Dimitar Berbatov has been at Manchester United for only three months but that is already long enough for the club's
supporters to recognise that he can prick a variety of different
emotions. There are times when he will beguile his audience and leave
them longing for the ball to be played to him carelessly just so he can
jab out a leg and demonstrate that Velcro touch. But then there are the
days when he pulls on those black gloves, greases back his hair and
does so little that it is difficult for fans to comprehend how he can
force Carlos Tevez out of the side.
"I'd rather wash Berba's kit
than Edwin van der Sar's," was the title of one website rant after
United had beaten Sunderland 1-0 last Saturday in a match so one-sided
the home goalkeeper did not have a single shot to save. The allegation
was, in essence, a neglect of duty, that Berbatov had not covered a
tennis court's worth of grass, that he was work-shy and needed to bring
himself in line with the rest of the team. The roar when Tevez came off
the bench had told another story.
These are still the embryonic
stages of Berbatov's time in Manchester and, lest it be forgotten, the
striker has already given us one moment of theatre that is about as
good as it ever gets in professional sport. Nobody who was at Old
Trafford on October 29 and saw, in real time, the way in which he set
up Cristiano Ronaldo's second goal against West Ham United will ever
tire of wanting to see it replayed. It was one of those rare moments in
football that seemed to defy gravity.
Yet it is also undeniably
true that the state of the Bulgaria forward's fitness will matter more
to the Tottenham Hotspur supporters than it does those of United ahead
of his return to White Hart Lane tomorrow afternoon. If Berbatov's sore
achilles prevents him facing his old club, the average Spurs fan will
breathe a sigh of relief. And as for United's supporters? They will
simply shrug their shoulders and look forward to seeing Tevez play.
That
may sound harsh but, when it comes to judging Berbatov's impact since
his £30.5m transfer between the clubs in September, the jury is still
out among most United fans. They desperately want to adore him but,
right now, they remain in the process of eyeing him up, wondering where
the relationship is going. Berbatov is an unorthodox player and it
takes time to get used to a footballer with his idiosyncrasies.
"The
problem is that the fans want effort," explains Paddy Crerand, a member
of United's 1968 European Cup-winning team and a regular at Old
Trafford. "Fans respond to effort. But some players can do more with
one pass or piece of skill than another can do in 90 minutes of running
around dementedly."
Crerand has seen all of Berbatov's matches
this season and is surprised that such an extravagantly gifted
footballer should ever come under scrutiny from the club's fans. "I
think it's unfair," he continued. "I've heard all the grumbles but the
supporters need to realise that not everyone runs around like Cristiano
Ronaldo or George Best. Berbatov suffers by comparison. But that
doesn't mean it's right. I think he's a wonderful player. He might have
scored only a couple of goals but how many has he created? To my mind,
if you make a goal, it's as good as scoring one."
Berbatov has
actually scored six in all competitions, in 14 starts and one
substitute's appearance, though only two have come in the Premier League.
Even this has become a figure of debate among United's fans. On the one
hand it is a healthy ratio of almost one goal in two games. On the
other his goals have come exclusively in easy wins against moderate
opposition - two each in 3-0 wins against Celtic and Aalborg in the
Champions League, while he scored one in the 4-0 defeat of West
Bromwich Albion and another in the 5-0 thrashing of Stoke City.
The
most damaging allegation, perhaps, is that Berbatov has adversely
affected the balance of the team. Sir Alex Ferguson's thinking was that
his arrival would bring a "new and exciting dimension" to their attack.
Instead he has been forced to admit it has taken time for the players
"to understand Berba's qualities".
The United manager likes his
four most advanced players, in a 4-2-3-1 system, to be fluid and
interchange positions, making it as difficult as possible for opponents
to pick them up. Berbatov can be wonderfully elusive but he does not
stretch defences in the way that Tevez does. Wayne Rooney, meanwhile,
has been playing well but not markedly better than in previous seasons
and Ferguson has become exasperated about the number of chances his
strikers have missed.
In hindsight there is an argument that
Ferguson should have gone for an opportunist rather than someone who
will decorate, but not dominate, matches. Or maybe Berbatov will remind
Tottenham what they are missing tomorrow and, in the process,
demonstrate why United's supporters really should not fret too much
about his value to the team. "He's got different qualities but he will
do well for this club, just wait and see," predicts Crerand.
