24th May – It’s a date

It’s almost that sad time of the year, where we say goodbye to premier league football for all of two or three months. Unfortunately it’s a pretty dull run-in, in terms of competition for the title, and relegation, but there are still some crucial places to play for.

Teams positioned 8^th-15^th aren’t playing for anything themselves, but could play spoiler to some other team’s aspirations.

What is certain: Chelsea are champions

Automatic qualifiers to the Champions League group stage: Chelsea, Manchester City

The other Champions League teams: Arsenal, Manchester United

Europa League: Liverpool, Spurs, Southampton

Relegated: QPR, Burnley and either Hull, Newcastle, Sunderland.

So which games should you really not care about…

Aston Villa v Burnley: Villa are safe, Burnley are relegated.

Swansea v Crystal Palace: Swansea’s hopes for Europa League football went with their loss at City, Palace could compete for a top 10 finish, but what does that matter, eh?

Leicester v QPR: Other than trying to put an exclamation mark on the incredible finish to Leicester’s season, or stamp QPR’s place at the bottom of the table, nothing to see here.

Which games matter…

Arsenal v West Brom: Probably the least likely to matter as Arsenal need a draw vs Sunderland (tonight) to seal 3^rd place and Champions League group stage action. It’s possible that Sunderland holds them to a draw, but West Brom is unlikely to manage the same.

Newcastle v West Ham: Newcastle have the worst goal difference of the three remaining relegation candidates (-25), but still, they play West Ham who have been in the worst form after some excitement earlier in the season. A draw won’t be enough if Hull win against United, a win sees them saved.

Stoke v Liverpool and Tottenham v Everton: 9^th hosts 5^th, and 6^th hosts 10^th, the closest matched of the remaining games, at least among the top sides. Tottenham have to win and hope Liverpool are held at Stoke, to qualify for the Europa League group stage. They could also draw with a Liverpool loss…by five goals.

A Liverpool win seals it for them, and a draw is enough if Spurs don’t win.

Manchester City v Southampton: Southampton’s goal difference is an incredible +23. Only two less than 4^th place United, 14 and 19 better than Liverpool and Spurs, respectively.

This matters because if Liverpool draw, Spurs draw or lose, and Southampton win, they’ll jump into the Europa League group stage. A draw combined with a Spurs loss also sees them get into the 3^rd qualifying round of the Europa League.

At the very worst, if they lose to City, they’ll get a 1^st round qualifying match for the Europa League, but that of course means a long qualifying campaign.

Chelsea v Sunderland: Sunderland only need a point to stay a-Premier League-float. They have two games to get it in. Seems simple, right? Except that these games are against Arsenal and Chelsea.

However, check this form: Drew at Stoke, beat Southampton, beat Everton away, drew with hot hot hot Leicester. 8 points in 4 matches isn’t bad at all, unfortunately one mroe point may be too much for them.

Hull v Manchester United: The one to watch, even if United are already stuck with 4^th place by the final weekend. The onus is on Hull to win, no other result will do.

Hull have won as many home matches (five) as United have lost, away, and while it probably isn’t likely, at least you can be sure they will be going all out for a win. And if United somehow have something to play for on the final day, it gets all the more interesting.

The hand(s) of Dave

Save Dave! (credit: United Indonesia)

Some may remember it as the game where Di Maria showed his worth again, or where Falcao scored his first for United, but it was a game preserved, won by the right hand of Dave. And the left.

Two big saves, at the end of both halves, helped to maintain United leads. The first lead was wiped out soon after half time with a very nice goal from Everton, the second refused to be outdone. I say “two big saves” as I was already writing this when De Gea made his second big stop of the match late on, from Leon Osman. Of course, it’s not over until the fat lady sings, or until Dave slaps it away one more time. His third was the save of the match. The match-winner.

Watching the match, you’d not have thought United would need De Gea to be saving anything. It wasn’t dominant, and Everton were certainly not outplayed, but United looked to attack often, and quite well. Di Maria was once again the star on the ball, with Rafael and Shaw up for best supporting player, both doing very good work on either flank.

The first goal came in the 27th minute, and it was from a Rafael cross. Baines I think it was, only managed to flick it to the back post, where Mata laid it off perfectly to find Di Maria in stride, and he curled it sweetly from inside the box, splitting Bešić, Barry and Stones to find the net. 1-0. Break out the little heart hands. I love that celebration!

