The heart of the Mata
The story of the football week concerned the inebriated Manchester United fan who dialled 999 to report the crime of his team “being completely knackered” after Sunderland knocked them out of the League Cup on Wednesday. He also said that he wanted to speak to Alex Ferguson to discuss the “total and utter rubbish result”.
It’s one thing to be both pissed and pissed off when your team nose-dives but quite another when, as in this case, the Greater Manchester Police decides it’s worth making the matter public via a statement on their Facebook page.
“Obviously, it can be sad and depressing moment when your football team loses a game,” they not so solemnly observed. “However can we all please remember that 999 is to be used for emergencies only.”
I think I detect the hand of a boy in light blue...
While the ABUs continue to enjoy the season that just keeps on giving, United have opted to make their own emergency call by dialling 10 and bringing the unloved Juan Mata from Chelsea.
Well, unloved by Jose Mourinho that is, with the man who was the club’s player of the year for two successive seasons finding Stamford Bridge a cold house since the Special One moved back in. Judging by the Twittersphere, the fans are not so certain about the wisdom of selling a quality player to major rivals, even if the latter are currently of the wounded kind.
Chief among their concerns is that, while Mata might indeed help United do down some of Chelsea’s title challengers in the short-term, by next season he could be a key part of the resurrection of the club if Moyes and the United board can get their act together.
For now, Blues supporters have no option but to back a manager who has put United’s money where his mouth is and, at least for the time being, can point, with equal satisfaction, to swelled coffers and a place just off the top in the Premier League.
The football fan in me will always be nonplussed when a player of Mata’s outstanding talent is under-used. But managers are paid to get results not to entertain and last Sunday’s 3-1 win for Chelsea against United at the Bridge illustrated perfectly why the Spaniard should be able to carve out a much more productive role for himself at Old Trafford.
Though Samuel Eto’o’s hat-trick made Chelsea’s win look relatively easy in the end, the first 20 minutes or so had seen United playing with something like an underdog’s defiance to rattle the home side. But, under Mourinho, Chelsea are made of stern stuff and, once they’d weathered the storm, they proceeded to take control of the game through sheer collective effort and, in the final third, by preying on United’s abundant frailties, not least of which is a palpable lack of self-confidence when the going gets tough, as it invariably does for them these days.
(Incidentally, those who wrongly dismiss the penalty shoot-out as a lottery – when it is, transparently, one of football’s ultimate tests of technique and nerve — will have missed the point that United’s dismal failure in the spot-kicks against Sunderland the other night was entirely in keeping with the side’s current psychological vulnerability).
Chelsea didn’t need Juan Mata to overcome United; indeed they hardly needed Eden Hazard who, although by some distance their most gifted player, had one of his quieter outings last week. Instead, Chelsea’s steely performance was exemplified by the power of Willian tracking back and going forward and by the reborn authority of John Terry at the back.
Functional rather than fabulous, altogether more admirable than attractive – and all the more effective as a collective for that – this is recognisably the Chelsea of Jose Mourinho, right enough.
By contrast, once Plan A had petered out for United, they had no meaningful alternative to offer. Shorn of van Persie and Rooney, they are revealed to be a shockingly ordinary side, with Adnan Januazaj, for all his youthful promise, being asked to shoulder far too much of a creative burden in the absence of players of greater talent and experience.
So, yes, it makes sense for David Moyes to put out the welcome mat for Juan Mata, even if it’s clear that the arrival of one marquee name won’t in itself be enough to solve all United’s problems. Indeed, considering that the Champions League is now their best, if still unlikely, hope for silverware this season, it says something about United’s desperation that they’re prepared to play a club record for a player who is cup-tied for that competition for the remainder of this campaign.
Clearly then, Moyes is looking longer-term, setting the target of a top four finish – and a Champions League berth for next season – as the minimum required to steady the ship before significant rebuilding begins in the summer.
Mata will help in that quest, for sure, but United will also need van Persie and Rooney to recover fitness and form if things aren’t going to get worse at Old Trafford before they get better.
