A modern day gangster, Dimitar Berbatov
A bit of what’s going on in Butt’s Brain after a shocking weekend in the Premier League…
- Berbatov and Owen (and perhaps M.B. Diouf) should start today in the Carling Cup for Manchester United. Berbatov will be making his 100th start for the club. Last year’s Golden Boot winner is now 4th or 5th choice. How ludicrous is that? While Tevez has fallen far down the pecking order at Manchester City for off-the-field issues, Berbatov’s demise has little to do with his attitude and more to do with the emergence of Hernandez and Welbeck. No room for the Bulgarian except in the Carling Cup? Wow. Expect a goal or two from him.
- To all those supporters and media using Jonny Evans as a scapegoat for Manchester United’s loss – you are either a) too emotional or b) know little about football. Evans has never been a Top 4 quality defender – he’s always been a young, squad player at the club and has filled in admirably on occasion for Ferdinand, Vidic and others. He’s slow. We know that. He has never had pace. His positional sense and strength in the air are great for a mid-table Premier League team but certainly don’t rival the likes of Kompany, Vidic, or even Ledley King. Sir Alex left Phil Jones (in form) and Nemanja Vidic (perhaps not fully match fit) on the bench because he trusts Evans. Sure it didn’t work out, but this loss should not be blamed on Evans. Like Wes Brown and John O’Shea (two great club servants who Sir Alex let leave over the summer for peanuts to Sunderland), Evans will never be more than a squad, rotational player and nothing more should be expected of him. He’s perfectly suited for a Sunderland starting role – 30+ league appearances a year for Steve Bruce, not for a pressure packed Manchester Derby with his lack of speed and now, confidence.
- Rafael van der Vaart says he “feels sorry” for Jermain Defoe who isn’t starting. But does he really? Probably not. VDV is scoring goals for fun which is keeping the tiny speedster Defoe out of the lineup.
- Chelsea have been charged by the FA for their disorder in the 1-0 loss at QPR on Sunday.
- Wolves were so, so lucky to get a 2-2 draw with Swansea. They were trailing 2-0 after 83 minutes and scored 2 goals in the last seven minutes after being completely outclassed, and passed off the pitch. And the fans let manager Mick McCarthy know about it. Now he’s hitting back. The Wolves gaffer is right in that the negative support doesn’t help. The dissenting voices don’t help a team struggling. When has it ever helped someone’s psychology to be jeered by their own fans? Ever? In sport history? If Wolves supporters want their club to stay up, they should back them vocally, not slate them. That’s my opinion at least.
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I agree with you in the Evans issue. It’s not Evans fault. I think Utd are really poor defending top flight team and that’s not only because of the defenders. That’s the way they play and the kind of midfielders they have. They need to have a balanced team. They need a player in the midefield to balanced them. Doesn’t need to be a de Jong, Vieira or Mikel but they can’t play with Fletcher, Anderson, Young, Nani and two more in front agains decent teams. Carlos Queiroz is the key
I think the wolves fans should be with the team as well as with Mick. He deserves support from them. Anyway their current form is really poor.
It would have been interesting to witness Wes Brown’s career had it not been decimated by injuries. He certainly played like a top 4 defender in Manchester United’s Champions League winning season (2007–08).
He might never have evolved into a Maldini but a decent level below that, I think.
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