When he arrived last summer, I wrote many words about how exciting his arrival was, how a player of his unique talents could be a game changer for us.
Based on the players we’d seen for Benfica, Real & with Argentina, there was genuine belief that the hopes expressed in those words would be turned into reality over a glorious season where his and the teams stock rose in unison as we marched back into the Champions League.
His start to the season certainly made me sound like I knew what I was talking about, he played with a passion for the cause that looked like everything we’d hope it would be, he delivered goals and assists on a regular basis, he and we were flying after that sluggish start.
Then the slump came, it did so with great subtlety, it was the odd game where he’d go off with what looked like a mild injury, then he’s be out for a while longer than initially forecast, then when he did play he looked he was on sensible soccer and the guy using the joystick as wearing boxing gloves, utterly useless.
Statistics did some work in protecting him, he’s started off well so clearly he just needs to get over the emotional damage of the burglary, all these injuries are having an impact on him being 100% fit & my favourite, Louis keeps using him out of position, it’s like he wants him to be shit to avoid using him.
When we then hit that sweet Spurs to City run of form without him, the penny dropped that we were a better side without him, this world class player who’d had such a huge impact on the previous seasons Champions League final, who’d had arguably a bigger impact on Argentina’s World Cup run than Messi was in fact the fly in our ointment.
I tried to convince myself I was being a div, I must be getting it wrong, but 2 games summed the guy’s career up at United in painfully inept examples.
West Brom – Brought on to help turn around a game we’d had enough possession to win twice over, his contribution was to punt 40 yard practice balls into the keepers hands while looking entirely unarsed about the shocking show he was putting in.
I understand that even the best have bad days, but making it quite obvious that you didn’t care that cross after cross was going nowhere, that left a sour taste for me.
Hull – If you put a pan on at kick off to boil an egg, he was down the tunnel and done with the game before it was hot enough to cook that unborn chicken! It’s the last game of the season, we’ve secured 4th, but let’s end the season on a high, let’s go about playing with some swagger ahead of 15/16 and lay down a nice marker for what’s to come next season…….
No, let’s just throw another sickie because he just doesn’t fancy it! Ridiculous! Wearing the United shirt is a blessing, but wearing the number 7 is a sign that you’re of a higher calling, not only are you good enough to be here, you’re the one who’ll make us tick, but this guy clearly neither understood nor cared about that.
In my time as a United fan, I’ve seen Robson, Cantona, Beckham & Ronaldo give that number the commitment it deserves, seeing this guy treat it as he has was sickening.
When he leaves I will be sad, not because he’s gone, it’ll be a sad relief that he has, but because the start to his United career highlighted that he’d the skills in him to be massive to us, to help get us back on the pedestal we’d fallen so far from after Sir Alex retired, but the end of his time here highlighted that you can have all the skill in the world, but if your hearts not in it, then there’s just no point being here.
