Well he makes point. He isn't made to tackle like Keane nor dribble and shoot like Scholes. He is not all that talented but he is not the worst from the bunch either.
I don't blame him. I've said it before but Cleverley is a good squad option for a three man midfield. If you dump him in a midfield two you cannot complain when he is weak defensively or unable to do anything in the final third. It is simply not his game. He is a good complementary player who can keep things ticking along and he has a good placed shot but that's it.
With all this midfield talk, I wonder if Barca can play with a two man midfield, serious question? They are the midfield example to the world, or Bayern, but now a days even with top players like that, you cannot play with a two man midfield the game is different the players are different.
Put any three man midfield against them, they won't hold up imo. It is pure tactical, not taking away anything from them, blaming Cleverley for playing crap, especially being against three man midfields most of the year, I can't fault him.
That's not true. A 2-man midfield is not destined to fail against a 3; the reason the former is out of fashion is the lack of quality 2-sided midfielders or midfielders who perform at least 2 functions (at best, there are 10 such midfielders in all in world football who check that). After all, we did beat Barcelona with Xavi in his prime with Scholes and Carrick without being overrun in midfield.
Let me rephrase, I find it very tough for two man midfield against three regardless of quality. Yes you have instances where you are going to win like the examples you mentioned but you generally get my point.
There are very few two man midfield partnerships in the modern game. Almost all are supporting by a player either behind or ahead of them who offer support.
Important to think about the contribution of the wingers, in the Schools/Carrick era we had Giggs & Becks who were industrious and came narrow to help as well as being of sufficient threat to pull the oppo CMs out wider. The current wingers we have are less industrious defensively and less of a threat. Clevs is not good enough for a two, but is OK in a three in the dynamic energy role. Though maybe as a squadie rather than a starter.
Maybe the best example is Ji-Sung Park... so fans question his inclusion but he is essentially the third midfielder that helps us the 2 CM defensively. I agree with this. If Moyes insist on the 442/4411, Adnan on the left and Cleverley on the right (playing headless chicken destroyer) would probably work better then the crap we have been watching.
Mixing my timeline horribly, but the point I was trying (badly) to make was that with Scholes/Keane and Scholes/Carrick (before Scholes got too old) we had two players that could hold their own even when playing teams who overloaded against us in the middle. When we had wingers like Giggs (pre-late thirties), Becks followed by Giggs / Ronaldo we had players who either worked hard (Giggs/Becks) or a player like Ronaldo who people had to double up on which made it easier for the guys in the middle. Fast forward to now and we have a hard-working winger in Valencia who is not enough of a threat and a threat in Young who is not enough of a hard-worker. The two in the middle Carrick plus one other sub-standard are neither good enough to play as a two and also do not get helped by the wingers. Hence the 'polo' or 'ring doughnut' football we have seen the last few years where we just give up the middle and rely on our defence and attack. Until we move to 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 I think Clevs is of no use to us. Of course it doesn't help when a young player is told he is not allowed to get ahead of the ball - as soon as you give athletes in any sport strict rules that stop them playing instinctively you are in trouble. This stupid edict from Moyes may go some way to explain his poor performances recently. Sadly the petition from England supporters for him not to go the world cup will not help his confidence either. Hopefully this will put a bit of fight into him rather than crush him.
Valencia works hard but it benefits no one, and he is a complete non threat nowadays. Young doesn't try and he is rarely a threat either. in terms of improving the team those two are like constantly adding zero across all categories
yeah when i think of cleverly, the first thing that comes to my mind is that he's an absolute genius of a thinker he clearly doesn't need to adapt to van gaal, aloysius paulus maria needs to adapt to him. i don't give a **** about what type of skin you've developed, what we want you to develop is a positive midfield game, add in a forward pass or two, and maybe some damn through balls from time to time. if you can't, then **** off to everton.
Cleverley needs to stop talking and show it on the field. He's just giving people more shit to throw back at him. The amount of hate he's been getting has been at ridiculous levels, but responding through the media is not worth it.