Sander Berge

[cahill]

mcburnie is poor .....blindingly obvious ...

Tries hard but.......

 

[cahill]

I like mcburnie he’s a decent player but we need strikerssss

mcburnie - Alright won’t score loads
Mousse- Good when he can be arsed
Sharp - Legend but 34
Mcgoldrick - Legend but 32
Zicharivic- If he cant get on when theres 5 subs what’s the point

We need strikers in the summer strikers who can score

Mousse our best bet

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Still early days ..so let’s see what next season brings ...but all the clowns who said we will treble our money after 2 years ..( you know who you are ! ) ..will be eating humble pie for a Long long time ....

The lad tries hard ..and we need a full pre season with the squad ..then we can judge maybe January time ..but what I can confirm is we don’t don’t have a £60 million player ..as some over reacting clowns thought when we bought him ...

for lost of reasons ...and mainly financial..I hope he performs well in bigger games..so we don’t lose money..hopefully make a few quid ..as just can’t see in out current systen he’s going to be a major star ..just can’t see it ...yet ..

As for Mcburnout .....I would take a £5 mill loss now to move ..maybe a bit more ...not all signings work out ...and he ain’t going work out for us ..FACT

No idea who you are referring to

 

[alcoblade]

no pace in squad that's problem

A problem that has a low budget squad challenging for Europe, late in the season.

 

[Bladezz]

Berge is starting to really worry me.

 

[GrayBlade]

Still early days ..so let’s see what next season brings ...but all the clowns who said we will treble our money after 2 years ..( you know who you are ! ) ..will be eating humble pie for a Long long time ....

The lad tries hard ..and we need a full pre season with the squad ..then we can judge maybe January time ..but what I can confirm is we don’t don’t have a £60 million player ..as some over reacting clowns thought when we bought him ...

for lost of reasons ...and mainly financial..I hope he performs well in bigger games..so we don’t lose money..hopefully make a few quid ..as just can’t see in out current systen he’s going to be a major star ..just can’t see it ...yet ..

As for Mcburnout .....I would take a £5 mill loss now to move ..maybe a bit more ...not all signings work out ...and he ain’t going work out for us ..FACT

Could I just say that you come across as an overreacting clown yourself. You’d get your point across far better if you didn’t slag everybody off to make it. As it is you seem a bit of a bonnet de douche bag.

 

[Bladesthorpe]

Can someone explain when the early days excuse might end , 6months , a year, a couple of seasons ?
While CW is an excellent manager his one flaw seems to be when he spends big money 'for us' Berge, McB, Moose and Robinson WBA have all failed to live up to expectations and haven't been much of an improvement on what we already had.

 

[Birley Blade]

The excuse never ends because people like arguing and claim you’re making him a scapegoat. Every player gets a clean slate off me every game and at the end of the day he’s been shite. Wouldn’t pay £5M for him.

 

[Coops]

Let’s not forget Berge’s natural position is the holding defensive midfielder role; usually deeper center-mid where Norwood normally sits

Obviously he’s not going to be replacing Norwood anytime soon.

When we wanted to bring Berge in at the start of the season it was as a replacement for Duffy. No one foresaw the purple spell Lundstram was going to have.

The lad is not only switching up to the much faster paced Premier League, but to a completely new position as well. He’s played 3 on RM and one in LM in competitive games for us, and all as cameos.

Give the lad chance I say

 

[Ricky]

He doesn't fit in currently and he doesn't look up to speed. There's no getting away from it.

But he's not even got started here yet.

I don't want to start judging him until he's been here around a year.

He's physically capable but isn't showing it yet. Maybe it's a lack of aggression. But no doubt the biggest problem is the system and the clarity of his role. He looks unsure and frustrated. I trust him to get himself where he needs to be, given a bit of time and normality. Next season is his time.

 

[CentralQuay]

When you guys first signed Berge and Retsos I was on here saying that I was impressed, they were two players who I would have been happy to see at Leicester, with a view to developing them and see what they had to offer as they improved over time.

Retsos really is in the infancy of his pro career, so the expectations of the two are slightly different.....The reality is, the fee is completely irrelevant to what is expected of a player. The Berge criticism mainly comes from his fee. Watching your game in isolation, had Lundstram/Norwood been bought for the same fee, you would just be as disappointed with what they offered today.....And they have had countless games to adapt to the position/system they play in.

£20 million + on a player, breaking the transfer record of the club, to play him in a completely new position which he does not have the experience of let alone the attributes for.......
That is what confuses me, and where any questions this early in his Sheffield United career should be directed at.

