Sampdoria fans: "We could have Jesus up front and we'd still lose"
Majority of Manchester United fans were happy after they read Federico Macheda will be loaned out for the second half of the 2010/11 season. When it was known he’s going to play in Italy, some of them weren’t sure enough if it’s the best choice, because there were huge concerns that he may want to stay in his country for much longer. However, after three months in Genoa, we can be sure this summer he’ll come back to Manchester and won’t try to play in Italy again.
In August, his position at Manchester United wasn’t a surprise. Macheda knew he’s not going to beat Rooney, Berbatov and Owen. He wasn’t even sure if he’s fourth choice striker, after some amazing Javier Hernandez’s performances in pre-season tour. Wayne Rooney’s injury and all the problems the club had with him gave Kiko a chance to shine. In four months he made 12 appearances and was on the pitch for 517 minutes. Most of them (almost 45%) were in League Cup, but he played six league matches and scored an important goal at Villa Park.
Rooney’s comeback, Berbatov’s scoring form, Hernandez’s ability to score vital goals and Michael Owen who could back to the game at any time meant Macheda may be given much less chances than earlier. Sir Alex Ferguson thought that playing in other club may be better for the lad than just training at Manchester United and coming on the pitch for last minutes. He was impressed by Danny Welbeck’s loan at Sunderland and decided to do the same thing with Macheda. Scot was convinced by Sampdoria that young Italian will get Serie A matches. Negotiations were easy, Federico was happy he’s still Manchester United player, but can play week in week out in his country. People were moaning it’s not good he comes back to Italy, because he’ll refuse to play in England and decide to stay in Italy. The ones who thought different reminded them Giuseppe Rossi’s unsuccessful loan at Newcastle.
When Kiko joined Sampdoria, they were 9th team in Serie A with just nine points to Champions League spot.
At the moment, Sampdoria are 16th and have only one point more than first team in relegation zone. In three months Federico is there, they lost 10 league matches and won just two. They haven’t win a game for two months. Since 9th January they’ve conceded 20 goals, scoring just eight. In 15 matches.
One of Sampdoria fans says “At the moment we could have Jesus up front and we'd still lose”. They don’t blame 19 year old Italian. They blame the team. “Macheda's got very little chance of scoring for Sampdoria, as there is just no creativity in our team to present him with a chance.” says other. Federico scored only one goal during his loan at Sampdoria, against Udinese in Italy Cup. “He hasn’t scored any goals in the league, but he’s had 3 starts this season and we haven’t really scored any goals”.
The last game Macheda started was three days after their last win. That’s 16th February.
Sampdoria fans rate him very highly, they think he’s a good player, but the service he received at Manchester United is not comparable to the one he has at Sampdoria. They are angry, because each game gets them closer to Serie B and managers (Domenico Di Carlo and now, Alberto Cavasin) don’t even try to change players or the style.
From Manchester United supporter’s point of view, this loan looks as a complete waste of time. Surely, it is. However, it’s not good when someone, only because of that, thinks Macheda is not capable of playing well again and he’s lost everything. It seems they’ve forgotten he’s still only 19 and Sampdoria loaned him to replace Antonio Cassano. Macheda was really impressive in his first month there (especially against Udinese and Milan in Italy Cup), but later the team started to lose every game and managers decided to play experienced players, using Kiko very rarely.
This loan may not working well on the pitch, but surely Manchester United gets some profits. In the nearest future, Macheda shouldn’t want to play in Italy again and after disappointing loan at Sampdoria he should do everything to get a serious chance at Manchester United. He saw nothing in football is guaranteed. With Javier Hernandez in form and Danny Welbeck showing at Sunderland he’s ready to play regularly for Manchester United, there should be a good rivalry between them.
You won’t find Sampdoria fan who thinks Macheda is useless. He hasn’t just been given a proper chance.