At the equivalent stage last season, Nani was playing a crucial
role in United’s march to Premier League and Champions League
success.
The livewire Portuguese winger played an important part in
seeing off Lyon, Roma and Barcelona in the knockout stages of
2007/08’s European Cup campaign, and although he received his
marching orders in United’s final home match of the season – a 4-1
romp against West Ham – he headed for Euro 2008 having impressed
many eminent observers in his first full season in English
football.
Former United winger Gordon Hill was among them. Hill is a man
who knows his wide men, spending three seasons getting chalk on his
boots at Old Trafford, scoring more than 50 goals and helping the
Reds to 1977 FA Cup final victory against Liverpool. Now living in
Dallas, Hill sees much of the old-fashioned winger in Nani, but
believes that the 22-year-old needs to become a more reliable
source of creativity if he is going to build upon his impressive
first campaign.
“When you get a good winger,he’s worth his weight in gold,” Hill
told United Review. “Nani has fantastic ability – he has pace and
can score spectacular goals. But what he’s lacking at the moment is
that consistency to torment full-backs week-in, week-out.”
That reliability was Hill’s stock-intrade, as he and a young
Steve Coppell gave top-flight defenders sleepless nights in the mid
to late-1970s. However, he acknowledges that the Premier League
today is very different to the First Division that he and the
current Reading boss knew back then.
“When I was at Old Trafford, the manager [Tommy Docherty/Dave
Sexton] used to pick a team from a core of 12 or 13 players,” says
Hill. “Now Sir Alex has a squad of more than 30 to choose from. The
benefit of this is that players like Nani will be relatively fresh
if they’re called on as the season draws to a close. The downside,
though, is that as a young player if you don’t do the business when
you’re called up, you could be back on the bench and have to wait a
while for your next opportunity to come along.”
Nani has reserved his best performances in United colours this
season for cup competitions, with his sole league goal coming in
the Reds’ 4-0 home demolition of West Brom back in October. Hill,
however, believes there’s more to come from a player who’s still
learning his craft, and will hopefully reproduce the form he showed
this time last term.
“This educational period will be well spent, and as a young
player he couldn’t be at a better club,” says Hill. “He has to work
hard to remind the manager that he’s capable of doing a great job
for United. When I’ve seen him recently he has tended to drift in
from the right wing, but he needs to stay out wide and really get
at his defender. He’s an artist – he can create goals and score
them, too. He just needs to do it on a more regular basis.”