Player review: Anderson

Staggered season and injury puts the Brazilian's career on hold, but he'll be back...

Story of the season After just one appearance in August, September augured well for Anderson when he played and scored at Spurs and then retained his place in the eleven for the 4-3 win over Manchester City. With a Champions League start away to Besiktas sandwiched in between, that was his best spell – the only time he started three games on the spin. It was ironic that Anderson was unavailable when Sir Alex regularly accommodated three central midfielders from March to May; while 4-4-2 was in vogue during the autumn, the boss was picking two from a talented quintet also comprising Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes and, to a lesser extent, Gibson. Anderson may therefore have played a big part in the closing months of the campaign had he not suffered a season-ending knee injury on 23 February, during United’s 3-0 win over West Ham. The fact he’d only just returned to action after missing seven games, and was looking very sharp in the game, made the pill harder to swallow.

Finest moment Although he had notably notched a penalty in the Moscow rain at the end of an epic debut season for United, Anderson was still seeking his first official goal when his third campaign kicked off in August 2009. But after a 77th game without scoring passed him by at Burnley, his moment finally came at White Hart Lane. Four minutes before half-time, the Brazilian lashed home the rebound from Paul Scholes’ shot to put the Reds 2-1 up and on course for a fine away win.

What’s in store? Anderson will be desperate to make up for lost time when his fourth season at the club dawns, having not kicked a ball competitively for six months. He’ll have extra reason to celebrate his comeback – his next United appearance will be his 100th.


ManUtd.Com