Jose Mourinho has always had a player in his squad who was ever willing to do the dirty work for him. And it looks as if Ander Herrera is his new found obsession.
And by dirty work, we do not mean, ill-timed tackles and fouls. We mean the work that no one likes to do. The work that goes mostly unnoticed. The “running all round the pitch and chasing the ball” kind of work. It is a type of job that most players hate. I mean, who would want to run endlessly without the ball at his feet.
But it looks as if Herrera has put his hands up and Mourinho has taken notice. Herrera came into United from Athletic Bilbao as a promising talent. Since then managers have used him in various roles across midfield. At first, he was United’s next box-to-box midfielder after Scholes. Then came the playmaker role. While he did not do badly in all these positions but somehow it was not right for the Spaniard.
Then, Mourinho happened to United. And the new boss quickly realised where Herrera would fit in. The Portuguese put Ander in a deep-lying midfield role and since then there has been no looking back. Herrera has gone on to become one of the first names on the teamsheet for Mourinho.
C H A M P I O N S 🏆 What a season, three titles! Thanks to our fans for being behind us every single game 🔴 pic.twitter.com/CJNC7nZ79k
— Ander Herrera (@AnderHerrera) May 24, 2017
And with all credit to the Spaniard he has not been a drama queen about it. He recently said in an interview that he willingly sacrificed his attacking intents and took up the new role. Just so that he could feature more regularly.
‘Hazard’ous role:
Herrera has played good football for pretty much the whole season. And a few pundits here and there had been praising him. But then came the game against Chelsea where the world stood up and took notice.
Eden Hazard had virtually torn apart every defence that had stood in his way up until then. No mercy whatsoever. And somehow teams could not come up with an answer to the Belgian.
But then Mourinho played a master stroke and put Herrera on the man marking duty of Hazard. And after the match got over Herrera had come up with a performance which was easily his best in a United shirt.
Quite simply, Herrera wrapped Hazard up in his pocket and went home.
The Finals:
The final against Ajax was another example of what a team man Ander Herrera really is. He played with the same level of energy and stamina throughout the 90 minutes. And not once did he let his shoulders drop.
After scoring two goals, United decided to sit back and soak in all the pressure that Ajax had to offer. And Ander Herrera was sitting in front of his defence the whole time trying to shield every pass that came his way. On the night, he made 4 critical interventions and 4 blocks.
He was also behind the second goal as he instructed Mkhitaryan to take his place in the box during the corner. While he voluntarily went back to do defensive duties. And seconds later, Mkhitaryan had scored from the corner.
https://twitter.com/ucheguccigoo/status/867628009465008128
He was fittingly awarded the man of the match for the Europa League final. He is someone who does not believe in hogging the limelights. He would rather sit there, do his job and make his team win.
Herrera is very rapidly turning into one most important personnel of the United squad. Long term captain maybe?