The first thing I learnt after we gained promotion was just how odd it was to see players needing such different time to adapt to the league.
Vardy, who was scoring goals for fun in the championship, and now Premier League, took a season to adapt to both the Championship and then the Premier League.....
Cambiasso, who had experienced everything in the game before joining us, still needed a good half a dozen games to adapt.....
Kante, who had never played at this level before, instantly turned into a world class midfielder during his first 30 seconds on the pitch.


He will never fulfill his potential though, being played in a position he is not suited to at all.
Just like Makelele/Busquets would have never been the players they were if they were forced to try and play box to box.
(Not that i'm saying he has the potential to be anywhere near both).

 

[Ricky]

Anyone know if he's living in a house or a flat?

A flat won't have been ideal with all the Covidity.

Hopefully he's in a house now with a great big garden where he can have a good old gallop...

 

[Keen Blade]

Unfortunately for Berge I think his best position would probably be in the Norwood role. But Ollie ain’t gonna get dropped any time soon. He‘s not a box to box man, nor Is he tenacious tackler, but I do think he could pick a pass.

Wilder doesn't believe in one-trick midfielders - all midfielders should tackle + be able to run about. Jesus. Pick a pass ? It's not enough.

 

[Keen Blade]

One match, one fucking match, Jesus Christ

It's not just last night though , is it ? Or were you away in February & March ?

 

[Keen Blade]

We know Berge's best position is probably in the middle but we're not going to drop Norwood for him. He just needs time.

Norwood is our top tackler - Berge couldn't tackle a fish supper

 

[Keen Blade]

Some of you lot on here,good god,what moaning bitches you are. Over 3 months not training properly,no sharpness training,no togetherness over lockdown,no crowd stimulation and you expect an immediate continuation of the previous 6 months,unbelievable. As for singling out players,have a good look at yourselves. I trust Wilder a lot more than your snide imbecile comments that you spew out.

Berge doesn't look like a CW type of player , lack of desire will not be tolerated - but you keep kidding yourself if you like.

 

[Keen Blade]

I think Berge will come good. He didn't play badly tonight in my view, he seems to be keeping it safe by in large and when he plays more and gets used to the system and the PL I think we'll see a more expansive Berge. I still think in the longer term his best position may be replacing Bash. Lets give him time and get behind him. I'm pleased in that respect that we're playing behind closed doors because there could be a few groans towards Berge if he doesn't hit the ground running this season. I think he'll prove to be a decent player.

As for McBurnie, he did ok tonight, similar to Billy, I'd say McBurnie was the better of the two but service was lacking and that was just the type of game it was. Overall McBurnie is a handful and I think has shown why we paid big money for him. I think ideally he'd be best with pace alongside him, but Billy is playing so well of late to be fair and deserves his place for sure.

Berge can't challenge for headers so he couldn't possibly replace Basham !

 

[JJ Sefton]

Skilful but just not fast or strong enough. Hopefully he’ll come good but pretty useless today.

 

[Keen Blade]

not slagging Berge off ..did you read the post ..at all ...just he’s ain’t gonna be this superstar some idiots on here made out because of the price tag ....

try the part where I say we can judge in January ..after another pre season and time to adapt ..just in my opinion he ain’t gonna be the superstar a lot said he was going to Be ..based on some internet reports ....

the lads trying and he is bound to improve ..not to elite elite level ..I don’t think

mcburnie is poor ( at this level ) .......there is no getting away from that ...nothing to do with tonight ..he had zero service ..but he still got bullied off the ball easily ..tbh I thought that was supposed to be one of his main assets .....his game awareness has not improved at this level ...if people can’t see that well ..there’s no hope for them ..

I agree.
McBurnie is tall but not strong and gets shrugged off the ball too easily - he needs some muscles.
He also needs to stop aiming headers at the middle of the goal where the goalie is waiting to catch it - a natural scorer puts headers to one side or the other , if he can't get it down to the goaline.
So plenty of improvement required from McBurnie.
That said , his attitude shows a decent desire , so there's hope yet.
Berge is a mystery - he's not in the CW mould for attitude/desire and I don't know where CW wants to play him. His highlights reel showed him bursting past players in attack but I can't see how. He's a big lad but not dominant in the air. He doesn't seem to track & tackle or bust his lungs at any stage. I blame CW for playing him when others would have allowed a more balanced formation. CW has always said he wants lefties on the left , so why switch Lunny over ? Why not play Freeman or Osborne when you've just lost our 2 biggest lefty players ?
I am not writing Berge off but I worry about his effort/energy and wonder if this is down to him or CW playing him either too soon or without a proper role.
I desperately want him to be a success with us , but I am not going to be shy of commenting when I see him have so little effect in a game.

