Best of the middle men

[rondwisan]

16/11/2009 09:50 - ManUtd.com, Steve Morgan
Best of the middle men



Grafters, visionaries, hotshots, marathon men - midfielders come in many forms. Here we take a look at the good and the great in each guise...

The Playmaker
The midfield his kingdom, the ball an object of his bidding. There’s always one man whom others look for to change the game with a defence-splitting pass that looked so simple when you caught it again on TV, but no-one else saw at the time...

Best in show When the modern good-and-the-great are discussed there’s always a sparkle in the eye when one name crops up: from his teenage years at the Cliff, it was clear Paul Scholes was destined for big things. Possessed of a breathtaking vision starkly at odds with his unassuming demeanour, Scholes owns a range of passing, short and long, that defies belief. With a master key in his boots, he’s unlocked the doors of the shrewdest defences for 15 years - his lights remain undimmed. Scholes’ chipped pass with the outside of his boot over the Stoke City defence for Ryan Giggs this season was a moment to make the heart sing – though, sadly, no goal came of it. Then there’s his goals (plenty with his head, too), 144 and counting – Barça en route to Moscow in 2008, Bradford in 2000/01…

The complete midfielder, and we’re blessed with a goodly share currently (Michael Carrick, come on down), naturally possesses skills transferable between various categories. Take Paddy Crerand – which Matt Busby willingly did, from Celtic in 1963 – hard as nails, yet with a craftsman’s touch and mathematician’s brain to measure passes short and long. Crerand offered light and shade as required and was an instrumental figure in Busby’s first post-Munich silverware (1963’s FA Cup), league titles in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup a year later. And while it’s only natural to remember Bobby Charlton as a goal-getter first and foremost, in his advancing years Charlton’s ability in ‘the hole’ was a thing of no small wonder.

The Grafter
There’s a tendency within a game driven by headlines and personalities to marginalise the unseen workers, those whose shifts don’t scream for attention but whose labours are no less vital to the result. Nothing was ever achieved without hard work…

Best in show United have been blessed with a host of heroes toiling selflessly for the cause. Arguably our best in the early post-War years was Henry Cockburn, FA Cup winner in 1948, title winner in 1952. At 5ft 4in, what he lacked in height he made up for in attitude. “One of the greatest competitors I ever saw,” opined Matt Busby of his mighty mouse. Cockburn – a whirl of energy – demanded no less of others. As Busby recalled, if Cockburn found a team-mate slacking, “big or not so big, he’d give him a roasting fit for a regimental sergeant-major faced with a squad of haircuts from the 1970s.”

There have been others since. Nobby Stiles personified that ankle-biting approach, coupling it with a remarkable versatility that ultimately made him Bill Foulkes’ partner at the heart of United’s backline, climaxing with European Cup glory in 1968. His brow may not have looked as fevered, but Ray Wilkins didn’t earn the nickname ‘Butch’ in his early years at Chelsea for nothing. Skipper there at 19, and British transfer record on joining the Reds in 1979, Wilkins’ shuttling of the ball from front to back led Big Ron to dub him ‘The Crab’. But he had a keen eye for goal too, as Brighton discovered to their cost in the 1983 Cup final replay.

In Sir Alex’s era, the grafters come thick and fast. For all his free-kick devilment, David Beckham was ever-industrious turning defence into attack down United’s right side. And Owen Hargreaves, perennial spoiler of attacks, has a tenacity of which Cockburn would have approved.

The Hard Man
The most eye-catching of our figures from central casting, the hard man is key to any successful team. These characters are born leaders, driving forces who compel flagging team-mates to raise their game, the kind you want beside you in a scrap…

Best in show If United’s modern aura of invincibility was forged by any one figure bar Sir Alex, that man was Roy Keane. Keano’s super-human efforts to haul United back from the dead against Juventus in 1999’s Champions League semi (having been booked and ruled out of the final) are now folklore. But an equal adrenaline rush comes from reacquainting oneself with Keano’s classic ‘See you out there’ tunnel exchange with Patrick Vieira in February 2005 at Highbury. United won 4-2, Vieira beaten before he’d kicked a ball. Keane follows a fine, warring lineage. Even at his fiercest, the Irishman would meet his match in Bryan Robson, always willing to put himself on the line in the ’80s and early ’90s. Here, too, we should include Norman Whiteside, boy-man from Belfast, lover of the bone-crunching tackle that has the opposition (that’s you, Mr S McMahon, Liverpool) turning tail.

The Lung-Buster
By his remarkable endeavours shall ye know him. While some players puff and pant in the wake of a 70-yard, box-to-box dash, your archetypal football marathon man is ready to go again. Like Bruce Springsteen, born to run…

Best in show There’s always a place in our hearts reserved for those who embody our own terrace desire to be out there ourselves, giving it everything for the shirt. Remi Moses, who pitched up from West Brom shortly before Robson, is a name that still garners approving nods. Before being forced out of the game through knee trouble at 27, Remi, a local lad from Miles Platting with legs like pistons, could mix it with the best – as his display against Barça in the 1984 European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final showed.

The reputation of Paul Ince was tarnished by his move to Liverpool, but there was no doubting his commitment when wearing the right type of Red. Then there are those who flit in from elsewhere – witness the utilitarian wonder that was Phil Neville. Nev the younger played as if Sir Alex’s instructions were on a tape loop in his head, and could readily be called on whenever Arsenal were in town (OT, 2002/03…) to worry the opposition – particularly Monsieur Vieira again – into submission.

That’s a role performed so ably in recent times by current midfield darling Darren Fletcher. Thankfully, we have had – and continue to have – a host of young men willing, and more importantly able, to answer the call on these testing, high-profile occasions.

And the man almost impossible to categorise…
Duncan Edwards had the lot. Granite-hewn build of a heavyweight boxer, lungs of a deep sea-diver, vision of Leonardo da Vinci, and an uncanny ability to read the play from any position and play off either foot. We’ll never know whether the colossus from Dudley had come close to his peak by the time of his death at 21, but it’s worth considering this: those who played alongside him – judges as savvy as Bobby Charlton and Jack Crompton, both of whom have seen some illustrious names since – are in absolutely no doubt that he was the best of the bunch. Fifty-two years since Edwards’ passing, his name still outstrips the rest. For that reason alone, it’s fair to assume Big Duncan was the greatest midfield marvel of them all.

[Ridwanox]

roy keane is the best