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| A Manchester United Fan Longing For Cristiano Ronaldo Posted: 30 Apr 2014 04:58 AM PDT
It was the end of what had been a glorious chapter for the club and Sir Alex, who had signed this skinny little teenager from Sporting Lisbon six years previously. What they created was a footballing genius, who will go down as one of the game's greatest ever.
If you look at Ronaldo's behaviour during the whole saga, at times he was bang out of order, particularly with the claims of being a 'slave'. But Sir Alex had a hold over the Portuguese superstar, and his pure genius allowed us all to forget his stupidity and rank him as a club legend. To achieve that in six years isn't bad going at all. His return in 2013 to Old Trafford in Real Madrid colours was always going to be emotional for both the player and the club. The affection he still holds in his heart for United was evident throughout both ties, with an almost pained expression etched across his face as he condemned us to a Champions League exit. Sitting watching Real Madrid's demolition of Bayern Munich last night, it was hard not to sit and wonder what might have been. What if we had been able to hold onto Cristiano for just a few more years? His talent has, in my mind, escalated since he left for the Spanish capital. His goals-to-games ratio is absolutely frightening (at time of publishing he has played 204 games and scored 214 goals) and his general impact on matches has, if at all possible, become even more devastating than before. He is still only 29 years old. In a scene reminiscent of a terrible romantic movie, I found myself watching season review DVDs of years gone by last night after the match, pining for a return of the days when we were truly a joy to watch. A time where the question wasn't if we were going to win, but simply by how many the victory margin would amount to. A time where, no matter how poor the performance had been, we could rely on the fact that we had someone in the side capable of hammering it in from almost anywhere on the field. It is mind boggling to think that in the time it took Antonio Valencia, a signing made in the aftermath of Ronaldo's sale, to score twenty goals, Cristiano had scored two hundred at Madrid. Did we command a high enough transfer fee for him? Probably not. But, at the time, it was clear how much the player desired the switch and, after where he had taken us in the years previous, did he really owe us anything? I would love to see a day come that he is back in the red of United. I do wonder how close that came to being a reality this summer with rumblings of a potential deal being worked on. I can't help but feel that once Sir Alex walked away, our chances of recapturing Ronaldo all but vanished. But, who knows? Cristiano Ronaldo will always be a player that refuses to rule out the possibility of anything happening and I would personally be very surprised if he finished his career at Madrid. Whether he would favour a return to Old Trafford remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, we'd welcome him back with open arms. Start writing the film now people. Greg |
| Van Gaal is the perfect choice for United Posted: 30 Apr 2014 12:09 AM PDT
Away from heat maps and statistics recording pass completion rates, football remains an extremely simple game. One in which, crucially, quality always makes the difference, on and off the pitch, particularly over the course of a season. Just as it’s impossible to fathom Tom Cleverley performing better than Yaya Toure over 38 games or Ashley Young delivering more assists than Arjen Robben, it’s naive to expect a decent manager to perform like a world class one.
Unfortunately for him, Moyes falls into the former category and his beleaguered tenure offered further proof that only a manager of proven international calibre was the right man to replace Sir Alex Ferguson and good riddance to the romantic theory that considers Moyes’ Scottish origins more important than his tactical nous. As it’s emerged over the season, it seems that United not only need a manager capable to preach attacking football to his troops and to understand what 21st century football requires, but they also need a man of steel, one capable to rule the dressing room by far when needs be, exactly as Fergie used to. While many of the managers in the list of candidates to the United job would fulfil both requirements, nobody would perhaps do so as convincingly as Louis Van Gaal. The Holland manager would be the perfect man to take over United, given he possesses everything Moyes lacked and everything United desperately need if they’re to make the most of what is likely to be a season without European football and swiftly return to the upper echelon of English football. The former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has a clear philosophy of attacking football, one shaped by the time he spent working with Leo Beenhakker, one of Total Football’s great theorists, and one that he has implemented throughout his career, with his sides always encouraged to go forward and attack, rather than sit back and worry solely about stifling their opponents’ chances. Even more importantly, however, Van Gaal has been determined to instil his philosophy into each of the club he’s managed, to ensure his successors could pick up his tactical baton and build upon such philosophy, which exactly what United require, given the lack of direction that has emerged post-Fergie. A man whose track record with youngsters speaks for itself, Van Gaal can however be rather abrasive with both press and players and the players who have crossed his path in the past have been dispensed with without much fanfare (rings any familiar bells?) which, considering the laissez faire attitude that has crippled United’s dressing room this season, can only be a positive. The Dutchman, after all, is a man who famously dropped his pants in the Bayern Munich’s dressing room to make sure his players knew his attributes were bigger than theirs. That alone, makes him a perfect fit for United. I originally wrote the article for Football Scores as part of their monthly Super Blog feature and it was firstly published here. http://www.footballscores.com/superblog/van-gaal-the-perfect-choice-for-united/ |
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