I could sum up any argument with...Ryan Giggs.
So much of the publicity surrounding matches centers on the offense. Yes, goals are needed to win matches and I love when United pound another team into submission. But the importance of the mental game never seems to be stressed. The "thinkers" tend to motivate the "movers and shakers."
When a young Cristiano Ronaldo entered Old Trafford for the first time, he had obvious talent, but it was raw talent. Coming from the Portuguese league, that stressed fantastic goals, he had to learn to play the quick-tempoed, furious EPL brand of ball. In short, he had to learn to think. He succeeded for several reasons, not the least of which was the tutelage of Ryan Giggs.
Having a senior player, who has "been there," helps the new players immensely. Their experience of knowing where to be and when to be there is invaluable to the young guns who see nothing more than an empty net and a ball that needs to be there. HOW the ball gets there is where Giggsy comes in...teaching the greenhorns that running directly at the goal is not always an effective way...that "feeling" the game will always produce more goals.
In a recent interview, Giggsy waxed about the potential of Nani, and about his own tenure at Old Trafford:
"I think Nani is ready to step up to that next level now. He has always been a match-winner but he needs to do it consistently. This season he has already made seven or eight goals and scored a couple but he can do better as well and improve and there is more to come. He's definitely beginning to add something that perhaps we lacked since Cristiano left and he's filling that gap better now. Those strikes from outside the box and the type of run and goal we saw at Bolton recently show that he's got that in him. What he needs to do now is add more goals to his game. He needs to score 20 goals a season and make 20 goals. If he does that - and he is capable of it - that is all you can ask from a wide player."As for his impact on the younger players:
"I am obviously one of the senior players here now and I speak to the wingers all the time about positional play. When they first come they probably don't know their defensive duties as well in 4-4-2. But I've played a lot of that and I understand what is needed from a player who plays out wide and has an attacking role. You speak to those in your position all the time and Nani is very good at listening to that kind of advice. I have experience to pass on to the younger players and I do that with Nani. He needs to get more composure in the final third but he is still relatively young and I am certain he will add more goals to his game."And what about his longevity?:
''When I was 18 or 19, Bryan Robson was 35 or 36 and the thought of me playing at that age was a million miles away. But it's here now and I'm passing advice on to the young lads like Robbo did to me. Paul Scholes and Gary Neville started here the same time as me but we don't really talk about the journey we've had. We talk more about what we are going to do when we finish. There is a great banter between us, but we don't talk about what we've achieved because at United you always look forward never back."Could there be a better ambassador for football? NO.
Number 7 could use some advice from Giggsy about now...
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