Sir...what's his name? put Anderson in a defensive midfield roll with specific marking instructions and playing within a zone, and structured system. This hurt Anderson's game and development.
I have no worries with Neymar and the future change of style due to different systems he will play in. If anything, Neymar will only grow to be more complete player, meaning not losing his current strengths but improving in physicality, passing, winning the ball back when lost, etc. Surely Brazil's NT will benefit from that Neymar even more than from today's Neymar. There are many things that I find more worrying with Neymar, though. One is impossible expectations. Dude's 20, and already some compare to him to players like Ronaldo, Dinho, Romario, CR, Messi etc. Doesn't help him one bit, especially with the World Cup in Brazil coming when Brazil's squad isn't in its strongest phase. The pressure thing should be smaller in club football, as if he'd move, he wouldn't be the undisputed star of his club in Madrid, ManU or Barca.
While I agree that messing with a player's position can have a negative effect on his game, you just have to watch Anderson play or look at his numbers to understand the true story. He's been there since 2007 and has scored 4 goals! And Anderson is never the most defensive DM in the setup, because Ferguson is not crazy. The guy became a different player and we've seen it happen numerous times with other people. Blaming the club is delusion.
That is not necessarily a bad thing. I believe that he would develop many aspects of his game at Barca. Aspects that would only make him a better player. I think it will only be up to him to work hard enough and absorb as much as he can. If he can do that he will become one of the very best. @Rivelino Nothing says only because Messi is there that Neymar can't become one of the best players. Messi is currently and has been the best for some years now, of course they are going to try bring out his best. Something that they definitely do. That doesn't mean that the other players can't shine. I think they all shine, Xavi and Iniesta have both been up there at the top 3 of the best players in the world. Ronaldinho and Eto'o the same when they played with Messi. At least I wouldn't mind if Neymar went there and became a top 3 player in the world. They won't bring him to make him sit on the bench, they will try to use his qualities in the best possible way and develop some things in order for that to be possible. But to become a starter he will have to earn his place and that competition for a place should only make him better.
None of this ever happened. Who told you all that? "playing within a zone", yeah, that zone is called the midfield area. MUFC rarely play with a defensive midfielder who's sole purpose is to mark. Injuries also have a lot to do with his lack of bigtime progress. Having said that, his career is hardly over.
I specifically remember Man U fans praising Anderson performance against Arsenal and Liverpool a couple of season ago b/c he as they put it "back pocket" Fabregas and Gerrard which means he man mark them out of the game. Also, there where games where he was the deepest midfielder. I agree, injuries have stalled Anderson progress and the player himself has some blame as well but Man U are nowhere near innocent in how they handled his development. Where they got this idea, that they should convert a promising attacking midfielder into something else is beyond me.
Does that mean SAF gave him specific instructions to mark them throughout the game? Midfield players regularly battle/clash with their opposing numbers many times in the game.
If Neymar kept playing in his current position on the wing he would be asked to stay out wide to stretch play on the left, like Pedro does, in order to give the midfielders an outlet on that side (as Alves provides it on the right), if the last 3 years of Guardiola's possession based 4-3-3 are anything to go by. If he played on the right like Sanchez he would be sacrificed a great deal to help cover for Alves. The players you mention shine because they are midfielders in a system that emphasizes possession, and safe short-passing, so they see much more of the ball. He would hardly be able to keep his free-role where he can influence play like he does at Santos and NT.
Lol WHAT.. THEY ARE ALL TO BLAME!! They single handedly ruined Anderson's career. Who switches a very very gifted Leftsided Attacking Mid to a Holding Midfielder?!?! Anderson would've been a STAR had he not gone to Man United. O wellz, but thats how the cookie crumbles.
I remember seeing Anderson in the U-21 (or U-17) Selecao team and thinking he had Ronaldinho like skills. So it is a bit surprising he fell in such a deep midfielder role. But honestly it's all down to Anderson himself. If he didn't like how he was going to be utilized by Ferguson, he should have forced his way out. This shows that he didn't have enough faith in himself as an attacking player and therefore would be no good for us (at least in the offense).
That's called playing in a way that makes it ideal for your team to win. Besides, in Barcelona all the players do many things: defs attack, wingers move to center areas. Switching positions temporarily. That's where a big part of Neymar's futute growing would come from: to learn to be a more complete player. As for Anderson: agreed with Celito. If you're used by a coach so badly that it "ruins your career" you get away from that coach. Also: there are many players who seem like future world beaters but just don't make it to that level. Doesn't mean that it's all bad to them, being still a football professional and all. "Wanted to have a better career? Should've played better".