I was already getting up to run my halftime errands (that’s right, errands in 15 minutes!) when Hibbert took a backheel as he burst into the box. Shaw came up with what could probably be described as a bad, fair tackle. It was needless, it was clumsy, but he got the ball. The referee has the final say. Except when Dave does. It was a poor Baines penalty, but De Gea’s right hand of justice kept the score at 1-0 going into half time. Apparently that was Baines’ first saved penalty in the Premier League. Bravo Dave!

Half time stat for you, and what a one it was from @PCarrESPN.

94% of home Premier League matches, where United have a lead, they have won. Incredible. There have been a lot of United runs and records vs other teams that ended under Moyes last year, but this remains.

The second half started well enough, with a great cross from Di Maria and then good work from Shaw on the other flank. Falcao missed the first (flagged offside in what may be one of the worst offside decisions you will see), and totally scuffed the second opportunity.

In the few matches he has played now, every ball that comes to him has fired off this rising excitement inside me, waiting to erupt at his first goal. However, on every occasion, he’s failed to score. That excited feeling could quickly turn to frustration if United fail to win, and that threatened to be the case when Naismith, who had been sighted all over the pitch so far, got on the end of a great cross from Baines (Clever free kick which saw him pass to the edge of the box, laid back to him about 15 yards closer to the goal, for his first time cross), perfect really for the on-rushing Naismith. 1-1.

Our defense has been fine, good even in this match, but it still seems far from impregnable.

Enter, Tim Howard. Inexplicably chasing a ball to the right sideline, cleared it only as far as Rafael, when the stands would have done just fine. Two passes later, Di Maria has a shot that’s going wide, and there it was. His boot! Falcao’s boot! It may not have been the sweetest strike, the sexiest goal, but finally, he’s got his first for United. After the match he said that it was a bit of a relief. Oh boy, do we agree. United has plenty of attacking potential, I’m confident we can score (primarily because we have Di Maria), but the prospect of an in form Falcao is just mouth watering!

There was still half an hour to go, and Everton did step up the pressure, but there are only 3 words for the final 30 minutes. For the match, really. David De Gea. Or Dave, if you like.

He had already saved that Baines penalty. Then it was Osman’s turn, bearing down on the goal from the right, he strikes for the far corner, Dave saves!

Late on, the ball finds Oviedo on the edge of the box, he hits, the keeper is unsighted, Dave saves! And what a save it was.

A huge amount of focus this year has been on who United has needed to bring in, to plug the holes left in our side. What has been overlooked, especially in our injury-plagued defense, is Dave. Win or lose, and aside from some early jitters, he has been very good for United in his time at the club. Some would argue, he’s the best keeper in the Premier League, and we should count ourselves very lucky to be able to have someone of his skill behind an inexperienced defense. There are keepers who are bigger, there are keepers who leap and claim the ball better, there are keepers whose teams require them to play as sweeper and often rush out of their box. But there is also Dave, possibly the sharpest shot stopper in the premier league, and one who I’m thankful for.

The good…

Di Maria – Yet again, just doing what Di Maria does. Plenty of balls into the box, a couple of great runs, a well finished goal and the (inadvertent) assist.

Rafael and Shaw (on the ball) – Both did great work on the wings especially and are big assets going forward.

McNair – Nice contrast to Blackett v Leicester. That may be harsh but he’s a young back who came through 90 solid minutes. Consistently very good, and he didn’t have it easy given that he was stuck with marking Lukaku for plenty of the match. Two moments stood out for me. Once, he was one-on-one tussling with Lukaku on the byline. Completely outmatched in size, but he held his own to see the ball off for a corner. My favourite, possibly understated moment was early on, in the 19th minute a long ball was lifted towards Lukaku. McNair was running towards his own goal, but comfortably leapt and headed the ball backwards, and straight to a United player. It reminded me of a Tim Duncan block. You could be flashier, more authoritative, head the ball off the field with vigor and receive the plaudits for clearing the danger. Or you could do what McNair did (what Tim Duncan may be renowned for in basketball), and look to get the ball to a teammate, keep possession. It was a beautiful nothing-moment.

