Büttner looking like a raw but exciting talent – but it’s too early to be sure

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 15: Alexander Buttner of Manchester United celebrates after scoring the third goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford on September 15, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

As fans of Manchester United, we have got into the habit of over-exaggerating the ability of players in the past. Our ‘midfield magician’ Anderson offers the most significant example, after failing to come close to consistently reaching the standards we expect from a 20 million pound Brazilian despite his encouraging first campaign. There’s even a similar case to be made with the likes Darron Gibson, Kiko Macheda, Ritchie De Laet and Obertan – the list goes on and on. This unfortunately makes it thoroughly unsurprisingly that there were already a fair few after Saturday’s match against Wigan who were jumping on the Nick Powell and Alexander Büttner respective bandwagons after their debut performances and goals.

Putting Powell away as a bright youngster and hot prospect for the future, the case of Alexander Büttner is certainly an interesting one. Thoroughly impressive on his debut, a relative unknown to many football fans, but already hailed (prior to his first appearance for the club, I should add) as one of the best young fullbacks in the game by Sir Alex Ferguson. The whole story is interesting and, despite the obvious flaws to his game, I’ve got to admit I’m excited by the prospect of seeing him perform regularly in a United shirt. Saturday saw him produce a few excellent pieces of play and, although we lament Evra for pushing too far forward and not getting back, some of Büttner’s attacking play was fantastic – it may not come as a surprise to hear he used to be a proper winger.

As suggested in the title, my immediate response to Büttner is that he’s still quite a raw and un-styled talent. You can tell by his play that he’s got potential, but his play is in need of a bit of rounding-off; you certainly get the idea that you don’t know what he’ll do next. That’s no criticism – as many have said in the past, coaching the unpredictability out of players isn’t always the best thing and although it improves consistency, it’s sometimes nice to know something amazing might come out of the blue. But obviously, the disadvantage to not doing it is the cost of losing the ball more often, committing more fouls, and so on. If you’re having trouble picturing the effect I’m describing, then look at the differences in the Rooney of 3 or 4 years ago and the Wayne Rooney that plays for us now. You could argue that Rooney was better the less tactically aware he was, but at a club at United are philosophy is very much built upon a strong tactical input.

To summarise my thoughts, I think Sir Alex did an excellent job of explaining Büttner in his post-match press conference. Sir Alex describes him as “rash” and that certainly proves a point over the unpredictability and raw style we can already see in the Dutch full back.

“Some of Büttner’s play was good but I think he was a little bit rash at times. He has a great engine and great enthusiasm for the game but he’s raw with a lot of rough edges there. We think we can develop that and hopefully he can be a really good addition to the team. He scored a lot of goals in Holland and was determined enough to get that goal. It was a little bit lucky, I don’t know if it got a deflection or not, but he showed his willingness to get in there and deserved it.”

The obvious difference between Büttner and Evra that I can see is, although Büttner arguably gets forward more than Patrice, he’ll put all his effort in to get back as soon as possible. It’s the arrogant and lazy behaviour by Evra in not trying to get back into position as quick as possible when he bursts forward that cost us a fair few goals last season. Hopefully a bit of pressure and competition for his place will see Evra improve his game once again – and of course his main attribute is his experience – but the debate over whether to play Evra or Büttner against Liverpool on Sunday is certainly an interesting one. Judging by the small poll I undertook on the site last night and this morning, the surprising majority want to see Büttner from the off.

I might sound a bit like Ferguson when defending the Glazers here; but it’s nice to have improved an important part of the squad that needed addressing without spending too much money. While Patrice is aging, Büttner is at that right age and ability where he’s not too young and inexperienced but isn’t, or at least hopefully wont be, keeping too many promising youngsters out of the squad. We were linked with Jordi Alba in the summer and if he’d have come then you couldn’t imagine the likes of Tyler Blackett and other promising youngsters to make it at United. It’s perhaps a weird concept from me, but we’ve always tried to promote youth through the club while buying cheaper players who end up being bargains – it’s just the way we are and, to a certain extent, and as long as we don’t do it to a suicidal amount with the money we (should) have, I like it.

If his debut is anything to go by, and remember it’s not often the best thing to judge a player on, then Büttner might be the perfect signing for us when bridging the gap between Evra and the new group of youngsters currently sitting in the reserves. Time will tell over what will happen with Büttner, Evra and so on – but one thing for sure is we’ve got a player that, regardless of how raw and unpredictable he looks, will in one way or another will be a useful person to have around.