Serendipity is a heart-warming romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale about a couple who keep finding each other through a series of plot-friendly coincidences.
It is also a term coined from a Persian fairy tale about three princes who were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. It has come to describe instances of fortuitous happenstance and pleasant surprises. That’s right – I can use Google.
On Saturday afternoon Juan Mata and Shinji Kagawa also kept finding each other in an extremely heart-warming way.
The two miniature heroes combined in a manner that suggested each had finally discovered someone kindred in both skill and imagination to have wholesome family fun with. That the two have been given the playing time and freedom to flourish has more to do with limited options than a grand managerial master plan. It has been serendipitous.
But that's absolutely fine so long as David Moyes embraces his good luck and runs with it.
Gratefully accepting a gift horse rather than questioning its dentures is what good managers do. In fact two of the most symbiotic pairings of the Premier League era owe more than a little to fortuitous fluke. Neither Liverpool's SAS nor United's treble-winning Yorke-Cole axis happened completely by design. The key is that they were allowed to flourish and bloom.
Fergie had hoped to announce the double-swoop of both Dwight Yorke and Patrick Kluivert in August of 1998 but only managed to secure the less glamorous of the two; Daniel Sturridge was a consolation prize not of Brendan Rodger's choosing after his pursuit of Clint Dempsey came to nowt and he’ll forever be grateful it was so.
What both managers had the good sense to do was build upon the sensational unions that fell into their respective laps and the rest is - and may be - history.
Partnerships can’t be forced but they can be fostered. What Juan and Shinji showed
against both Aston Villa and
Newcastle United was an instinctive appreciation for each other’s games that hadn’t been afforded by more celebrated colleagues. They’re like the two quiet sensitive boys in nursery who don’t quite take to the raucous behaviour of the rest of the class but discover a friend for life in the other whilst neatly colouring within the lines…before going on to found Pixar or something.
What’s particularly exciting about
Magawa (Juanji?) is that the Villa game that first gave fruit to their alliance was at home.
Despite Moyes’ team showing league-winning form on the road, their Old Trafford record is woeful in comparison. A large part of this will have to do with the understandable pressures of performing in front of an expectant crowd; it can both inhibit creativity and cause usually composed players to try and force the issue with half-baked results.
The way in which Kagawa and Mata combine is so natural and organic that it cuts through the tension and innately provides everything that the team was lacking – fluidity, movement and joyful unpredictability. Sometimes when two players of similar styles are partnered together they clash horribly as they both jostle to play the same role at the expense of the other. What the Asian and Iberian manage to do is dovetail their passing and movement to become better together.
Kagawa possibly deserves more credit than his more eye-catching partner. The Japanese international is the more tactically astute of the two and tailors his play more readily. It’s no coincidence that he struck up a similarly effective partnership with Robert Lewandowski at Dortmund. But whereas he openly criticised the Pole for what he felt was occasional selfishness that is not something he could ever accuse Mata of. The Spaniard is very appreciative and responds in kind. They’re like United’s Eric and Ernie – Juan provides the punch line but Shinji is the brains.
The only fear is that once everyone is fit and well David Moyes will revert to type and pick on reputation rather than merit, which means both Van Persie and Rooney at the expense of everyone else. Similarly it would be a horrible pity if Kagawa was shown the door at the end of a season in which he finally found someone on similar wavelength to his own. The hope is that the manager takes heed of Juan Mata’s gushing praise for his new friend and what seems like an interlude now could be the beginning of love.
