So what are you trying to say? every time rooney and berbatov played bad they done it on purpose so the other could shine? No of course not, had berbatov had the same season he had two seasons ago instead of the one he did last season it would have meant united would have been truly in a bad postition with their top two strikers massively out of form. had they been off form at the same time united wouldnt have been nearly as affective. you got lucky cause they happened to be off form at diffrent times. im not saying their bad just saying its lucky. Hernendez doesnt play to well as a lone striker and no other striker in your team would have been nearly as effective as berba or rooney.
Given that you'd expect most top PL strikers to be on form much more often than they are off form, surely it would be very unlucky if they were both off form at the same time?
Considering they were both off form for nearly half a season each, would it be that unlikely for that to have happened at the same time last season? considering the lenght of their off form spells?
The mathematical chance of it happening is around 25%, so it would probably have happened for around a quarter of the season. Then again, given that neither player scored a PL goal from the 20th Sept to the 26th Nov, you could argue that it did happen for a quarter of the season. Of the nine games we played in that period we won four, drew five so the impact isn't as great as you'd like to believe. I'd say we were much more unlucky to have both strikers have such long patches of bad form. Although I don't remember Berbatov having particularly bad form last year, so I think your claim that he was out of form for half a year is stretching it a bit.
Well considering berbatov like you said didnt score from september till the 26h of november then lost his place in the second half of the season around march, half a season isnt really stretching it is it?
It's because the majority of football fans don't have a clue what they are talking about now. People more often than not look at names on a teamsheet and decide who is the better team. I say let them continue to do it because as of now, the only team in the league who has the right balance between the Starting XI and the rest of the squad is United.
So when Nani stepped up to the plate last season, replacing Ronaldo, was that lucky? Or was it a player who has always had the potential but never really had the chance to shine? Nani was always in Ronaldo's shadow but when he left it was his opportunity to stand up and be counted. Just as it was for Rooney the season before last when Ronaldo left. We needed somebody to score Ronaldo's share of goals and Rooney scored 35. Last season he didn't need to because Berbatov and Hernandez both scored 20 each. That is the way a squad (especially one as good as United's) works. When one player doesn't pull his weight, another is there to step in. That is what opposition fans have found so hard over the years. When Cantona left who would be the driving influence in the team? When Beckham left who would provide the goals for van Nistelrooy? When Keane left who would be our midfield general to lead us (not really replaced him but as a whole of course the squad pulls together) When van Nistelrooy left who would get us the goals? When Ronaldo and Tevez left United will be finished. Who will score their goals? Rooney stepped up, as did Hernandez and Berbatov. That above is what is so so hard for rival fans to understand, that an unspectacular (to them) set of names can win the league and reach another Champions League Final. The squad mentality and never say die attitude that is engrained into every United team. Nobody comes close to United in that respect.
It is stretching it quite a lot to be honest. A striker can go a few games without scoring without being in bad form - the striker can still be doing well even if the team isn't playing particularly well or creating chances. And Berb is one of those players who makes contributions even if he isn't scoring all the goals - I think he assisted either two or three goals in that same period. Anyway, regardless of Berb's form, your attempts to claim we won the league because we were lucky have fallen spectacularly flat
