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This is the question Sir Alex will be asking Hernandez after
ending the season without his top scorer even making the bench for the Champions
League final. Fergie would never have imagined that he’d have to bench Berba in
the season where he was finally starting to score goals and living up to his 30million
price tag. You'd have got great odds on football betting sites on Hernandez scoring 20 goals, so unexpected was his impact!
When the deal to sign Javier was finalised around March last
year, Fergie thought he was signing a promising Mexican youngster, who could be
a top striker in the future. Post World Cup, the hype around Chicharito increased
and he went from an unknown talent to a player with enormous potential.
It wasn’t long before people realized what a gem we had in
him, but even then it was blasphemy to think Sir Alex would drop Berba in favour
for the then villainous Wayne Rooney or the young, inexperienced Mexican. Berbatov
was in top form, and was coming good just when we needed a goal scorer badly, with
Rooney in Sir Alex’s bad books and struggling to perform on the pitch. It
seemed like our season was to be doomed from the very beginning, But Berba was
scoring goals for fun, including a marvellous hat trick against Liverpool.
But things started to go downhill for Berba from February,
as he struggled to find the net for 7 consecutive games, eventually leading to
him being benched for the FA Cup tie against Arsenal. Hernández and Rooney started
as we went on to win 2-0, with Chicharito impressing alongside Wayne. The next
game, 3 days later in the Champions league against Marseille saw Sir Alex stick
with the duo upfront and Hernández repaid Sir Alex by scoring a brace.
Since then Berba was restricted to substitute appearances or
only started when Sir Alex wanted to rest either Rooney or Hernandez.
Unfortunately for Berbatov, Hernandez was in great form, scoring goals freely,
also to Hernandez’s advantage was that Wayne Rooney seemed to be thriving when
playing alongside the Mexican, and was finally playing like Rooney from the
2009-10 season.
Hernandez vs. Berbatov: what made Javier a better choice?
Berbatov is probably one of the most technically gifted
footballers in the world, and with a sublime first touch that cannot be beaten.
But he isn’t a natural goal scorer, and while he did score a lot of goals this
season, he went through series of games without scoring goals too. And when not
having a good day on the pitch Berba rarely offered much else to the team in attack
or even in defence.
Hernandez on the other hand seems to have been born within
the penalty box, a natural goal scorer he’s an excellent finisher and his
movement & blistering pace make him a huge pain in the neck for defenders.
Surprisingly good in the air for someone of his stature, Hernandez plays off
the last defender hoping to catch them off guard or beat the offside track and
get 1v1 with the keeper. And most times you’ll see him score a goal.
He has been rightfully compared to Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and
Michael Owen; he’s a natural goal poacher; only a fool would ignore his
presence in the penalty box. Hernandez even on his off days requires careful watching
and close marking, because even one slip from the opposition cold end up with
Hernandez scoring. Hernandez gives 110% every game, chasing down defenders, and
not giving them time on the ball.
Berbatov’s exclusion from the CL final came as a major shock
to almost every United fan, and thus put his future at the club in doubt. With one
year remaining on his contract, whether Berba stays or not is up to Sir Alex to
decide. After the first half of the season, Berbatov would never have imagined
that come end of the season this would be the state of affairs.
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