Overall – @tacheydelbosque summarises well

The bad…

Van Persie – Anonymous, yet again. Although maybe I’m being harsh, as @tgirishkumar saw it otherwise (Good thing he censored the a-word, this is a kids-friendly ramble!)

Shaw (off the ball) – He wasn’t horrible, but he has work to do as a defender. That tackle for the penalty was silly and could have cost us.

The other guys…

Naismith – A real pain in the ass if you’re a United fan. He and Rafael looked like Jack and Rose on every corner. He was all over the pitch, making blocks and tackles. I thought he might pop up for the goal and he did.

Baines – Good at both ends, although the Everton defense looked shaky. As with Rafael and Shaw, he provides so much going forward.

Tim Howard – Not as confidence-inspiring as he once was. Late on, he decided to get into it with Van Persie, shoving him for what he probably defends as standing up for his teammate. In his current form, it just looks like he’s trying to compensate for a decline in his goalkeeping skills.

Gravity (United @ Leicester)

The stories vary from culture to culture, but what follows is pretty much a summary of all of them.

A long long time ago, in a land not too far away, a man had an idea. It was revolutionary, and to many it was stupid. One day, he strode up the highest mountain, to the edge of a cliff, a sheer few hundred feet drop beneath him. He turned to the crowd that had followed him. Those who loved him, and feared for what he would do. Those who thought they were so smart, and told him he was unwise in his hopes. And many others.

The man turned to them, and smiled, then faced the edge of the cliff again, took a deep breath, and leapt into the air. He rose, and rose…and then plummeted like a brick. A flailing brick. That was the end of that guy. It wasn’t the dream of flight that killed him, it was the reality of gravity.

True story that is, cruel and true, just like gravity.

Gravity is something we’re all familiar with, and something United fans became especially familiar with this past weekend.

Signing Di Maria, Blind, and Falcao, that was our dream of flight

Manchester United 4, QPR 0, that was our leap

Saturday evening, that was gravity. Usually measured in Newtons, but you can measure it in goals too. 5 of them.

It wasn’t just that we had hammered QPR in the first exhibition of our new exciting players, the match against Leicester itself was reason to be excited.

Robin Van Persie, invisible for the first few weeks. In fact, invisible would have been better, but he has been painfully visible. Granted a start alongside Falcao, I was worried.

Worried about what?

Not even 15 minutes into the match, Falcao sent a beautiful cross from the left, Robin found enough separation from his man to head in easily, and well. 1-0, and his duck for the season broken.

Worried about what?

You can catch a gust of wind, or a perfect cross from Falcao in this case.

Then gravity strikes, and your number 20 plummets out of sight for the remainder of the match.

Then there was Blackett, ah how excited they were by this man. A few minutes before the half, Vardy was through in space on the right. He received the ball, Blackett turned. He touched the ball once, Blackett follows. He touched it twice, Blackett bursts in, great tackle with a small dash of “nooooooo” before realising he’d made a great tackle.

You can leap from the highest mountain, thousands of feet above the earth, or make a tackle that makes everyone sing your praises.

Then gravity strikes, and you’re sent off after a generally poor performance.

The good…

There was some to be found, but not much.

Di Maria – Angels defy gravity, clearly. He was once again very good, and arguably outdid his first goal for United (vs QPR), with this beauty of a chip over young Schmeichel. Allow me to drift to a golf analogy for a moment. Line up with the golf ball closer to your back foot, instead of between your feet, or nearer your front foot, and try to chip the ball. It just doesn’t work, and if it does, it’s not very good. Di Maria didn’t just arc the ball over the keeper with ease, he did it having to dig the ball from beneath him. Watch it again, it’s super.

Rooney – Van Gaal’s “undroppable” comment was oft repeated this week, and Rooney showed a lot of that captain’s aggression, initiative and energy. I know a lot of people can and will disagree with me on this, but I do think he is a player who 1) Will merit a consistent place, 2) Brings more energy with and without the ball than almost anyone on the team 3) Brings the kind of aggression that United have missed since Roy Keane…albeit with more control and less chance of being sent off.

The bad…

Defense – And this was a thought long before 5 goals went in.

