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.

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.