying beyond May. He probably signed up thinking he'd be playing for a team that would be top 8, not bottom 5.
In my opinion, Berbatov is, at least part of the problem. He is a fantastic player, of that there is no doubt, but he just doesn't fit in with our system. The players are all too eager to pass him the ball, but when they do, the move slows down 100%, he doesn't make runs into the box, so the ball stays in midfield and we play, basically with no striker. If you're going to play in a system where you have a supporting striker or attacking midfielder, then you need a target man for him to thread the ball to. The best example of this was Zamora and Gera during our Europa run. Gera played in behind Zamora, threading through balls into Zamora, who held the ball up and created chances. Right now, we have nobody in the box. I'd love to see Petric start a game with Ruiz just behind him, which means dropping Berbatov yes, then switching Berbatov for Ruiz during the second half, to see who fits the role better, and whomever that is should start. This is why signing someone like Bent would be ideal, someone to get on the end of crosses and through balls in the penalty area because playing Ruiz behind Berbatov just isn't working.
Or we can have a controversial system with Baird Sidwell, Kara in front of them, Berba and Ruiz in between and Petric or Hugo up front... Drop Duff and Kaca. I bet this system will work, kind of 4-2-1-2-1.
Nice idea, especially considering we are lacking quality wingers right now, but one Jol would never go for.
