Time encourages a sense of déjà vu.
When Kompany scored the opener to one of the most charged
derbies of current times in Manchester, it surely reminded most people at the Etihad Stadium fondly of another day in April six years back, through the lens of nostalgia. A
day when the control of the title race shifted as Chris Smalling failed to
track a David Silva corner and it was 1-0. Manchester turning blue.
It was the start of something special for this Derby. So
long, it had been one sided in ambition. But City’s emergence as a Premier
League powerhouse now meant it could often mean life or death. Not that derbies
were anything but.
Vincent Kompany. Chris Smalling. It’s been six years since
they combined to make that match memorable for Manchester. And it has been a
strange journey for these two center backs. Both held so much promise of becoming
the captains of the back, but while Kompany lived up to the hype despite injuries,
Smalling never grew from his potential.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. While not comprehensive, the succession
planning of Alex Ferguson’s final years at the club meant he brought in recruits for the aging central
backline in hope that United would find solidity even when those pillars were
gone. And the manager who came after him would keep on finalizing the
rebuilding of the entire fleet in front of the goalkeeper.
In Manchester Utopia, it would be Shaw charging up the left
while the solid pair of Smalling and Jones protected the goal from predators,
ala Vidic-Ferdinand, and an academy starlet on the right finding life alongside these legends of
the game. Manchester and England finding the best of them as trophies and
awards littered their life.
Almost a decade after Smalling arrived, those dreams lie
shattered. There is a success story for another day as to how Antonio Valencia
and Ashley Young refitted themselves into wingbacks from wingers, but that
cannot hide what time has shown to the faithful at the Theater of Dreams.
The injurious calamities of Shaw and Jones were avoided by
Smalling, but he never managed to consolidate his presence in the first team.
It became a case of ‘best of the worst’ with David De Gea flowering behind him
and ensuring that the mistakes in front were less costly than they should have
been. Time and time again.
Legends do that. And Smalling was never that.
Too error
prone, lackadaisical, not good in the air. There were no excuses as he failed
to update his game despite such a long innings in the field. He remained the
promising lad of Fulham instead of the seasoned rock at United he should have become.
But heart was never something he lacked. And during one of
the most important games of this season where pride was at stake, he found it.
He found it in the pathos of déjà vu, as Kompany rose above his floundering
hands to put the Blue half of Manchester into rapture. He found it in the bliss
of redemption, as his volley off a Sanchez free-kick (that would do any striker
proud) found the winner for the Red Devils. And despite all the success of the season, reduced the fans in Blue to tears and pain.
The heart of Manchester. Flawed, but still strong.
Maybe this is the last year we see Smalling in United
colours - as every passing year with new additions keep threatening to be.
Jones, Shaw and Smalling once held something special to this world. Smalling is
the oldest of the lot, and thereby has less chances to achieve the fame he once
promised unlike Jones and Shaw. All three could be leaving Manchester at the
end of the season.
If they do, one may remember Smalling fondly not at a
legend, but as a flawed hero. Someone who made mistakes and had the courage to
fight back and make amends. Someone like us, who go through the daily struggles
of finding who we are and stumble too often in that search.
If that isn’t what defines a Red Devil, then I don’t know
what does.
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