The Soccer Blog: The Manc Bossa-Nova

Thursday, 9 December 2010

The Manc Bossa-Nova

"> Dec 9th, 2010 @ 04:35 pm › Ivor
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AndersonUCL –>An exciting night for United fans on Wednesday. The lads have definitely played better, of course, but I was thrilled to bits to see three Brazilian starters in the Da Silva twins, Rafael and Fabio, and the back-in-form Anderson. All three have promised a lot for quite a while and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect them to fulfill that potential now. At any rate, all three laid out their stall for us to see, warts and all.

Anderson’s much heralded arrival from Porto in 2007 had fan expectations high from the get-go. £18M is a lot of money for an eighteen-year-old, but the You Tube videos showed some sparkling left wing ooh-ah dribbling and left-footed shooting as he helped propel Gremío into the Brazilian first division at sixteen. Still very young, my expectations for him in his first season were low. Carlos Queiroz, however, had other ideas.

One of the major architects of United’s recent success, Queiroz has shown an eye for scouting the Portuguese-speaking world’s best talent and the tactical ability to help his players adjust to their limitations. Two cases in point being Phil Neville and Darren Fletcher. Always an intelligent footballer, Phil found himself more and more marginalized as a full back once his foot speed waned. Converted to a defensive midfielder by Queiroz, he became a handy second-choice to slot in for the often crocked Roy Keane. In much the same way, Queiroz encouraged Darren Fletcher, a bright player too limited in passing ability and speed to make it as a winger, to become the hard-tackling midfielder we know today. Indeed, Fletcher improved so much that Ferguson decided to sell Neville on to Everton where he could demand a starting berth.

FraoEHVf9OcJ Necessity is the mother of invention and in 2007 United desperately needed a midfield dynamo. Wide in the chest, speedy and brave, Anderson reluctantly found himself the subject of Queiroz’s tinkering. Awkward at times, especially against inferior opposition, Anderson could sometimes be lazy or make goofy mental mistakes, but in games against the big boys of Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, the dreadlocked one completely dominated four of the best attacking midfielders in the world, Cesc Fabregas, Stevie Gerrard, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack: He gave them all a hellish time. It wasn’t jammy, it was awesome. So much so that United won the Premiership and the European Champions Cup.

What followed has bamboozled United fans. A voracious party animal, eater and sexual athlete, Anderson has spent more time on the blogs being vilified for eating marathons at the Fogo de Chao restaurant, lewd public behavior and crashing his sports car than anything he’s done on the football field. No longer buffered by the presence of Carlos Queiroz–who left to become coach of Portugal’s national team–daily bulletins about his fights with Fergie became a staple of the newspaper rumor mills. At one point, the lad even flew home to Brazil to demand that his agent negotiate his transfer. At any rate, Anderson returned and, after rupturing his cruciate ligament in a February 2010 game against West Ham United, he was a very unhappy young man who put on an enormous amount of weight. When he crashed his sports car this summer in Braga while visiting Portugal he was going at 140 mph. Lucky to survive after being pulled unconscious from the wreckage by a passer-by, Anderson seems to have finally seen the light.

At any rate, just a few weeks ago, it was unimaginable that Anderson would be the driving force in the Manchester United midfield. Three weeks ago, I made note that he was huffing and puffing after about twenty minutes on the field. Fit now and reborn, his energy
has breathed new life into a dull United midfield plagued for weeks by a lack of passion and creativity from Michael Carrick or Darren Fletcher. Brilliant throughout the match against Valencia, executing precise unpredictable passes to Nani and Park on the wings and Rooney and and Berbatov up front, Anderson controlled the midfield and happily orchestrated much of United’s clever attacking play. Having scored the vital equalizer allowing United to top their Champions’ League group, our Brazilian wonder boy might have also had a couple of assists had Dimitar Berbatov not been having one of capricious prima donna days in front of goal.

Of course, at this point it would be ridiculous to talk of him replacing the Ginger Prince; nevertheless, the ability is there in spades! Which brings me to the Da Silva twins. I am just as excited by them, but with reservations.

_49886909_010613708-1 As 4-4-2 becomes old hat, a 4-2-3-1 system catches on. Encouraged by the spectacular success of Maicon and Daní Alves, it seems coaches everywhere have begun tinkering with what is often now called the wing-back position. Along with a change in offside laws, a new breed of ‘super-quick’ flank performers have stretched the field of play. Gareth Bale transformed from a left-back to a winger, Patrice Evra switched from the left wing to left-back. Coaches stagger four layers of players. Box-to-box midfielders owning the ability to improvise are becoming less important. With Rafael or Fabio sprinting down the flank and then dribbling their way into the box, massive holes are created at the rear. A player like Darren Fletcher or Park ji-Sung now has to seamlessly reverse into a position where they instantaneously fill the holes the twins have created. Parky is already known as ‘Super lungs’, but, really, will he have the energy and perpetual fitness necessary to do the job for 90 minutes week in/week out?

Thus far, the twins have only run into trouble when confronted by cynical gamesmanship. A crafty veteran like Ribery may indeed have been instrumental in the sending off of Rafael in the Champions League last Spring, and the macho machinations of a thuggish Luis Boa-Morte in the losing League Cup game against west Ham United, prove the twins still have a way to go when it comes to winding up.

270px-Rafael_da_Silva Rafael and Fabio love to attack the box Although they’re both right-footed, they are awesome to behold on the fly. In the sense of an all-round game, as we watch wingers like Ronaldo, Lennon, Walcott, Wright-Phillips, Downing and Young and are shocked at their utter inability to put in a consistently accurate cross into the box, the twins become the ultimate asset.. Indeed, despite being labeled a ‘defender,’ Fabio was the top scorer in the Under -17 World Cup in 2007. As their confidence grows, I don’t believe I need a crystal ball to predict that all three are going to score a lot of goals.

This is why it’s crucially important for United to buy the right midfielders to bolster up the steadily;y fading Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick, and get help for the all-too- often exhausted Park ji-Sung and Darren Fletcher. Spending serious dosh on the likes of intelligent, adaptable midfielders like Yann M’Vila, Steven Defour, Ganso or Ilkay Dungokan is of the essence. Paolo Henrique Choys de Lima, a/k/a Ganso already has a special relationship with the twins from their time spent together in the Brazilian Under-17 team he captained. A fourth Brazilian wouldn’t be so bad.

Someone on the blogs has already suggested to me that the club already have that slot-in guy for left midfield in Anderson. For me, however, the Valencia game has shown me that the kid plays better where he’s comfortable. In Anderson’s case, it’s now time to leave well alone.

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