Argentina! (Slightly duff return)
I need to choose my words pretty carefully here. What I’m about to say verges on the mutinous and, in some circles is tantamount to heresy. I could well be guaranteeing myself immediate expulsion from the confederacy of right-thinking reds for merely thinking this, never mind publicising it. In fact it would probably be more socially acceptable to mutter something along the lines of, ‘Actually I think the Glazer’s have been really good for United,’ or, ‘Don’t you think it’s about time we gave all this Scousers stuff a rest?’. But here goes nothing.
It was a notion that started to hatch during the World Cup. During the Sevilla friendly it developed from a small doubt to a nagging concern, and by the end of last Wednesday’s debacle in Denmark is was a throbbing worry. I don’t really know how to put this, but, is it just me or is Gabriel Heinze, well, a bit crap?
Two seasons ago, such a sentiment would have been unthinkable. Heinze burst into the United side, a blur of kamikaze tackles and gung-ho sprints down the wing. There were no such things as 50-50 balls as Heinze launched himself into the challenge; opposition players would visibly flinch as he hurled himself at their feet, and from the ensuing tangle of limbs he would invariably emerge with the ball, oblivious to the tattered remnants of the opposition that lay in his wake.
As he charged down field, the cry would ring out, ‘Argentina! Argentina!’ At once a celebration of Gabi’s gifts, and a bit of caustic provocation for the little Eng-er-lander’s in the oppositions support. He was a marvel to behold, from the way he sprinted to the left corner before kick-off to run through his repertoire of weird psyching-up rituals to the way he barged around the pitch for the entire game, no reputation a match for his outrageous self-belief; through to his passionate conviction that he was the wronged party in any set-to, even when he blatantly wasn't.
And then he went and got injured, forcing him to sit out virtually the entire of last season. Though his participation in the World Cup was thought to be in jeopardy, he took his place in that magnificent Argentina line-up, the team that, in their decimation of Serbia and Montenegro played scored one of the most sumptuous goals ever seen, and who will always be haunted by the knowledge that they should have won the World Cup.
But they didn’t, and during that ignominious exit, poor old Messi still on the bench, the victim of a tactical blunder to trump all tactical blunders, it was no surprise to see Heinze one of the main protagonists in the fisticuffs that followed, seemingly believing that throttling a couple of Germany players might convince people to reconsider the outcome of the game. But this time, his aggression looked petty and pointless, and did nothing to erase the fact that he had been found hopelessly out of position several times in the tournament.
And that’s been the story of his stuttering return to the United line-up. Where once he radiated absolute conviction that every ball would be pounced on and be made his own, now he just sends out jittery vibes; will he misjudge it? Will he simply tumble the opponent to the ground? Will he actually be in position or will he still be lumbering back from a fruitless expedition upfield?
Perhaps, given the serious nature of his injury, indeed rumours to the effect that he would never play again swirled in its wake, I’m being unduly harsh on a player who gives his full-blooded all to the red cause. I will of course be happy to have these words served back to me on a bed of humble pie if, in the fullness of time, the majesty of his early form in a red shirt returns. But something nags away at me, almost as if that season, when he was named Fans’ Player of The Year don’t forget, was some kind of mass delusion, and that he was never that great to begin with.
Now has anyone else noticed that Rooney’s been a bit off-colour recently..?
posted by Royton Red @ 3:21 PM
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