Possession – “You never expect that when you’re 3-1 ahead. You have to kill the game and keep possession. We couldn’t do that.” Van Gaal said it best. At 3-1, we allowed (partially, they seized it as much as we gave it away) Leicester to burst back into it.

Rojo – Not just his cross and shot that cruised over the bar, he just hasn’t looked great or even good for that matter. This isn’t a death knell, just a poor start.

Blackett – I think the part of the match where my temperature rose the most was the 4th goal. Yes Mata was the one dispossessed and Blackett was left alone in defense. Except he wasn’t in defense, he wasn’t even in no-man’s-land, he was 10 miles past it. Horrid. His tackle to give Leicester their 2nd penalty and his marching orders, was Bambi-clumsy.

The ref – But I missed the worst of it, this is just hearsay.

The other guys…

Let me just say, that I finished this game only slightly disappointed. I was that thrilled for a Leicester side who I have a soft spot for, and who are turning out to be pretty fun to watch. What hard schedule? What 1-3 deficit? They play to win, that’s not a cliche, merely a fact that they have not gone into matches against the top sides looking for draws.

Ulloa was the threat coming in, and he did not disappoint one bit. 5 or 6 in 5 matches for him, I believe.

Vardy was my man of the match, even before he assisted and scored towards the end. Involved all game after Leicester’s poor start, punished United twice late on, to kill the game.

Cambiasso, for reputation, good passing – especially his long balls, even managed to get a goal in.

De Laet, he could have been sent off before 90, but got stuck in to United all match and was another quick one when he was on the ball. Speed was so important for Leicester, and absolutely punishing for United in that second half.

Dat Leicester crowd, obviously I want United victories and that generally means a sadly silent home crowd when we travel, but I also love how football makes people happy, ecstatic even. Simple thought, but true. The noise from that crowd, especially after the 3rd, was great. Then it was 4. Then it was 5. We’re up and we are here to stay!

There it was, and there it is. Manchester United 3 – Leicester City 5. Ouch is right.

Gravity is a painful thing.

You can dream, you can close your eyes and feel the wind beneath your wings, you can see the eagles flying beside you, you can soar towards the Sun!

Except gravity reaches up and grabs you by the ankle. The wind rushes beneath your arms, as you have no wings. Those aren’t eagles flying beside you, it’s a Liverbird, and that isn’t the Sun that you are fast approaching.

QPR was our dream of flying high, and Leicester was our gravity. One day this season, we will break free of it, and not look back. But for now, gravity keeps our dreams in check.

Our Angel

Angel di Maria.

There! The easiest match summary I’ve ever done.

Ok, I’ll elaborate.

The man with a name lifted straight out of a Spanish bible, got United hearts pumping, got us believing. I didn’t catch the friendly against Germany, but by all accounts it looks like he thought he was still playing for Argentina against them.

Where to begin with him…

He was by far United’s most enterprising and involved player. He didn’t demand the ball, just found enough space to receive it, and when he did, his first instinct was rarely to pass. That’s not a bad thing at all. He looked to push, drive the ball at pace every time (maybe all but one), and always finished with a cross or a pass.

One of the most exciting facets of his game for me, was his crossing, especially the few that he looked to get in early. Give him Falcao, and an improved Van Persie getting on the end of those, and it’s be the Shock and Awe of the Premier League.

Then there was the free kick. The one that was equal parts United fans exhaling, and United fans screaming. I’ll go as far as calling it textbook. Unless you’re Cristiano Ronaldo, any free kick from that range need to be curled in, aimed at the far corner, tempting the runs of the forwards, and leaving the keeper totally unable to commit to either post. Check, check, check, and check!

His first goal showed his dead ball ability, his second was “watch this!”. Picking the ball up in United’s half, he drove forward, QPR defenders were look-but-don’t-touch, until he held Sandro off and slipped Rooney in as he cut across. The shot was blocked, but Rooney found Herrera on the rebound, and Herrera found the corner of the goal.

Rooney would get his eventually, as Rob Green let one in at his near post. So would Mata. But at this point only 2 people mattered. The man who did it all on the field, and the man who started the match off the field.

Falcao got as rousing an introduction from the Old Trafford crowd as I can remember for a new singing, but as @aamena_ said, “everyone is hugely excited about Falcao, but Di Maria has been the best buy”, and on the evidence of the first 45, that very well could be true.