 

[Berlin Blade]

As others have stated, he’s playing out of position. Lundstram looks great at RCM with Baldock and Basham flying past him, he looked awful as a deep lying playmaker when Coutts broke his leg and he filled that role. They are completely different roles.

I assume you thought sharp was a shite striker when Blackwell was playing him left wing too.

The bloke is young, hungry and talented and you will see a different player if Norwood god forbid did his ACL or something and Berge was asked to play that role instead. Alternatively if we played two holding players in him and Norwood and Freeman infront that would be interesting to see too.

In the interest of balance, I will say that when you look at him, you expect an absolute tank physically, and I’ve been surprised to see he isn’t that. That’s not even really a criticism either just an observation. He’s also not brilliant in the air either and doesn’t appear to have a great leap. However at 6’3 he doesn’t really need one most of the time.

One final point. OP is an impatient, unsupportive twat. These are young blokes we are talking about, desperate to do well for the club, the gaffer and most importantly us fans. Imagine how he will feel reading these comments. It’s not gonna help him is it. Get a grip of yourself. We’ve come through so many shit times to get here. We could quite easily drop back down there if circumstances fall unkindly for us and you’ll be telling your grandkids about the glory days of us signing 20 million pound wonderkids under the noses of the big boys, and how you slagged them all off after 5 games and scared them all off because you’re clueless.

 

[CentralQuay]

You could perhaps suggest Berge, and to a lesser extent Retsos/Zivkovic, are the microcosms of the challenge/issue Wilder/Sheffield United now face.

How do you continue to progress, after relatively unexpected, success?
It's extremely difficult to progress as a newly promoted side, to being anything other than just another club who 'makes up the numbers' of the league.

Do you want to be just another Southampton/Palace/Burnley/Watford etc, who are perfectly happy to trundle along being a mid-lower table premier league side, which is a perfectly successful position to achieve when you look at the size of clubs lower down the footballing pyramid.....Or are you willing to take risks in order to try and climb further up the table?

Simply overpaying and buying 'proven' players from the championship, is not going to bring success to any club in this league.....Again, unless you're happy to be a Burnley who simply do this every season and are perfectly happy to have zero ambition to try and climb the table.
You have to look abroad, you have to take risks on the players from foreign leagues you believe to have potential, and you also have to accept that you get some wrong. Although it's far too early to suggest Berge is one of those.

It's a myth that you can simply attract 'better players' simply because you are a premier league club. We won the league, and the following season were still beaten to targets by the 'big clubs', who had finished way below us the following season. European football for one season will make relatively little to no difference for yourselves come next season.

Transfer policy/Recruitment is more important than anything for any longevity you want to have in this league.
Wilder has proved he's a great man manager, and has adapted a system which has proved to be very successful up to this point......
Now he's got to prove that he, and the club, are capable of recruiting players that ensure you continue to progress.
(Finishing lower next season, than this, is not an indicator to suggest that you are not progressing by the way).

Young players, especially from abroad, will take a look at the likes of Berge, as an example of whether or not Sheffield United is a good club for young players to progress.
Right now, ditching a player because 'he doesnt run around a lot', especially when running around a lot is actually a negative in his natural position, is not a good look.

Chill out, give Wilder a chance to learn and I don't see why Sheffield United can't be the 3rd club, along with Leicester and Wolves, to be ruffling the big boys feathers in the next couple of years.
That is the next step though, which Leicester and Wolves have already proved they are capable of doing to get to that next stage, good recruitment from abroad.

 

[Bashamsarriving]

Norwood is our top tackler - Berge couldn't tackle a fish supper

Norwood- Duels won 51% tackles won 55%
Berge- duels won 60% Tackles won 56%
You’d expect our ‘top tackler’ to come out on top with both stats

 

[Keen Blade]

Norwood- Duels won 51% tackles won 55%
Berge- duels won 60% Tackles won 56%
You’d expect our ‘top tackler’ to come out on top with both stats

I was referring to Norwood's performance over this season so far , but I'm not a statto - are your figures based on last night's match alone ? They are percentage success rates - but how many actual duels/tackles were made by each player ?

