Moments of Genius No. 7 – Berbatov. Again.

This comes from United’s 5-0 destruction of Portsmouth; it didn’t lead to a goal, but was pretty special… (Start at 5.10)

To have the presence of mind to realise that’s the only way you can get Valencia in, and possessing the ability to actually do it, are a breathless combination. Not many other players could do what Berbatov does there.

Berbatov is a mercurial talent, undoubtedly hugely gifted but laconic and peripheral too much of the time. I heart him. Why you like him is summed up well in this post that I’ve stolen from Football365′s forum:

If Berbatov was my lone striker I’d probably yearn for someone more hardworking. But United have Rooney.

Berbatov for me is just a joy to watch. I could excuse his goal tally or point out how he gets loads of assists and how the team gets better results when he plays with Rooney, but ultimately I don’t really care, I grew up wanting to be Eric Cantona, while everyone else wanted us to sign Shearer my dream signing would have been Matt Le Tisser. I don’t care if Berbatov is a lazy poser, he does things like that lofted ball over the defender for Valencia yesterday that make me go ‘yay!’, and in a squad that’s full of people who’ll run all day (Rooney, Evra, Park, Fletcher) I think there’s room for a player who’s all about finesse.