In case you missed all the fun, enjoy this.

The good…

I’ll try do this without mentioning Di Maria’s name.

The team attitude and style – PHEW! Gone are the days of that lacklustre play, on and off the ball. United were combative in midfield, built well from the back, and were quick, whether it was a counter-attack or QPR were set. It wasn’t perfect, there were still errant or weak passes, but the passing passed the statistical (around 90% success rate) and the eye test.

Rafael – What a relief it is to have him back. He and the rest of United’s defense will be tested more in future defensively, but he brought a lot of pace with his overlapping runs, including one late on that almost got Mata another goal.

Herrera and Blind – I can’t pick one. Where Blind was less visible but very good, Herrera was evident and even better. Really though both were fantastic. 189 (originally said 238, my bad) passes between the two of them and more importantly provided good cover for the defense when called upon, reset United’s possession, and Herrera looks very eager to get forward, where he isn’t shy at having a shot.

The Di Maria celebration – if he celebrates every goal like he did that first one, I’ll “awww” my way to May.

All in all, it really was a strong performance, albeit against a weak team.

The bad…

“Bad” is harsh for most of United’s performance. However Van Persie looks out of touch, and that’s being kind. The closest he’s come to looking a threat was when a cross that sailed too deep, caressed the crossbar. Fortunate, not intentional, and he was otherwise anonymous.

If I have one concern over Di Maria, it’s that he’s playing as though he’s being controlled in a game of FIFA and the sprint button is held down for the full game. He does know we have another 30+ matches this season, right?

But screw the worries, United are back and the only sound you could hear from fans of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and City fans last night, was the scratching of heads.

The other guys…

QPR were that bad. If you could commend any of them for their defensive stubbornness early on, that was wiped away with the last few goals. They gave United’s attacking players too much space at crucial times. Traore was a big part of anything that could be considered a chance for QPR, but the fact that I’m mentioning him when there was really no threat of note (Apart from De Gea’s blunder that cost nothing), says enough.

The verdict…

Before the match, @tacheydelbosque was bringing the level-headed approach to what we could expect, and I fully agreed. We joked that champagne may need to be broken out, if we scored 5. One short of a glass of the bubbling stuff, but 90 minutes of excitement like I haven’t experienced in a while.

The long-term performance still remains to be seen. Tougher opposition awaits, less dominant games await, but QPR vs United was a match made in heaven, where Angel di Maria soared.

Why I feel better about the Sunderland result

That was ugly”. That’s what you could have said about United’s draw with Sunderland. Then MK Dons and 4-0 happened. Now THAT was ugly. This was just, mildly unattractive?

I’m just doing this for my own pleasure, but for anyone who had to write about that match for their job, you know, the people that can turn match reports into poetry, I feel for them. This match was all bullet points, no beauty. With that said, here we go:

The Van Gaal way

Before I start on the match, everything that follows stems from this belief that I have: Van Gaal’s way will take time. It’s not some novel thought, but looking at Twitter (or maybe just my timeline) you’d think that it was just that. Short of Van Gaal failing so miserably (think bottom half of the table, near relegation), he will get at least a couple of seasons to build on this philosophy he talks so much of, and on the evidence of that match vs Sunderland, it’s going to take a lot of patience. It’s hard to tell whether the fans or players are having a harder time adjusting, but more on that, next. Van Gaal seems big on training, different with his methods, and maybe that is already showing on the squad. How many injuries is that now, 10?

Bear with him though. He’s done it before, and hopefully he’ll do it again. Until then, better stay away from any Liverpool and City friends you have.

Oh, one last thing. For those who are often baffled about the lack of use of certain players, I present you this from @DTGuardian: Van Gaal was also asked if Kagawa could play central midfield. “I have tried him there … he couldn’t perform my wishes”. Be ready to be very frustrated. It’s his way, there is no alternative. But don’t forget that worked for a certain Alex.