 

[Keen Blade]

You could perhaps suggest Berge, and to a lesser extent Retsos/Zivkovic, are the microcosms of the challenge/issue Wilder/Sheffield United now face.

How do you continue to progress, after relatively unexpected, success?
It's extremely difficult to progress as a newly promoted side, to being anything other than just another club who 'makes up the numbers' of the league.

Do you want to be just another Southampton/Palace/Burnley/Watford etc, who are perfectly happy to trundle along being a mid-lower table premier league side, which is a perfectly successful position to achieve when you look at the size of clubs lower down the footballing pyramid.....Or are you willing to take risks in order to try and climb further up the table?

Simply overpaying and buying 'proven' players from the championship, is not going to bring success to any club in this league.....Again, unless you're happy to be a Burnley who simply do this every season and are perfectly happy to have zero ambition to try and climb the table.
You have to look abroad, you have to take risks on the players from foreign leagues you believe to have potential, and you also have to accept that you get some wrong. Although it's far too early to suggest Berge is one of those.

It's a myth that you can simply attract 'better players' simply because you are a premier league club. We won the league, and the following season were still beaten to targets by the 'big clubs', who had finished way below us the following season. European football for one season will make relatively little to no difference for yourselves come next season.

Transfer policy/Recruitment is more important than anything for any longevity you want to have in this league.
Wilder has proved he's a great man manager, and has adapted a system which has proved to be very successful up to this point......
Now he's got to prove that he, and the club, are capable of recruiting players that ensure you continue to progress.
(Finishing lower next season, than this, is not an indicator to suggest that you are not progressing by the way).

Young players, especially from abroad, will take a look at the likes of Berge, as an example of whether or not Sheffield United is a good club for young players to progress.
Right now, ditching a player because 'he doesnt run around a lot', especially when running around a lot is actually a negative in his natural position, is not a good look.

Chill out, give Wilder a chance to learn and I don't see why Sheffield United can't be the 3rd club, along with Leicester and Wolves, to be ruffling the big boys feathers in the next couple of years.
That is the next step though, which Leicester and Wolves have already proved they are capable of doing to get to that next stage, good recruitment from abroad.

Looks like we've ditched Retsos & Zivcovic already , which is a real shame.
You could say McBurnie was a "proven Championship striker" , so I agree with you that the Prem is a big step up for him and he's still developing.
My concern about Berge is as much to do with CW's decisions on when & where to play him , as it is about the lad himself - the age old dilemma about playing the best side or compromising to include an expensive new boy.
Last night it had to be Luke Freeman or Didsy or both ... And both eventually came on , but they should have started.
It was a very poor performance by most of the players and I'm not saying McBurnie & Berge were the worst - but their price tags give us expectations which inevitably means they are under the microscope.
To me , it looked like we played for 0-0. There was no overloading down the flanks and no slick play through the middle , due to the way we set up.
My goodness , if we can get on a level with the Foxes & Wolves , it will be amazing. We owe you one for Vardys smash & grab at the Lane. And the thought of JoC not being fit to help Stevens face that Traore frightens me to death - he gave us the runaround at Molyneux , but we somehow bagged a point.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Still early days ..so let’s see what next season brings ...but all the clowns who said we will treble our money after 2 years ..( you know who you are ! ) ..will be eating humble pie for a Long long time ....

The lad tries hard ..and we need a full pre season with the squad ..then we can judge maybe January time ..but what I can confirm is we don’t don’t have a £60 million player ..as some over reacting clowns thought when we bought him ...

for lost of reasons ...and mainly financial..I hope he performs well in bigger games..so we don’t lose money..hopefully make a few quid ..as just can’t see in out current systen he’s going to be a major star ..just can’t see it ...yet ..

As for Mcburnout .....I would take a £5 mill loss now to move ..maybe a bit more ...not all signings work out ...and he ain’t going work out for us ..FACT

Of course! That's it! He needs a full pre-season! Bloody hell! Why didn't we think of that? That's all that's wrong with him. "A full pre season" - the miracle cure, makes hair grow back and removes stubborn stains from driveways.

Do you not think he's been here long enough then? Do you not think that he's fit enough or had enough time with the squad? Full pre season my arse! The guy just isn't cutting it - not yet. He looks a bit lost. Mind you, so did Jamie Murphy when he first signed. Then he turned out be a great player. I'm not going to judge Berge on one game, after a 100 day break, played at a training pace, in front of no fans. He was one of several players that were pretty ineffective last night.

In the miracle of time we will find out whether we have bought wisely or bought a pup. But it's not the miracle "full pre season" that will tell us that - it's him playing more competitive games at this level.

