I have a confession to make. I quite like Gary Neville. I
know that he’s has a bit of a rat face, and he had the irritating myopia of his
former manager, but he’s loyal, unrelenting and intelligent, consistent and
talented. The best right-back of his generation. You would love to have a Gary
Neville at your club.
As a TV pundit he offers insight that the old lags Lawrenson
and Hansen can’t hope to make. He’s almost unique in being a player of the
modern era who has played at the very top (and I don’t mean Jamie Redknapp
‘top’, I mean the proper top) plus he is articulate enough to provide insight
about that.
In the closing minutes of Manchester United’s Champions’
League game against Basel, Neville offered more insight than Alan Hansen has
provided in the last five years. 2-3 down, Manchester United scored at the
death and the commentator speculated as to why they have a habit of scoring
goals at the death.
Neville’s explanation wasn’t a Hansen list of meaningless
nouns (power, pace, passion…). Neville put it simply; when entering the last
minute the Manchester United philosophy is; create one good chance and we will
score.
It seems so obvious really; but how often do see teams
launch balls into the box in hope of snatching an unlikely equaliser or winner?
One in every ten aimless punts might succeed. Manchester United create a single
good chance with a 80-90% chance of conversion.
At the heart of United’s success is patience not panic,
quality not quantity. This isn’t typical of English football, but then
Manchester United, with their sustained dominance of domestic football, isn’t a
typical English club.
For all the complaints about our home form, we are slowly
carving out a season in which we look capable of sustaining a charge at
promotion. The 1-0 win over Hereford putting us into the play-off positions, this
is not an explosion of success, but gradual finding of our mojo. The home form
will come, of that I’m sure.
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