Pereira does deserve some sympathy as he fights to find his form
IT is the wee hours of a Monday morning and United have just lost again. The Kop chorused to ‘We’re gonna to win the league’ around eight hours earlier and the 2-0 defeat is giving Andreas Pereira a sleepless night.
He played for 74 minutes at Anfield in his preferred role as the No.10 and had a chance to equalise in the first half.
Pereira occupied the same role in the same 3-4-1-2 formation in the reverse fixture and helped United become the sole Premier League side to take a point off Liverpool. He banked credits for his hassling of Fabinho, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer banked on a repeat performance.
Jordan Henderson grabbed the game by the lapels and was the man of the match. Pereira was sacrificed for Juan Mata.
The adrenaline and frustration is still coursing through Pereira at his Cheshire home as he obsesses over the minutiae of the match into the early hours of Monday morning. He rewatches and wonders why Aaron WanBissaka could not have cushioned the cross he stretched for at The Kop and why Anthony Martial connected with his laces rather than his instep after playing him through.
Three days later, his position changes to the right flank against Burnley and Pereira is withdrawn at half-time. United lose 2-0 again. In the final match before the winter break, his position changes twice against Wolves - to central midfield in the first-half and then to the left flank in the second. He is withdrawn in the 72nd minute.
Pereira, 24, has already made good on Solskjaer’s July prediction in Perth’s opulent Crown Towers hotel he would start ‘20 games this season, maybe even more’. The Brazilian has started 24 times and emerged as a substitute on 10 occasions. In his three previous campaigns with United, Pereira amassed 11 starts and 25 cameos. He had 34 starts with relegated La Liga side Granada in 2016-17 and 18 for Valencia in 2017-18. Only Wan-Bissaka, James, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, David de Gea and Marcus Rashford have lined up in more league matches this season and the step up and expectation have been profound for Pereira.
He trended on Twitter in the UK last week and Pereira is understood to be ‘upset’ by comments.
Sources close to the player say he has been ‘up and down mentally’ this season amid the intense scrutiny that comes with playing regularly for United. Some who have known him for years fret Pereira is ‘too nice’ for the cutthroat environment of a United dressing room. It sheds a new light on a player’s struggles in a struggling season for his team.
Pereira has such an amiable nature about him he was the only player who shook hands with reporters at the start of United’s preseason in 2018. He used that training base at the UCLA and the tour of the United States to force his way into Jose Mourinho’s starting XI with a magnificent free-kick against Liverpool in The Big House.
Pereira was the standout performer in a turbulent tour he played the most minutes in.
He started in the season opener against Leicester - but as the ‘number six’ midfielder. Pereira has made little secret of his preference to occupy the playmaker role but, after an underwhelming second campaign in Spain with Valencia, was grateful to have the opportunity to start in a midfield recently reinforced by the £52m Fred.
Those close to Pereira had urged him to push back on Mourinho’s plans for him as a holding midfielder, adamant the attackminded Pereira was not a defensiveminded midfielder.
Solskjaer enjoys managing Pereira partially because he is obedient and strives to follow the manager’s instructions.
He could not pass up a maiden Premier League start against Leicester and fared well in a 2-1 win, but had been warned by confidants he would come unstuck in his stint in the No.6 role.
Eight days later at Brighton he did. Davy Propper and Dale Stephens swamped Pereira and he was taken off at the interval. He did not start another league match for over five months and Solskjaer committed the same error as Mourinho – starting Pereira in midfield against Burnley, who took a 2-0 lead.
He was cruelly cheered off against Wolves in United’s last game by some supporters, unaware of the strife he is experiencing.
He deputised for the suspended Nemanja Matic in midfield and recorded a 91 per cent passing accuracy but, against the old-school axis of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, Pereira won four out of 19 duels and was dispossessed seven times.
Duels with seasoned central midfielders are never going to be Pereira’s forte and he committed three fouls against Wolves.
He joked earlier in the season he had learnt to ‘kick’ opponents and that signalled a worrying shift. Pereira has one goal, four assists and 34 fouls to his name this term.
Analysts note some of Pereira’s better performances against Norwich City, Newcastle and Burnley were when United had the majority of possession and Pereira played off Martial. He enjoys a friendly relationship with the French forward and finds him easier to link up with than Marcus Rashford, whose play is considered more off-the-cuff.
Those close to Pereira still wonder whether he should have relocated permanently to Spain, where the slower tempo is more conducive to his play.
He moved to Manchester from Eindhoven eight years ago as a 16-year-old, signed a new four-year contract in the summer and wants to end his career at United.
Pereira recently bought a house in Hale and his partner is expecting their firstborn imminently.
That does not constitute much of a winter break but fatherhood offers escapism for a victim of United’s unstable structure and Solskjaer’s soundbites.
Some who have known him for years fret Pereira is ‘too nice’ for the cutthroat environment at United