Cornered

A corner is given for the most innocent of mistakes, but the consequences for the defending team can be disastrous. At United, we have quite a few tall players and, in Vidic, one of the best headers in the game. Yet, this season we have been very poor in converting corners to goals. Out of 75 corners so far this season, we have only converted 2. One of them was an own goal! Giggs was the provider on both instances.

Nani has to take some of the blame for this situation. For all the good performances he has put in this season, Nani has been terrible with corners. His corners don't go beyond the first man defending the ball. It doesn't seem to be a tactical ploy since it is usually O'Shea who is United's first man. Hardly the player you'll want to do the intelligent flicks across the goal mouth.

This inability to put in decent corners has affected the team already this season. In the game against Bolton, we had 12 corners and didn’t manage to score one. The team sheet that day boasted Vidic, Evans, O’Shea, Fletcher, Berbatov and Rooney. Players who are more than capable of sending the ball into the back of the net provided the ball gets anywhere close to them.

Opposition	Score	# Corners	Goals	Scorer	Assist
Newcastle	3-0	3	0
Fulham	2-2	6	1	Hangeland (o)	Giggs
West Ham	3-0	9	0
Everton	3-3	5	0
Rangers	0-0	3	0
Liverpool	3-2	6	1	Berba	Giggs
Scunthorpe	2-5	5	0
Bolton	2-2	12	0
Valencia	0-1	3	0
Sunderland	0-0	4	0
West Brom	2-2	3	0
Bursaspor	1-0	6	0
Stoke	1-2	6	0
Wolves	3-2	4	0
Total		75	2

Even in past seasons, Nani’s corners were generally below par. It used to bewilder me how this could go unnoticed with Fergie. But in the Stoke game, we finally saw a change in approach. 5 out of 6 corners were taken short. And one of them led to a goal. Nani exchanged passes with Evra and his left foot cross was met by Vidic, and Chicharito knocked it in with a reverse header. The actual problem hasn’t been addressed, but at least the problem has been acknowledged.

When Valencia is back, he’ll be doing the corner duties. Gibson, in the game against Wolves, delivered a few fine crosses from the corner spot. But Nani having clearly been earmarked for taking corners in the absence of Giggs, should be working harder in the training ground. Mastering the art of corners is crucial to any attacking player and Nani will be a better winger if he can add this to his repertoire.

Do you think we should try other players or should we persist with Nani since he has a guaranteed spot in the starting 11?

The importance of corners cannot be emphasized enough. After all, the most important goal in United’s history was scored off a corner!

Loyalty

When I first heard that Rooney had signed a new contract, I didn’t know how to react. It had been a bizarre four days and this news took bizarreness to a completely new level. Like every United fan, I was absolutely disgusted with Rooney’s conduct and had resigned myself to seeing him in City colours. I didn’t want Rooney to wear the United jersey ever again and wanted him to be sold off at the earliest. So, when Fergie said he was ‘delighted’ at persuading Rooney to sign a new contract, it was disappointing to say the least. Sir Alex came across as desperate and it was unbearable, especially after what had happened.

For a while, Rooney had been a source of frustration for United fans. After a disastrous World Cup, he was caught smoking on holiday. Then the scandal broke out and it was reported that Fergie was shocked and felt let down by someone who he had valued highly and had earmarked for the captaincy. Rooney then showed utter disrespect by claiming he hadn’t had an ankle injury all season, contrary to Fergie’s claims. This acted as a trigger to Fergie’s press conference and post that, Rooney cited the club’s lack of ambition as the reason to quit, which sent out a message that he didn’t believe the current squad was good enough to win titles. And to cap it all, it was reported that he had a ‘done deal’ with City. Blasphemy, by any United player, let alone by someone who enjoyed legendary status.

Could Fergie really have forgiven Rooney after all this? Surely not.

To protect his reputation as someone who wouldn’t tolerate the slightest hint of disrespect/disloyalty, Fergie could have taken the easier route of asking the player to pack his bags. But with only an year and a half left on his contract, Rooney would have gone at a bargain price. Sir Alex clearly put the best interests of the club ahead of himself. Although it risked his reputation and let adjectives like vulnerable, desperate, embarrassing, etc. be associated with him, it has now allowed the club to dictate terms in the sale of its most valuable asset. The whole exercise was to do with Rooney’s marketability rather than his talent; if there is one person who would firmly believe the squad sans Rooney can win titles, it is Sir Alex. I don’t see Rooney stay beyond next summer even if he wishes to.

Rooney might win over the fans again, but not the gaffer.

After all, Fergie’s autobiography finishes with the words “Loyalty has been the anchor of my life”.