Nusquam Celare by Robert Mizzi
A
s the season kicked off with an emphatic 5-1 win over one of our archrivals, I couldn’t fail but notice how the general feeling of the supporters has been transformed during these past weeks. The crowds returning to Old Trafford, the players in jovial mood, a brand-new kit with a new sponsor – and two great signings. All these have contributed to the return of the feelgood factor after the disappointing end to the last season. The doom and gloom following the 27th May now seems a distant memory for most if not all the United faithful. But not all of us United supporters have such short memory and get easily carried away. Without dwelling too much on that apocalyptic day – some of us still recall how our beloved Red Devils scuffed at the opportunity to land Ole’s first trophy and calm down the doubters. More importantly, it would have given the manager, and the club in general, a much-needed boost of confidence. It was not meant to be, and 80 days later another season kicked off after a summer transfer market that saw Jadon Sancho finally arrive at Manchester United and Raphael Varane unveiled as a United player before the season opener against Leeds. The mood has been well and truly lifted…onwards and upwards…but with caution, if I may add. The title of this article is a Latin translation for ‘nowhere to hide’ and realistically speaking, this is how I feel things are at the moment for the club, in general, as well as for the manager. Some of the readers may interpret
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this message as somewhat negative. Indeed, it is not the first time that I have been told that I seem to tend towards negativity when writing about United, be it an article or commenting post-match on my blog. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion of course, and I classify my approach as realist rather than negative. Part of being a supporter of a football team is how you live the trials and tribulations of your team, and everyone experiences this in a different way. Experience has taught me to be realistic and that getting carried away because we won 5-1 on the opening day against a rather mediocre opposition is not going to happen. It was a great performance, do not get me wrong, but I have already seen some posts on social media that made me cringe. Feet on the ground, one match at a time, still 37 matches to go. Realism. The arrival of 2 star players may be interpreted as a statement of intent from the club. Some may argue that the team still needs a world class box-to-box central midfielder and a young top striker to be considered challengers and as much as I like Cavani, I tend to agree. Relying on the McFred partnership through an entire campaign has proved unconvincing in the last couple
of seasons, especially so when creativity and flair are needed to break down opposing defences. And asking 34-year-old Cavani to bang in the goals on a regular basis in the tough EPL is a rather risky business. The emergence of Mason Greenwood may prove to be a solution up front. The boy has got talent and can only learn from a seasoned pro like Cavani. All United supporters are also
