Ander Herrera Transformed from Man Utd Forgotten Man to Hero vs. Aston Villa
OLD TRAFFORD, Manchester — When you think about it, it seems incredible that Ander Herrera's start against Aston Villa on Saturday was only his 12th in the league this season.
You wouldn't have thought it based on the way he bounced the ball around with Juan Mata, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney, or how he calmly finished off his chances to score twice in the 3-1 win.
The Spanish midfielder has now started United's last eight games in all competitions, by far his longest run in the team since arriving from Athletic Bilbao in the summer. His most consistent run before that was three games in September.
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He started just one Premier League game between October 21 and February 20. It had started to look like Herrera wasn't Louis van Gaal's kind of midfielder after all—that it was perhaps a deal sanctioned by Ed Woodward and the United board before the Dutchman had officially signed up to become David Moyes' successor.
As it happened, there was an interview with Herrera in United's matchday programme on Saturday in which he said that he had never lost hope despite his long spell out of the team.
In a new country and a new league, it would have been easy to become disheartened and disinterested. But instead, when Van Gaal comes to pick his team for back-to-back games against Manchester City and Chelsea, two of United's biggest of the season, Herrera's name will be one of the first names on the teamsheet.
He's not in the team for his goals, rather his ability to keep the ball moving and to harry and hassle the opposition midfield. But his habit of finding the net, one he seems only to have developed this season, is a welcome bonus for Van Gaal.
His two goals against Villa were his sixth and seventh of the season. He only scored 11 in three seasons at Bilbao and six in three seasons at Real Zaragoza. Incredibly, his five shots on target in the Premier League this season have all gone in.
No wonder Van Gaal felt the need to kiss him at half-time on Saturday.
If United do qualify for next season's Champions League, something that now seems likely after five league wins in a row, it will have much to do with Herrera.
With Robin van Persie injured and Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao struggling for form, it is almost as if Van Gaal has stumbled onto this team.
But it's working. And Herrera, for so much of this season United's forgotten man, is central to it.
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