BECAUSE THEY CAN PLAY F'CKING GOOD FOOTBALL: PART 5

As Manchester United's season moves into 2023, 'Casemiro is the TITAN', 'a gravel voiced man', 'derby day avatars', 'Ten Hag: the Tarantino of Old Trafford'; Part 1, 2, 3, 4 below...

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR

Kariya - Let Me Love You For Tonight

cover: Paradisio Publishing

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through the days

late summer

autumn

winter

spring

the ingot coloured afternoons and eves

of May

this:

this

is

Manchester United

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De aap komt uit de mouw

(Dutch proverb: the monkey comes out the sleeve)

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PART 5

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page 55

20 dec 2022

back at last in the fray

no lisandro

no raphael

one won the world cup final

one lost the world cup final

there is no presser today

thank goodness

and tomorrow at our amphitheatre it is welcome vincent kompany welcome Burnley on your short motor over from turf moor -

this carabao cup tie is wednesday;

then, nottingham forest, 27 dec, at OT, in the prem league. we are only 14 games in. we have 26 points. for: 20 goals; against: 20 goals; won: 8; lost: 4; drawn: 2. we are 5^th; this is not good enough

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page 56

happy year incoming that is new to man utd and ETH

curving beautiful lovely balls slicing 

through burnley, taking them out, on our park 

this 21 dec

taking them out via

marcus: what a goal.

see him meander at first from our half before moving up the gears to

rocket speed

bedazzling the burnley centre half jordan beyer

who keeps on backing off like he’ll end in the Irwell

and: marcus you load and fire a laser that tornadoes past

bailey peacock-farrell. SMAAAAASH AND IN!!!!!

‘he was great,’ says ten hag;

and, a few days later, on 27 dec, man utd 3 forest 0, marcus was at it again:

on 19 minutes:

eriksen rolls a short corner from the right quadrant and ZAP!!! marcus rifles the roof of wayne hennessey’s net;

marcus is in cruise control, hyperspace his reality, the rest of the players taking part in chug-mode only;

the replay, the SLOW-MO, watching this again makes this more astounding,

as IN SLOW MMMMMOWWWWWWWWW

on 19 minutes:

eriksen rolls the ball in from a corner from the right quadrant,

short,

marcus anticipates, this has to be

a play from the training ground playbook,

here he comes, a charge rushes through him,

he smashes a sweet right foot through the ball to to ripple the roof of the net;

and

then:

anthony martial scores;

and

then:

fred scores;

and this is Erik ten Hag Football: a swish of 22nd century play in the 21st

a red blaze of pack hunting pass hungry goal glorious entertainment 

3-0

and: 

we are flying.

BUT THEN (there is always a but then):

marcus sleeps in and has to be dropped to the bench for the trip to wolverhampton wanderers;

BUT THEN (there is always a but then):

he comes on as a replacement

and

he scores

on 76 minutes 

1-0.

we win!

this is man-management from erik, smart and slick

management;

we are in 4th place

but we ‘NEED’;

this is the word erik uses to the media, when asked if a new signing is required in January to achieve a top-four finish, a champions league berth, the absolute lowest demand of any season.

‘creative’ is the characterisation of what the club may need to be to sign a signing that can help erik to do this, as the mighty Man Utd are in searching-down-the-back-of-the-sofa mode for cash to strengthen.

this, erik’s word too:

C-R-E-A-T-I-V-E

managing the players managing the media managing the club and managing the Glazers: creative is what the Dutchman has to be in all these aspects, too.

Next, bournemouth, 3 jan, 8pm, old trafford, we have

to try and continue the dazzle and razzle

this old and new erik ten hag man utd way

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page 57

man utd 3 bournemouth 0

Erik’s men go to 35 points, the same as newcastle; 

Q from a journalist: ‘Is a title challenge credible?’

A: ‘The belief is growing. But that is a big step. So, no. We have to go from game to game and make progress. Don’t get too far ahead as it is January – not even half a season.’

this may not be what everyone wants - Utd on the UP: some -many - wish to see UTD in turmoil but Erik begins to truly exert his power and control and will and strategy and clarity of vision.

Scorers: carlos casemiro, luke shaw, marcus rashford (again, of course; marcus is a glittering emblem of what Erik is to do here)

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page 58

carlos henrique casemiro

born 1992

são josé dos campos, sao jose

31 jan 2013, from sao paulo to real madrid

he was a blaze of white for spain’s royal club

is a festen in the gold-sun drenched livery of brazil

At real he won 5 champions leagues, 3 la ligas, a copa del rey, a supercopa da espana, 3 uefa supercups, 3 fifa club world cups and now this napoleon of the midfield is ours - man utd have a new sheriff of the turf, tapping ball and space about, scampering back to tackle and save goals as he did versus bournemouth to slide for the ball and dispossess phillip billing - a speedy flash of intent.

i would like 11 carlos casemiros and 11 more for the second xi. 11 in the boardroom too. The front and back offices need Carlos C. he is our TITAN. 

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