"You can use my hair wax any time brother"
This season we may not have seen a ‘vintage Manchester United side’ * but we have been treated to two of the world’s most exciting wingers raiding down the flanks and providing some of the most exciting football any league has to offer.
As the season started it seemed as though United would be in for the Nani and Tony V show as both fine haired individuals picked up where they left off last season by terrorising defences with the sort of skills their fine barnets deserved.
However an horrific injury during the Champions League qualifier against Rangers at Old Trafford for Valencia, that was so bad it made the Scottish players go all pale, well paler, meant that Ecuador’s finest was out for the majority of the campaign.
Valencia’s injury wasn’t the knockout blow it could have been for United as September to March was the Nani show as Portugal’s greatest actor gave the sort of bravado displays which Portugal’s other gifted performer would have been proud of. When he wasn’t dancing past wingers or scoring stunning goals with either foot, Mr Da Cunha was entertaining us with the sort of theatrics that Lord Olivier himself would have been proud of.
Nani’s assists, goals and sheer brilliance left many defences in awe and put him firmly in the ‘world class match winner’ category. Even his critics had to admit that for all the rolling about and crocodile tears there was the sort of skills mere mortals could only dream of. Ask any fan in England whether they’d take Nani’s faults in exchange for his positives and you’d be hard pressed to find one- at least an honest one-that wouldn’t want him at their club.
Nani’s the sort of player you simply have to play, even when he’s having a bad spell as he’s always capable of producing something magical to win the game.
The best thing about Nani- at least for me,- is that he genuinely believes he’s the best player on the planet and sometimes you need someone like that in the side.
Don’t get me wrong if he had the pace of Emile Heskey, mixed with the skill of Emile Heskey and the finishing of ooh I don’t know, someone like Emile Heskey, then all the belief in the world wouldn’t make him better than say, Peter Crouch. But Nani’s belief is born from the fact he is actually an amazingly talented footballer, better than 99.9% of players in the world. He may be greedy at times and shoot almost constantly on occasion but there’s the strong chance that one of his 34 shots during a game will end up buried in the back of the net.
Nani along with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and this site’s pick for player of the year Chicharito, provided the goals that carried United to the top of the league where they would stay for practically the whole season.
With the sort of two footed ability that had the imbeciles on Match of the Day debating which was his stronger foot- which one does he take set pieces with lads- Nani was the player opposing fans loved to hate.
Just as Nani seemed as though he was going to be the main reason for United’s success in a strange twist of fate, an injury via a disgraceful challenge by that fine specimen of facial beauty Jamie Carragher put him out of action just as Valencia was returning to the fray.
Any doubts that Valencia would be the same player he was prior to his injury were well founded as he quite frankly wasn’t. He was actually even better. Valencia’s return caused a collective groan from United’s opposition as he duly picked up where he left off, steaming down the wing and delivering inch perfect crosses for Rooney to dispatch with ease. I almost felt sorry for Ashley Cole in the second leg of the Champions League at Old Trafford when with his side down to ten men he looked at the dugout and saw Valencia coming on. I hasten to add I did say ‘almost.’
While Valencia hasn’t been as consistent as he probably would have liked in the past few weeks on the whole he’s been brilliant. Nani on the other hand seems to have gone off the boil slightly. Whether it’s the fact he’s now been moved over to the left almost exclusively, denying him the ease of using his stronger foot, or simply running out of a bit of steam, he hasn’t been hitting the heights he was a few months ago.
The problem is, and I say problem as for the Champions League final I feel it may give Sir Alex Ferguson something of a headache. Nani as I said earlier is always capable of producing something special that can win a match. Dropping him may be the difference between defeat and victory.
So why not play both I hear you cry? Valencia and Nani down each wing, would give even Barcelona cause for concern, Dani Alves, Adriano or whoever would have a job handling either of them.
tbh i am glad i am not fergie lol
he also has to decide between starting henandez and playing rooney in the hole or bring fletcher in and giving wayne the main role or dropping carrick/giggs.
of course he might surprise us all.
I would love to see Nani start because of his pace and attacking ability but it is obvious that Valencia will start because he is more direct.
