Very Late Night Musings
The frustrating thing for me is :~
Nani is quite capable of doing the job required of him. We have all seen him do it, albeit in flashes.
For some reason, known only to him, his game alternated between hot & cold and, in most matches we inevitably got to see only the cold.
Why was that ?
Well, initially I thought that he perhaps felt overshadowed by the reputations of Ronaldo, Rooney, Scholes, Giggs etc.. However, when CR7 'filled his boots' and left Nani just couldn't find it within himself to rise to the occasion, couldn't prove to all just how great a player he really was and so couldn't make the shirt his own.
How the mighty can fall :
Nani's failure to excel resulted in others being given his starts and those players showed themselves to have the strength of character to make the most of their chances.
He would have rightly felt put down when this happened but obviously couldn't raise his game in training to fight for his place.
His inability to show his worth has unfortunately been hampered of recent by injuries. Even so - on the few days (over the past 6 months) that duty did call, he either tried too hard to make his mark or simply lacked the courage of conviction in his own footballing ability.
One way or another, the end product of his endeavors were poor (to say the least) and thus he deserved to be dropped.
So a lack of steel and determination appeared in a side of him that would only serve to escalate his own downfall.
Falling foul of SAF was not exactly the smartest move Nani ever made :
By now dissatisfaction had taken hold of the player and words were said (accredited to him) in the wrong places, to the wrong people, at the wrong times.
Nani 'quotes' made it back to OT via the pages of international sports rags and so the 'Hairdryer' roared into action.
This probably went further than anything (even his poor performances on the pitch) to isolate Nani from favour.
Can he come back - or is it too late ?
Well it looks to be the latter - but never say never.
We are going through a transitional period just now and, with the injury crisis continuing and our poor performances of late, who knows what just might happen ...
Sir Alex has stated that he has a large enough squad of players as it is and doesn't need to buy any more during the January transfer window.
Therefore, surely he has to make the best of the talent he already has - doesn't he ?
If Nani, his agent and SAF can find it between the three them, to sit down and thrash out all of their problems then who knows ....
We just may not have seen the last of Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha yet.