Like Rane Catesbeiana said. It would make him a more complete player and defending is a important part of the game. You see that all players at Barcelona defend. I don't think it would be good for his development to be on a team where he can just do whatever he wants and never defend. That's not modern football. Now that you mentioned Pedro, I believe that he shines much more at Barca than he would at any other club. Look at how many goals he scored last season. To have players like Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc etc. only makes you better, if you learn how to take advantage of it. To be in a team that has a lot of possession is a dream for a offensive player. There is more time to shine than in a team with less possession. If he went to another team he would need about the same time to adjust to their type of play. Anyway, time will tell.
You make it sound like he never defends while playing for Santos... That's not true at all. However most of his attempts end up in fouls, he didn't get the hang of it yet, so yes he must get better. But sometimes he makes great interceptions.
That's not what I meant. I've seen that he tries to pressure sometimes, but like you also said he must get better at it. But defending is not the only thing that he would improve. It was Rivelino that mentioned it as a bad thing that he would have to do. I just see it as something good.
One critical flaw that Santos have is that 80% of our attacking play comes from Neymar. When Ganso is playing and is in good form, that evens a bit more but its still something like 30% Ganso, 50% Neymar 20% Arouca/Ibson/etc. ... Thats a very difficult problem to solve, since he has an extraordinary offensive capability: he moves around a lot (great workrate), is always one of the first to arrive and last to leave in training sessions, has great stamina/speed/acceleration, is almost injury immune, already played as our (lone) playmaker, is a good finisher and I didn't even mention his specialty yet, that is dribbling technique. If he keeps improving in all this, my God what a player we will have. ... and here comes my point: he is still improving, VASTLY, while playing for Santos. Neymar version 2009 can't be compared with 2012's, 2012's improved significantly physically from 2011's and is working a lot harder at retrieving balls... And here he has all the space to train, with an excellent enviroment full of his friends, family, trusted teammates. If he was stagnating here (like scoring 6 goals per game without even trying, stuff like that), then I would advocate (with a lot of pain in my heart of course) that he needed some new challenges... But right now there is no need to risk any problems with lack of play time, adaptation to a new culture, a whole new enviroment to work with, brand new teammates... The more prepared he is when (if) he leaves Santos, the easier will be for him to adapt and win a starting spot on his future team.
I never said defending was a bad thing or that he doesn't defend at Santos... I said that a good portion of his game and energy would be spent covering for Alves on the right, and that if he played on the left he would have to stay glued to the touchline to providing a passing option on the side and stretch play for the midfielders to keep possession, receiving the ball, going to the touchline and passing it back again times times n, every game, and probably wouldn't be allowed come inside from left to right, because Messi does the opposite.
Nah. If he'd play as LW in Barca, it would mean he would roam around, attacking like a beast, making dribbles and runs, cutting to left and right and center and everywhere, shooting and passing, etc. and certainly would not be glued down to anywhere. Basically, if you're a player like Neymar, you will very likely succeed in Barca if you keep your head together.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uFcpz4EXe8"]NEYMAR CAÇADO EM CAMPO! Santos 2 X 0 Juan Aurich - LIBERTADORES 22/03/2012 - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtCbQu2Buoo"]Neymar fas Homenagem ão Menino que tem Leucemia. Santos 2 X 0 Juan Aurich Copa Libertadores 2012 - YouTube[/ame]
With today's hattrick Neymar surpassed Robinho's goal tally with Santos, even though he played 40 games less than our former number 7. Robinho: 94 goals / 213 matches Neymar: 95 goals / 173 matches IIRC he needs 9 goals to surpass Serginho Chulapa and become our top goalscorer after the Pelé era. And I still hear people say he is Robinho 2.0 Though even if that were true, I don't get why would it be offensive, since Robinho is an idol with Santos and have a great trophy collection
It would be sad. Robinho has not lived up to the hype. At one point, Robinho was competing against Messi. I am not sure what happened but, now he is just a solid player. Neymar is a much more special breed of player. Because of Robinho's mistakes of joining a team like City (although it was not entirely his fault), Neymar may become a much better player. To me, it is offensive to call him Robinho 2.0 even though Robinho was not too bad during those days.