Disagree entirely. He is not a class above at all. I think he is a below mediocre player made so because he is in the wrong team in the wrong league in the wrong country. He's a 'continental player' and should be back in Belgium where the standard allows him time on the ball and to get away with being literally carried through the match. He won't get away with that here - and especially in a team now needing standout performances to achieve the promotion it desperately needs for it's survival and its fans.
I know football. I've been kicking a ball about on my lawn up at Gleadless Valley since I was three, played schools, Sunday Leagues, Royal Navy football and have part of a coaching badge at a lower level than Fallowfield's UEFA A but still watch the game and have decent handle on the tactics and strategies down there on the green stuff. I also know a strap-hanger when I see one (I've played with players like Berge too who somehow end up picked and you end up carrying, 0-3 down and praying for the fucking coach to sub the lazy arsed cunt so we can get summat back from the game and get out of our half) and Berge is a strap-hanger. There's two things which tint people's spectacles about Berge:
1. He seems a nice kid
2. He wears a red-and-white shirt
There's fuck all else. He has, since his return from yet another injury, surfed firstly on a wave of 'he's just returned from injury' and then when he still fails to fire up the game its a wishy-washy array of statements like 'he's a class player'. He's shown precious little class save for running past players a few times and the odd goal. He's been here three years now including the Premier League (where he got broken) and has spent 40% of that time out of the game and a great deal of the remainder playing, but out of the game. He's simply Emperor's New Clothes in a Blades shirt. Misplaced and inappropriate for what we need and in any case, a poor signing because we didn't have a Sander Berge hole in our team at the time. And when you look at the real facts, how have we improved with him in the team? If he was anything of the like of a £22m midfielder, he'd be bossing the middle of that park and using his size and strength, Matic-style to dominate the game and win the midfield. That's what I expect of him and yesterday Norwood and Fleck, two of my previous targets, did so much more to make their mark on the game, as did Doyle when he came on.
Sander Berge shouldn't pick himself, nor stay on the park when he's having a stinker. But he does. Hence 'ten men'
pommpey