So cool and so warm: thank you, Juan Mata
The man of the match was Ronaldo, but the star of the show was El Mago
FIVE ASIDES United 3, Brentford 0
Three-nil! Are you old enough to remember when United did this all the time? It was Ralf Rangnick’s first 3-0 in his 27th game in charge. He’s only managed 2-0 once, at home to Brighton. In 19 of those 27 games, United have scored one or none, pottering along in binary. Rangnick has preached the gospel of control while seldom attaining it. Who needs control when you can have passages of dominance?
This is what happens when Juan Mata starts. United come together and function as a unit. They keep the ball without going backwards. They move between the lines. They score three and also pull off a peach of a disallowed goal. They’re watchable enough to turn a planned walk-out into a fizzle-out. (In any case, arriving 17 minutes late, we now know, speaks louder than leaving 17 minutes early.) The players call Mata El Mago, but what he brings is not magic: it’s mood music. Suddenly players who’ve been anxious for weeks on end have no angst in their pants. Mata is the member of the family who comes for Christmas and makes sure everyone has a good time. He’s so cool that he even brings Bruno Fernandes down to room temperature. He’s so warm that he gets Cristiano Ronaldo smiling, rather than just striking poses for Instagram.
When Gary Neville gave the man-of-the-match award to Ronaldo, we needed Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys to pop up and say ‘Someone call the police, Juan Mata’s been robbed.’ And yet, even a month ago when United were consistently abysmal, Ralf Rangnick couldn’t see that Mata might make all the difference. He gave him a decent go only when it was too late. If Mata had been sent on after an hour in the 0-0 against Watford, United would have two more points and still be right in the tussle for the top four. If he’d started away to City, Liverpool or Arsenal, United wouldn’t have lost those games by 11-2.
If United can’t hang on to Mata, they can at least replace him – with Christian Eriksen. From the first minute Eriksen was majestic, spraying long balls around like Luka Modric, the maestro he just missed playing with at Spurs. Eriksen has made such a big impact at Brentford that this was the first time he’d started and been on the losing side. After nearly dying, he’s living life to the full. At one point, as he waited to take a free kick, a TV camera zoomed in on him and he had a look of pure mischief in his eye. United need to break their habit of signing elderly strikers, but a 30-year-old midfielder will do nicely – especially one whose formative years were spent at Ajax. An Erik could surely do with an Eriksen.
Fernandes, playing as a No.11, ended up being a better No.10 than he has been for months. He didn’t just score the first goal with a Van Persie volley, he started the move with a Paul Scholes pass – all the way from the left wing to the right, to find Diogo Dalot in space. Dalot, not overhitting it for once, shunted the ball straight forward into even more space, where Anthony Elanga had the acceleration to make it to the byline and play a cut-back, with added spin, to give Fernandes an extra second to arrive. Ronaldo, who had scored eight of United’s previous nine goals, was reduced to a spectator. It’s interesting how deep he has dropped in the last few games – almost as if he’s auditioning for the role of false nine. It might be the best place to put him.