Class of 92 vs Class of 2011 - Part 4/7

Nicky Butt playing in Gary Neville's testimonial

Nicky Butt was a key figure in Manchester United's midfield throughout the 1990's starting as a key figure in the famous youth team of 1992 and then in the first team from the 95/96 Premier League season. During his time at Old Trafford he won 6 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cup winners medals and a UEFA Champions League trophy. 

After Paul Ince was sold to Inter Milan during the summer of 95, Nicky Butt was drafted in as the natural replacement to Ince alongside Roy Keane and chipped in with some crucial goals along the way. He was often however used as the replacement for Roy Keane if he got injured/suspended as the hard tackling midfielder. Butt was given the honour of being named in the PFA Team of the Year in the 97/98 season after filling in for Roy Keane who was injured for much of that season. 

Anderson joined Manchester United from Porto in 2007 for a reported fee of £20.4M at the tender age of 18. He signed as an attacking midfielder, capable of scoring goals and making magical runs. Since then though he's transformed his game into an all round central midfielder capable of those mazy runs but also content to sit deep and control the tempo of the game.

Central Midfielder vs Central Midfielder
Nicky Butt vs Anderson

 

Nicky Butt was capable of playing as both the enforcer in midfield and the man who made those late bursts into the box to chip in with some goals for the club. Anderson came to the club as a midfielder who made those late runs, but since his horrible knee injury in February 2010 he's transformed his game to become a playmaker who makes the game tick and controls the way Manchester United play (89% pass success rate this season shows he does this extremely well too).

Both capable of attacking and defending to a great level, we compare these two Manchester United No.8's as all round central midfielders to see who rules Mancunia.

PASSING

BUTT: Nicky Butt's passing was nothing spectacular to behold but he always got the job done. An accurate short passer of the ball and a decent passer over a longer range, Butt was always reliable when asked to retain possession for the team.

GRADE: 7/10

ANDO: Anderson's passing is possibly his greatest strength as a midfielder. Excellent accuracy in a short range pass and a fairly good long pass, Anderson's ability to dictate the tempo of a game from central midfield in unmatched in the current Manchester United team. 

GRADE: 9/10

STAMINA

BUTT: Nicky's stamina was always an asset to Manchester United during his years of service to the club. His ability to get from box-to-box to assist in attacks and then break up the opposition counter attacks was superb and often helped the club get vital points. 

GRADE: 9/10

ANDO: Ando's stamina has never been his greatest strength, however it's never let him down. Always capable of completing the full 90 minutes, his boundless energy is one of the reasons he is often selected for the possession based games. It's also one of the reasons that the majority of his goals for United have been him running onto passes in the box to tap the ball in.

GRADE: 8/10

TEAMWORK

BUTT: Butt's teamwork ability was very good. He always had good communication with his team mates and was usually able to play his way out of trouble. He was also more than capable of filling in for other team mates when they were out of position and was always reliable to put in a good shift for the team.

GRADE: 8/10

ANDO: Ando's teamwork ability is a joy to behold when he's on form. He's capable of playing his way out of trouble with ease due to his excellent passing and also possesses the wherewithal to fill in gaps when defending and pick a pass rather than shoot when attacking. Sometimes, he could be accused of not being selfish enough hence his lowly goal tally in his 5 years at United so far. 

GRADE: 8/10

POSITIONING

BUTT: Nicky's positional sense was good, more so defensively than offensively though as seen by his lowly tally of 26 goals in 387 games for the club. He was more regularly enforced as a more defensive minded midfielder allowing Roy Keane to make those roaming runs from deep which probably justifies the tally, but he was never known as an attacking player anyway.

GRADE: 7/10

ANDO: Anderson has a knack of being in the right place at the right time for Manchester United it seems. He's often the man to make the interception of the ball when defending and then can set the team away on a counter attack. However as shown by his goals he likes to arrive late into the box - with half of his goals coming from his late runs and tapping them in.

GRADE: 8/10

CREATIVITY

BUTT: Nicky Butt was never regarded as a creative midfielder and that was probably because he wasn't the most creative of midfielders around. He usually kept his stuff basic and made sure the basics were exceptional before trying anything out of the ordinary. He very rarely pulled anything magical out of the bag and was much more of a "safety first" type of player".

GRADE: 6/10

ANDO: Anderson has truck loads of creativity and thankfully has begun showing it on a consistent basis this season. He's already showed it in glimpses in previous seasons (the trick pass vs Man City reserves, etc) but has been racking up the key passes this season and has got 1 assist to his name this season with a lovely lobbed pass to Welbeck to start off the massacre of Arsenal in the 8-2 win at Old Trafford.

GRADE: 9/10

Anderson magnificent trick pass vs Man City

TOTALS

NICKY BUTT - 37/50

ANDERSON - 42/50

So at this point in his Manchester United career, Anderson seems to be the better midfielder of the two. However, it's yet to be seen if with a key role in the team whether or not he can help lead Manchester United to a league title like Nicky Butt did in 95/96 when he replaced Paul Ince. Anderson has the creative ability in midfield to lead Manchester United to success this year, but it remains to be seen if he will do so.