Time plays tricks with your mind. When I think of SAF days, my first thought is of fast breaks, counters with Giggs flying down the wing. Making crosses for the centre forward. Second thought is of Keano with superhuman space around him, making space like an anti-magnet, space and vision and crunching tackles. Third thought is of Cantona trying on the absurd, and it actually working a fair bit of the time. Then I think of Beckham and the ability to deliver radar-like curve-balls.
I don’t think of domination, of cute patterns of play, of possession and coordinated pressing and TenHagBall. Time has moved on. We strike passes harder these days. Keepers have to have good feet, and vision. So no, not the most dominant since SAF. Posters who talk about LVG are not far wrong here. In a kind of jittery, random way, like a drunk man making his way home, the club kind of stumbled to this place, via Moyes and Ole, both who tried - to some extent - to relive SAF’s approach. Sometimes we swayed towards where we are today. LVG introduced play out from the back, keep-ball, press. In his day this seemed an alien and strange approach. But he sowed important seeds and ideas.
LVG wasn’t alone, of course. In the years since Sir Alex left, European coaches and TV money (and oil money) utterly transformed English football. We have had Klopp and his version of pressure-ball, and of course Pep. The Ajax/Ten Hag version is of a slightly different flavour, but it’s great to watch. If last night showed anything it highlighted the difference in the philosophy of Conte, which is (still) all about containment and breakouts. TenHagBall, by contrast, is like being suffocated in the grip of a Python. Eyes bulge, tongue goes out. The MUFC of the Ferguson era is comparable only perhaps in the fear factor for opponents at OT. If we continue on this path, that will undoubtedly return.