The basics

By far the saddest and most frustrating aspect of the match was our movement on and off the ball. Yes, it is a new system, those poor, young centre-backs have to do a bit more with the ball, and without out. Same goes for the midfield actually. It’s tiring, it’s work, but what they managed was honestly one of the worst standards I’ve seen in a while. On a number of occasions, one of the back three was given so much time and space he could bring the ball up a good 20 metres, across the halfway line. But it was always stop-start, tentative, more “should I be doing this?” than “I FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED”. It was sad, really. As sad as the passing, maybe. I wish I could recall the exact moments, but maybe I’m glad I can’t actually. The passing was horrid at times. One particularly funny instance (around the 55th minute) was Valencia crossing with plenty of space, and landing the ball closer to the corner flag than to any United teammate. Did I say funny? I meant embarrassing.

No spark

The saddest (I’m using that word a lot) part of last season for me was the lack or fire and urgency the United players had. Probably a result of the way they took to Moyes’ leadership, it was just horrible to watch. Sadly, despite changes to the manager and system, that doesn’t seem to have improved much. On almost any occasion I can recall in this match, they were outmuscled and outhustled. Any 50-50 ball felt like an 80-20, or at least a 70-30.

The good (well, “the ok”)

I really didn’t think Young or Valencia were as terrible as people thought. Valencia did well to create the goal, and both were decent on the ball, on the few occasions that we kept it long enough to get it wide. Blackett was quite good aside from a few clumsy challenges, and long balls that display either bad judgement or terrible eyesight.

The bad (yeah, bad)

Disappointments aplenty though. For me, the biggest was Van Persie. He didn’t look interested one bit, all I remember from him was getting nudged off the ball on an occasion when we had a 3-on-1 advantage in that area of the field (that too, after we had held onto the ball for a while), and not seeming to care when he was sloppily caught offside later. I could be reading way too much into it, and in fairness he is still catching up on his fitness.

Mata and Rooney were better, but both missed crucial opportunities. First Rooney failed to play a simple return ball to Fletcher that may have had him through on goal (37th minute), and the Spaniard’s heavy touch lost him the opportunity to shoot from a few yards out, after a nice ball through to him (62nd minute).

The other guys

Plenty of appreciation to go around, although it admittedly fizzled as the game went on.

Larsson – Super delivery on all his set pieces, rare consistency too, as @Tacheydelbosque pointed out (by the way, he’s a great person to follow if you’re a football fan). His free kick in the 74th had me scared until it hit the advertising boards.

Buckley – Seemed like he’d be their main route early on, causing enough minor problems on the wing, looks decent.

Wickham – Good touches that freed up two shots (both scuffed though), and a very good through ball for Larsson (Which may have been snuffed out because he was offside). He looked genuinely good, and I’m not even English.

I started writing this in the 75th minute, and I’d thought of Mannone, then dismissed him, right before he flew in for a vital interception to beat Young to the through ball from Welbeck.

To the next one we go. Just remember, when you watch a match like this, and you think it can’t get any worse, there is always MK Dons.

Champions League Matchmaking

Too busy to write anything significant this time, but if you’re wondering who each time might be drawn against in the Champions League knockout stages, here you go:

The only 2 rules are that teams can’t play a team from their same group that just concluded, and they can’t play a team from the same association. Basically, for teams that topped their group and are from a strong association, it’s great! They got themselves a relatively easy two legs in the next round. However those same clubs finishing 2nd in their group (Manchester City for example) have their odds of playing a tough group winner, increase.

Honestly I think Manchester United have the best odds of drawing a favourable matchup. They can’t play Arsenal or Manchester City, which let’s be honest, in their current form would’ve been pretty tough. Chelsea are also in the same situation but the Reds win the tie-breaker because they could draw Schalke (Chelsea’s group runner-up) whereas Chelsea could draw Leverkusen (United’s group runner up).

Anyway, without much further ado…

United: Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Schalke, Zenit, Milan

Real: Leverkusen, Olympiacos, City, Schalke, Arsenal, Zenit, Milan

PSG: Leverkusen, Galatasaray , City, Schalke, Arsenal, Zenit, Milan

Bayern: Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Arsenal, Zenit, Milan

Chelsea: Leverkusen, Galatasaray , Olympiacos, Zenit, Milan

Dortmund: Galatasaray, Olympiacos, City, Zenit, Milan

Atletico : Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Olympiacos, City, Schalke, Arsenal, Milan

Barca: Leverkusen , Galatasaray , Olympiacos, City, Schalke, Arsenal, Zenit

Leverkusen: Real, PSG, Chelsea, Atletico, Barca

Galatasaray: United, PSG, Bayern, Chelsea, Dortmund, Atletico, Barca

Olympiacos: United, Real, Bayern, Chelsea, Dortmund, Atletico, Barca

City: Real, PSG, Dortmund, Atletico, Barca

Schalke: United, Real, PSG, Atletico, Barca

Arsenal: Real, PSG, Bayern, Atletico, Barca

Zenit: United, Real, PSG, Bayern, Chelsea, Dortmund, Barca

Milan: United, Real, PSG, Bayern, Chelsea, Dortmund, Atletico

Who do you want to see drawn against each other?

