Leicester have in modern times won the Premier League title and the FA Cup. What would we give for that? However they are now fighting a relegation battle with the Van Man and praying they can avoid helping to set a trend that the promoted three head straight back to the wilderness.
Meanwhile Newcastle are as iffy as a wet winter’s day and need to make sure the Foxes don’t raid the hen house on Saturday afternoon. To say this is a must-win for us Geordies is to state the obvious. Two points out of 12 is a pauper’s diet.
They say that where there’s a will there’s a way and if that is so let every man jack in black-and-white stripes prove they are up for it. Surely Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali must return after missing the starting cut at Brentford supposedly in need of a rest. When in the mood they are go-to performers for United, current internationals and expensive imports.
Having said that Eddie Howe has a selection problem if he looks only at United’s last performance. Brentford might be good at home but there was no need to give them the encouragement Newcastle did. An awful lot of people couldn’t complain if they felt cold steel upon the back of the neck.
At 38 next month Jamie Vardy makes Callum Wilson seem like a spring chicken. You cannot help but make comparisons. Maybe Vardy is closer to 40 than 30 but when he scored one and made the other late on to rescue a draw for his side against Brighton he was playing his third match in nine days. That is a heavy workload not recognised by Wilson for many a long day.
It really is getting beyond belief with Callum who has suffered yet another hamstring injury calculated to sideline him for a further two months which would rule out any chance of getting a rapidly diminishing transfer fee during January and mean he will go in the summer on a free. A loss-loss situation as he cannot help a growlingly difficult cause either.
Every Geordie is afraid that Joe Willock is becoming the new Wilson. I feel really, really sorry for quality players when persistent injury worries bite into their careers because it is not their fault but from a club and fan point of view it is a major concern. Top performers all too often sitting on the sidelines is no good whatsoever in the heat of a dire battle.
The thought of Leicester heading to our patch will no doubt bring a ringing request from officialdom for the crowd to play their part – to lift the players and carry them on a wave of sound to victory. That sort of talk always makes me smile. I know how deeply Geordies love their club and what they will always do to help if they can but in my book it is the players who owe the supporters and not the other way round. They ought to concentrate on giving fans a lift and something to respond to not look towards “a 12th man”.
United’s faithful love passion, love a good sliding tackle putting man and ball into touch, and will roar their appreciation regardless of whether Bruno, Anthony Gordon or Big Joe urges them to respond by throwing their arms in the air. Boys, you are quality players. Just do your job and you will be engulfed in love. What we have here is an ideal opportunity to turn bad into good. United have three matches in a blink of an eye to make their season – and, harsh as it may be, save the manager from any likelihood of the sack.
They ought to beat Leicester, Brentford up here in the Carabao Cup, and Ipswich away because all three games are distinctly winnable. That would be the best Christmas present the players could give Howe and the fans. However could the manager survive United being knocked out of the cup with the semi-final beckoning and suffering a further poor PL points return? That would be untenable and while it would largely be the fault of the players they are never the ones to suffer the ultimate price.
Howe has turned so many of them into stars, protected them from criticism, publicly ladled praise upon them, and never thrown any of them under the bus after a poor result. Now he needs something from them in return. Yes he must carry the can for team selection and uninspiring substitutions but now he needs help from within.
It’s now or never. It really is. Recent PL results – two points out of 12 – have been a disaster that must be addressed with victory over Leicester followed by sweeping aside Brentford who are as poor away as they are powerful at home. Reaching the League Cup semi-finals is not only a real opportunity to go on and end an embarrassingly long wait for silverware but right now the best way of getting into Europe next season.
Man for man United are better than Leicester so it comes down to how much each player is willing to sweat blood. Do the Mags care as much as the Foxes do? Do they want it more than their opponents? We are about to find out. It ought to be so.
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