Tevez admits to losing his way up front

United striker reveals concerns about 'strange' decline in scoring touch

(GETTY IMAGES)

Some sparkling early-season form made him Manchester United's player of the month for August but Carlos Tevez – looking increasingly like the odd man out since Dimitar Berbatov's arrival at Old Trafford – has declared that he is "not as dangerous any more" and " not as effective in the penalty area".

The Argentine's eye-catching candour is perhaps born of the introspection which can come with more prolonged periods on the bench. Tevez was the grateful beneficiary of Berbatov's assist at Liverpool last month but has appeared fleetingly since then. He was a substitute at Stamford Bridge and Ewood Park, with Wayne Rooney's rediscovered goalscoring touch making the prospects of supplanting him look slim.

United fans appreciate Tevez's doggedness – the goals he sneaked at the death at Tottenham, Reading, Everton and Blackburn last season made him a more instrumental part of United's title triumph than Rooney – but Tevez believes that he has lost his pure goalscoring touch, somewhere along the way.

"I used to score better goals, great goals," he said. "But something strange has happened. I think it has to do with the fact that the person up front has to do a lot more for the team than just score goals. They have to play more for the team and I think I have sacrificed myself recently with regards to that aspect."

The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, recently acknowledged that Tevez was unfortunate to find himself on the bench. "If I'm going to leave one out at any time I have to make sure it is the right game I'm leaving them out of – and for the right reasons," he said. But the Argentina coach, Alfio "Coco" Basile, evidently wants the 24-year-old to change the way he plays and get back to the player he once was.

"Coco has said he wants to see more of the old Carlos," Tevez said. "I just have to try to get back to my previous level and I do have confidence that I will. My mind is dedicated to this; to being how I was before and regaining the things I have lost."

He has also admitted that the quality of Premier League defenders has made things a struggle. "It is also to do with the England defenders," the striker said. "They are strong and big and that also makes it difficult for somebody up front. I must admit that I feel better if I play in a front role but I also play as a No 9 when I have to. I can do that. I am ready to adapt my game for the team."

Tevez is certainly being hard on himself. Ferguson predicted when he signed the Argentine striker in August last year that he would "get me 15 goals this season, and what's more, they'll be important goals." Tevez actually netted 19. If further evidence of his value were needed, United insist that they will, as the club's chief executive, David Gill, indicated this summer, tie up Tevez's £32m permanent move to Old Trafford by the end of the year.

At least Tevez feels he has adapted to the Manchester weather. His United team-mate Nemanja Vidic recently admitted in an interview with a Russian magazine how he had struggled with the rain and Tevez has developed his own strategies. "In England you go to bed at 3pm because it is already night," he said.