Too early to tell on either of these players for me.

 

[JackSUFC]

The reality is, the fee is completely irrelevant to what is expected of a player. The Berge criticism mainly comes from his fee

Exactly this. Same with McBurnie. Because of his price tag, I think people were expecting him to be an all-action centre-forward who was going to score 20+ goals this season.

They might be big transfers fees for us but in relative terms to the league they’re not. Plus a lot of our fan base have zero patience.

 

[robbiez666]

After sleeping on it, I think the question at the moment should be "why have we paid a club record for a player whose narural position is the same as one of our best players?"

Lunny was equally immobile when he started so I wonder if Chris is hoping for similar development?

 

[CentralQuay]

After sleeping on it, I think the question at the moment should be "why have we paid a club record for a player whose narural position is the same as one of our best players?"

Lunny was equally immobile when he started so I wonder if Chris is hoping for similar development?

This is the question which I would be asking.

I honestly thought you were buying him with the intention of being able to play a different system, which may be the case. Maybe the club realised that come January you were safe, and were already planning ahead. Wilder wants a Plan B/New Plan A for next season, and Berge was available at the time for a good price (The fee is small/average for this league and his age).

Of course it could simply be the fact that Wilder/the recruitment team got it wrong, and that they didn't realise what Berge was.
That's quite improbable.....But, I think it's fair to say that whilst you're having a terrific season, your recruitment has not added anything real significant other than depth, there's an argument that your summer and winter signings have not actually strengthened your first eleven.....as of yet. So there's not a huge deal of evidence to suggest your recruitment is capable of providing what you need in the long term at this level.

You really need to give him time though.....But saying that, if you're not even giving him a chance to play where he should, i'm not sure time will improve him to the level he needs to be at.

Foreign players very rarely hit the ground running though, 6 months minimum is what he needs to be given. Even English players struggle to adapt. Pereira/Ndidi/Vardy all struggled to adapt to this league, and now there's not even a handful of players in their position in our league that are better than them.

 

[CentralQuay]

Of course! That's it! He needs a full pre-season! Bloody hell! Why didn't we think of that? That's all that's wrong with him. "A full pre season" - the miracle cure, makes hair grow back and removes stubborn stains from driveways.

Do you not think he's been here long enough then? Do you not think that he's fit enough or had enough time with the squad? Full pre season my arse! The guy just isn't cutting it - not yet. He looks a bit lost. Mind you, so did Jamie Murphy when he first signed. Then he turned out be a great player. I'm not going to judge Berge on one game, after a 100 day break, played at a training pace, in front of no fans. He was one of several players that were pretty ineffective last night.

In the miracle of time we will find out whether we have bought wisely or bought a pup. But it's not the miracle "full pre season" that will tell us that - it's him playing more competitive games at this level.

Too early to tell on either of these players for me.

Your post highlights what I think the main problem is, unrealistic expectations.....and it comes from the unexpected immediate short-term success, that I talked about earlier, we had exactly the same problem with our unexpected title win.

You claim that Jamie Murphy 'turned out to be a great player'.
With all due respect, he was putting up goal figures in League 1 that were no better than Mcburnie's are now, two levels above.

Because we signed Vardy for £1 million and Mahrez for something daft like £250,000 , when you sign a Perez/Iheanacho for over £60 million combined, fans expect even more than what the first two gave......without allowing them time to settle.

 

[Withington Blade]

not slagging Berge off ..did you read the post ..at all ...just he’s ain’t gonna be this superstar some idiots on here made out because of the price tag ....

try the part where I say we can judge in January ..after another pre season and time to adapt ..just in my opinion he ain’t gonna be the superstar a lot said he was going to Be ..based on some internet reports ....

the lads trying and he is bound to improve ..not to elite elite level ..I don’t think

mcburnie is poor ( at this level ) .......there is no getting away from that ...nothing to do with tonight ..he had zero service ..but he still got bullied off the ball easily ..tbh I thought that was supposed to be one of his main assets .....his game awareness has not improved at this level ...if people can’t see that well ..there’s no hope for them ..

I’m wondering if it might be worth giving the lad more than half a dozen games before we decide whether how good/crap he is? There are a few mitigating factors that would explain why it’s taking time to settle in..... 21 years old, new country, new club, new teammates, new tactics, new position, global pandemic. A few people with more insight than you and I were obviously impressed enough to pay the fee and it’s slightly ridiculous to form a judgment so quickly, in my humble opinion.