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| Anderson scores 2 against Schalke in the CL Semi-Final |
I have always been a fan of Anderson, despite his inconsistent performances over his four years with us. I think people often forget how young he is – younger than Darron Gibson and only a year or two older than Tom Cleverley.
When he arrived at Manchester United, he was dubbed as ‘The New Ronaldinho’ – something which perhaps pressurised a young 19 year old moving to the biggest club in the world. At the time, when he moved with Nani, they were both dubbed Ryan Giggs’ and Paul Scholes’ long term replacements at Manchester United. Nani is showing glimpses of fulfilling that promise. Anderson is not – yet.
He is a fan favourite at Old Trafford, proven by the jovial chant. He also has the personality that brings a breath of fresh air around Carrington. One of the tricks I remember from him is that he put a rat in Gary Neville’s locker in the training ground changing room!
However, Anderson’s inconsistency has seen him deployed in a number of positions in midfield, without making any of them his own. Originally, fans thought of him as an attacking, goal scoring midfielder in the Paul Scholes mould. His performances at Porto – before breaking his leg – drew comparisons to Ronaldinho, drawing a number of Manchester United fans into thinking that we were to see a skilful and creative player, especially after he was signed for a reported 30 million Euros.
Sir Alex Ferguson quickly handed him the number 8 shirt – a shirt that had been shortly vacant after Wayne Rooney went from being number eight to number ten.
After two seasons, Anderson hadn’t been disappointing, but he had only shown glimpses of his immense potential. In my opinion, the reason for this was due to a lack of continuous first team football, but that comes with youth.
Due to a lack of consistency, Anderson has been played as a central attacking midfielder, a central midfielder, a holding midfielder and even a left midfielder on the odd occasion. I think his long term position is an attacking midfielder, but until he shows that he deserves the spot, he will not be given it.
Anderson really started to show some good form midway through the 2009-2010 season after being given chances by Sir Alex Ferguson to really prove himself to the Old Trafford faithful. But, in a match against West Ham, Anderson suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament in his knee, forcing him to sit the rest of the season out.
One of the reasons why I think a regular run of games would do the world of good for Anderson is the emergence of Nani about 18 months ago – when Mike Phelan famously said ‘the penny’s dropped with Nani’.
Another thing he has to improve is his goal scoring, if he is to be given the attacking midfielder position. Putting his penalty in the Moscow 2008 final to one side – Anderson had to wait 2 years before his first goal for United, which came at White Hart Lane in 2009. He shown his free kick taking ability in a pre-season friendly against Boca Juniors last summer, but every time Anderson shapes up for a shot, it doesn’t fill me with much confidence as most of them are not very good. Though his two goals against Schalke in the Champions League semi final last season did add to his goal scoring record in an impressive performance.
I really hope Anderson is given the chance to prove himself at Old Trafford and I would think he would be. However, I think the next season is make or break for ‘Ando’ – as he is known in the dressing room – as with the emergence of Tom Cleverley, Ravel Morrison and Ryan Tunnicliffe, then chances would be limited and players will have to leave. I do see a future for Anderson, he just needs to want it enough to make it happen. Whether he is used as a creative midfielder, a box to box midfielder or a holding midfielder, he has the potential and he just needs to realise that and work hard to fulfil it.
Daniel Pond
Follow me on Twitter: danielpond1995
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