Considering the recent form of Park and Valencia, along with the fact that our biggest strength is the counter-attack game against Barc or any other strong, well disciplined teams, Nani will probably be benched for the final. Nani appears to have too many “extra” touches, slowing down or breaking up the counter-attack. There were numerous instances where Rooney or Giggs will simply raise their arms in protest of Nani’s extra touches after the failed counter-attacks. Nani is a master of trickery which appears to be extremely effective against teams that are more defense-focused (games in which we have a commanding lead in ball possession). I reckon the same line up that faced Chelsea will start (except Evra for O’Shea for LB).
this would be a sweet team selection for the final
Van der Sar
Valencia Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Nani Rooney Fletcher Park
Hernandez Berbatov
Play rooney as a playmaker, and let him track back and defend with the rest of the team, he is one of the hardest players to get past 🙂 AND this would surprise Barca a lot, and maybe giving us an advantage 😉
No way Aidda, this selection has no reality about it. Giggs will start and Fergie will go for his now favorite 4-4-1-1 formation. Rafa if fit will get the Right back slot and valencia will play in front of him giving him the cover that nani won’t. hernandez will play up top again with Rooney prob playing in front of the back four until we get the ball, then making sh*t happen. If fit, Fletcher may be given the task of closing down in midfield. Nani will be held in reserve, for later moments in the game when he can be sent on to test the tired legs of Barca full backs, leaving us with great options. Can you imagine what a Barca player would be thinking if he got to tortured by Valencia for a while and then a fresh Nani was sent in, or even to take over from the Oriental Duracel bunny, but i don’t see park being taken off as he never gets tired.
I would love to see both start – and i do have a sneaky suspision that both may start.
Fergie may choose not to start Hernandez, (I know WTF!), but bringing Hernandez off the bench when the Barca defense are a little bit tired, he would pull them all over the place!
Packing the midfield in a 4-5-1 and using the pace of both Valencia and Nani on either wing would be deadly.
Also i think it would be what Barca would least expect and therefore put them slightly on the back foot from the offset!
I’d prefer it,if Valencia started.I think a very few will agree with me when I say that there have been times when Nani takes a dive when the team was in full flight and in good positions to score.Some of his decision making is questionable.
It is one thing to taunt teams and there are teams that will not be taunted.Make no mistake,this is arguably the greatest team(Barcelona)on the planet.
Even though he has been outstanding this season,I feel no-nonsense football is the way to approach this final.We need players on that field that can multi-task and interchange with one another.Not so much specialists that are isolated when called to go out of their depth so to speak.
Just my personal opinion of course.Then there is the philosophy of “sometimes the best form of defence is attack.”which I won’t go into.
I Think Nani Should Be On The Right Flank With Giggsy On The Left.. This Ballistic Combination With Either Of The Forwards Would Cause Hell Lot Of Trouble To Barca… Also I Would Love To See Nani Score The Winning Goal Against Barca In The Finals At Wembley With His Left Foot… My Best Wishes For Man Utd For Wembley…. GGMU…
I first have to say the author is frigging hilarious and had me in stiches because of the numerous pop culture metaphors before I could even consider the point of the article.
I don’t think there is a “right” call on this one. Apart of me simply wants to chose our best attacking side, which includes both Valencia and Nani and potentially catching Barca off guard with that selection.
However, there’s little doubt Park and Valencia are the obvious choices because of their respective defensive abilities. Park works well with Valencia also because anytime Valencia plays, the attack strongly pulls to the right side and Park has the tactical know-how of when to drift in the middle in such cases.
But Nani has the greatest X factor perhaps over anyone. Nani at his very best is simply better than any other winger on the team. Moreover, he has the personal belief in his greatness and the CL Final may be the best occasion to bring that out. However if things aren’t going as planned, he is most likely to be the least effective among the three, so it’s a “highest risk/highest reward” gamble with him.
Ultimately, picking any two of the three has its respective advantages and only hindsight will vindicate or condemn the decision.
Valencia simply because he will do what is asked of him and not go off script . Remember CR7 last time ?
Valencia every single time;
1) Rooney plays MUCH better with Valencia down the right
2) AV brings more from the team as a whole – Nani is far too selfish (and Nani needs 10 shots for every successful assist/goal – will Utd even get 10 shots in the final?)
3) There will be enough play actiing from Barca (if the semi with RM has anything to do with it) really dont want Nani to get into those kinds of antics
4) Nani has been really awful recently, barely done anything with any chance he gets – cant afford to carry a player in the CL final