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.
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