Berbatov - good article

Edgar Davids Joined : 06 Jun 2007 Posts : 3552

It's nearly time for Spurs to bid bye-bye to Berbatov
Through his indifferent displays for Tottenham, Dimitar Berbatov has undone much of the good he did at White Hart Lane last season.
Jonathan WilsonNovember 7, 2007 2:18 PM
There is a fine line between languid genius and louche waste of space, and Dimitar Berbatov is in danger of crossing it. Martin Jol has been staunch in his defence of the forward since leaving Tottenham, but it is hard to reconcile a series of lethargic performances that have brought just two goals in 14 games this season with the player who so thrilled White Hart Lane last year.

"He is worried about not scoring," his agent, Emil Dantchev, said. "But he sees the situation clearly and knows that Tottenham are lacking the player who can make that killer pass that leads to a goal." Blaming others is becoming a sad trait for Berbatov, but this isn't even an excuse that holds water, not when Robbie Keane sits second in the Premier League scoring charts, not when Tottenham have scored more this season than all but three teams in the Premier League, not when what they most obviously lack is any semblance of a defence.

The other justification his apologists tend to offer is that Berbatov has always been a slow starter. Jol commented with characteristic dryness in the summer that he hoped Berbatov would start scoring before Christmas this season, and it is worth pointing out that at this stage last year he had scored just once in the league and three times in the Uefa Cup. Whether that is acceptable for a professional is debatable, but in any case there is a difference.

For one thing, last season was his first in English football and a certain bedding-in process is only to be expected; for another, last season, even if he wasn't scoring, he looked lively and bristled with a sense of purpose. This season, since being denied a penalty as Paul McShane dispossessed him after he'd rounded Craig Gordon against Sunderland in the first half of the first game of the season, Berbatov has looked generally uninterested.

It is little wonder that Dantchev earlier this week had a chat and a coffee (or "crisis talks", depending on your vernacular) with Damien Comolli, Tottenham's sporting director. It was clearly over the top when the Bulgarian sports papers 7-Days Sport and Topsport both reported the news of Jol's departure with the headline 'BERBATOV SACKS JOL' (even 24 Hours, one of the more serious papers, went with 'BERBATOV KICKS OUT JOL'), but the player must bear a degree of responsibility for the team's malaise. On a practical level, he is no longer helping Spurs clear their lines by holding the ball up; while his palpable air of disillusionment must be infecting the atmosphere at Spurs just as much as it is feeding off it.

It is not just Tottenham fans who are growing frustrated. The mood in Bulgaria is turning against Berbatov too. He was noted, loved even, for his shy, undemonstrative nature. The story is fondly told of how his mother walked into the teenage Berbatov's bedroom to find him doodling dreamily on a school exercise book. When he hurriedly hid it from her view, she assumed he was mooning over some girl, only to discover that what he was actually drawing was the badge of CSKA Sofia, the club where he eventually made his name.

That innocence is long gone. There were suggestions in the summer that Berbatov, after a successful season in the Premiership and having been linked with a move to Manchester United, had returned to Bulgaria rather full of himself. That, in fairness, is not an uncommon accusation when players from Europe's smaller leagues return home having made it big, but the complaints were given credence by Berbatov's reaction to Bulgaria's 2-0 defeat to Holland in a Euro 2008 qualifier in September.

In the dressing room after the game, Berbatov, who is captain of his country and their highest-profile player, laid into his team-mates, blaming the goalkeeper, Dimitar Ivankov, for an error that cost a goal, attacking the defence for their supposed sloppiness, and accusing the midfield of making his job impossible by failing to supply him with passes of sufficient quality. That he himself had missed two highly presentable chances was ignored.

It was that incident that really set the anti-Berbatov reaction in motion, and it has snowballed since. There have been reports that he has fallen out with Aston Villa's Stilian Petrov and that he lectured the national coach Dimitar Penev, and he had a well-publicised row with a fan following a recent friendly. His apparent reluctance to come on as a substitute in the 3-1 defeat at Newcastle only confirmed the impression of a sulking prima donna.

"In only a few months, Berbatov has managed to lose everything he had at Tottenham," a comment in 7-Days Sport read. "He has lost the love of the fans and the English media, and his good-boy image. Now he has to be perfect, because every missed chance, every poor pass will hurt him. His only salvation lies in goals." The assessment is bleak, but probably correct. Berbatov, with his intelligence, his touch and his superb chest control, offers a team far more than just goals, but it is only solid statistics that can rescue his reputation now.

"I don't see why having coffee with him [Comolli] means there is difficulty for Berbatov at Tottenham," Dantchev said yesterday. "It is a normal meeting; Dimitar is under contract with Tottenham and it is just a meeting to discuss general questions, nothing special."

Which would be fine, if it weren't for the comments he had made in Bulgaria last week. "Let's not talk about this in detail," he said then, "but there are three serious clubs who are interested in him. The question of his transfer is very complicated. Now is not the time to talk about it because there are two months before the winter transfer window comes." The implication, though, was that there would come a time and it would be sooner rather than later.

It would be no surprise if Berbatov were to leave in January, and, with three other international forwards in the squad, Spurs fans could hardly be blamed if they were glad to see the back of him: once it has gone, it is very hard to rekindle the magic. Perhaps Berbatov began as the victim of the extraordinary circumstances that have engulfed Tottenham, but by the end he was an agent in Jol's decline.

Founding Father Joined : 06 Jun 2007 Posts : 1704

Excellent find and a good read Jezza.

I just don't know what to make of Berbs anymore. Last season I loved the guy. I genuinely thought he could be that world class forward we'd been missing for years. I likened him to Martin Chivers in his prime, my favourite centre forward at WHL ever.

Today, Berbs allure and shine has been lost. The media can speculate, the rumours will circulate but I still think he has that special "something" in him that sets him above all the rest. A few goals in the next 2or 3 games may rekindle that passion. But deep down I fear his heart is not in it anymore. A huge shame.

I also fear he's not doing himself any favours by this so called prima donna attitude. I can't see the likes of Fergie buying him if he acts like this when the going gets tough. He'll definitely be brought down a peg or two if he went to OT. That's probably what he needs. In the meantime, I hope he starts banging a few in, gets us to mid table and saves us from a horrible Big R scrap come 2008.

I'm generally gutted that it's not working out for him at WHL. He gave us so many great memories last season.

Subject: Re: Berbatov - good article Sun Nov 11 2007, 16:55

Yes, a good article which I was also about to post here (Bruce in fact emailed me that article).

Maybe a bit more time has passed since the article, but I don't think Berba will leave in January. Maybe at the end of the season, but depening on where he sits with those scoring boots or possibly depending on where the club is sitting in the league table.

Suspect

Stew.