Tom Cleverley loan watch

[supertom]

TC has looked good since Sherwood came in. He's had more effect in the final third.
To be honest there's one or two players who were written off under Lambert who may well have a turnaround in form under Sherwood. I'm curious to see if he can get Cissokho playing well again, as Aly had started off reasonably well in the first 6-7 games. He gradually got ground down to mediocrity. He's not featured much for Sherwood as yet.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I wouldn't say dire, he struck me as being just a nothing player. I didn't know what he was meant to be, what he was meant to be doing. Judging by his drive of late, perhaps the blame shouldn't be laid at his door. He needs a goal now, and I can't think of a better time than this weekend to bag one. Something in the 20-yard screamer department, son, if you wouldn't mind.

THIS

[paul_e]

My issue with Cleverley has always been that he's an anonymous midfielder, he doesn't do anything wrong but he doesn't do anything memorable either.  Even in the last month he's looked tidy and been involved but I don't think he's had much influence.  I've seen a few people call him man of the match for games where I can't really recall him doing much.  I'm not talking about killer through balls or 30 yard screamers, he's clearly not going to do that but intelligent runs, creating space and changing the point of the attack are all things I'd expect and I just don't see enough of it from him.

On a free for a decent wage he'd be worth giving a contract but the reality is he'd be asking for wages up around those that Benteke is on as a minimum and he's just not worth that.

[RussellC]

For me, the thing that always gets overlooked with Cleverley is his engine. I haven't seen any individual stats for recent games, but I'd wager that he must cover more ground than anybody else in our side, Delph included. The other thing is the speed at which he does it. He's constantly sprinting to close opposition players down.

I think he often appears to be anonymous, even when playing well, because of the speed that he moves the ball on. If you watch him closely you can see that his positioning and body-shape are often very good, enabling him to play first time-balls, lay-offs, etc. Delph, on the other hand, has a habit of taking too many touches and slowing the game down unnecessarily, in my opinion. I actually don't think Cleverley has done much differently under Sherwood either - I just think we're noticing it more now because the movement (both ahead of him and from the full-backs getting forward) is so drastically improved.

I really rate Cleverley, and think he'll continue to improve under Sherwood IF he stays.

[tomd2103]

For me, the thing that always gets overlooked with Cleverley is his engine. I haven't seen any individual stats for recent games, but I'd wager that he must cover more ground than anybody else in our side, Delph included. The other thing is the speed at which he does it. He's constantly sprinting to close opposition players down.

I think he often appears to be anonymous, even when playing well, because of the speed that he moves the ball on. If you watch him closely you can see that his positioning and body-shape are often very good, enabling him to play first time-balls, lay-offs, etc. Delph, on the other hand, has a habit of taking too many touches and slowing the game down unnecessarily, in my opinion. I actually don't think Cleverley has done much differently under Sherwood either - I just think we're noticing it more now because the movement (both ahead of him and from the full-backs getting forward) is so drastically improved.

I really rate Cleverley, and think he'll continue to improve under Sherwood IF he stays.

I agree with that Russell.  My only real gripe with him (and Delph to some extent) is they don't really have much impact in the final third in terms of assists and goals.  If he signs for us, I'd like to see us buy a quality defensive midfielder so that they can have that bit more freedom to go forward.  They both have the ability to get 5-10 goals a season.   

[Toronto Villa]

That damning with faint praise, OCD. He's certainly been the best for 45 minutes every game. Delph hopefully will start turning up from the first minute but we shouldn't forget, he's still young and has had to try and grow in a team where the midfield has been a distraction in the manager's eyes.

Over the season I'd give him 6.5/10.

I think that's a fair score. He was at best a 6 prior to Sherwood and consistently a 7 or 8 since. He does a lot of the dirty work behind the scenes. He runs all game breaks up play. Not the glamorous stuff by any means but it does allow others to their job. He's now playing in a system which actually uses him as opposed to defending for 90 minutes in his own half. He has a good range of passing and is quick to see an opportunity (e.g pass for first goal at Sunderland) even if it doesn't always come off (long range pass towards Gabby that was fractionally long at Spurs). I like him and certainly on a free.

[passitsideways]

I don't think his lack of goals/assists is solely a matter of role, but rather ability. I'm of the opinion that it's perfectly possible for a midfielder to get 8-10 goals a season starting fairly deep from midfield (like Cleverley has been) if you've got the understanding as to how to do it properly - otherwise so-so players like Kevin Nolan or (going back) Gus Poyet wouldn't have the goalscoring records they have. I don't really see that in Cleverley.

He either needs to improve that or work on extending his passing range. I know there's plenty to criticise about Westwood, and Cleverley's style suits Sherwood's up-tempo approach more, but would the latter have conceived and successfully executed that throughball to Gabby to win the Norwich game in 2013? I mean, some of his forward passing at Sunderland and Spurs was quite good, but I don't think they required that much precision. He obviously knows how to play the short pass-and-move game very well, but developing that variety would help him as a footballer (hopefully with us going forward.)

[PaulWinch again]

I really hope we keep him he was brilliant today.

[richardhubbard]

He was tremendous today

I hope we sign him up

[LeeB]

Awesome, like a rabid dog.

[Jon Crofts]

I saw some fact today somewhere that he made more interceptions than Plops middle 3 put together, top performance.

[Matt Collins]

For a free transfer its an absolute no brainier

[PaulWinch again]

For a free transfer its an absolute no brainier

Yeah I'm sure we'll offer it's whether he signs.

[itbrvilla]

He was tremendous today

I hope we sign him up

Me too.  Love his effort.  I bet he'll pick us over Everton as things currently stand.

[Mortimer's Bear]

He was tremendous today

I hope we sign him up

This