Unintentional recklessness

Allow me to reminisce for a moment.

Six years ago, our school football and volleyball teams took a trip to Zambia for an inter-schools competition. I’ll spare you too many details, except the one about us sweeping the trophies. Suffice to say it was a wonderful time and experience.

The relevant portion of this story didn’t take place during a match, but during some downtime in the gym, an open outdoor volleyball court.

A few of us were kicking the ball about. Actually it was more like drilling (in my case, gently lobbing) the ball against the wall, controlling it, repeat. Generally the ball was being taken on the chest or feet, but of course on one occasion, the ball was hammered against the wall, and I (willingly) took it on the head.

Little birds, stars, head ringing. You know the drill.

Robin Van Persie. Ashley Williams. Now you see the relevance of the opening…barely.

I assume if you’re a football fan, you’ve already made up your mind. United fans, come line up in the “give Williams the chair!” queue, and non-United fans, you’re in the “United get all the decisions, even the ones involving clearances of questionable intent” line. Right?

Hopefully it’s not always that simple, but it seems like it is.

Here’s my take on it.

First of all, I love Fergie Ferg, so let’s begin with him. Of course his comments were over the top. He’s no different from any other manager who staunchly defends his players in almost any circumstance. No, I don’t think Van Persie could’ve been killed. Yes, I do think that head injuries can be extremely serious, not just in their immediate effects, and that’s why I think this can’t be glossed over and shouldn’t be turned into an issue about what Fergie said.

Fact: the whistle had blown, Williams then drilled the ball and it struck Van Persie’s head, from very very close range. Any speculation about intent is opinion.

The way I saw the incident was that it all happened within a split second…But I wouldn’t suggest that Ashley has done that on purpose. I’m sure it’s purely accidental– Osian Roberts, Wales Assistant Coach

If I were a judge, this is where I rap my gavel (adjust that stylish white wig) and yell “Irrelevant!”

People say, he was clearing the ball, it’s his job and instinct as a defender. That’s true, but the whistle had blown, Williams said he was clearing the ball out of frustration (what does that mean?) and in all the football games I’ve seen, I’ve never seen a prone player on the ground, get struck in the head by a ball being cleared. Unintentionally.

Back to why that statement was irrelevant. It was reckless play. A player raising his foot to an airborne ball when another player is in the vicinity, can be cautioned for dangerous play. He’s not doing anything illegal by going for the ball but the proximity of the opposing player makes it reckless, a foul, and sometimes a caution.

That’s why the booking is justified.

What about this split second business? Does it mitigate criticism of what Williams did? Probably, if you’re in one camp, totally absolves him if you’re in the other. Still, reckless play is reckless. So many decisions in sports are made in “a split second”.

50/50 challenges that result in one player having 50% of his leg pointing in an odd direction is just one example. Tackles that break legs, aren’t always with malicious intent. I truly think that players usually don’t intend to break another player’s leg, but a leg breaking tackle will still result in a red card because it’s dangerous.

I know, I know. Leg breaking tackle vs clearance.

You can’t just isolate the fact that it was a clearance. It’s not the click of the square button on a PlayStation controller. It’s a play like any other in football that may be routine, but can never be isolated and judged independent of the environment it took place in.

A bicycle kick with no one else around, is an amazing skill. A bicycle kick with a defender’s head nearby is reckless and bookable.
Ashley Williams clearance was a reckless play and deserved the booking.

It’s also something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. We shouldn’t allow club divisions, or Fergie’s over the top comments to detract from what could have been much more serious than it was.

Intent certainly does matter, but unintentional recklessness matters too, and we shouldn’t wait until someone is stretchered off, to realise that.