Football can be a funny old game.
We’ve all seen what’s happened with that lot up the road, and it is a moment in history that causes every football fan to reflect.
We can only hope that Liverpool are not enjoying a watershed moment in the manner of the one I am shortly to describe.
But today’s visit to Carrow Road provides an opportunity for us nostalgic heads to remember a trip to Norwich in the 1992/93 season.
Manchester United’s quest for a first league title in 26 years had threatened to become derailed. Following a win that ironically enough came at Anfield, United contrived to lose at Oldham, and then drew three consecutive games against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Alex Ferguson’s team visited Norwich needing a win and a convincing performance.
The display put on was much more important than convincing; it was a seminal introduction of how that fantastic team would play for most of the next two years.
The following is a brief passage from my book King Eric : Portrait of the Artist Who Changed English Football :
There is a more famous moment that people identify as the turning point in the 1992/93 season but the likelihood is that the pivotal moment came five days earlier. I’m referring of course to Steve Bruce’s double against Sheffield Wednesday, but the game at Carrow Road saw United put on their first genuinely breathtaking display of football since Eric Cantona’s arrival. Indeed, it was an eight minute passage of play that still gets talked about today; it was one of those periods where everything seems to align – the two teams fighting for the title, the sense of occasion due to United’s generational struggles and the identity of the main protagonist.
It was Cantona, of course, who got the ball rolling. Having received a pass from Lee Sharpe, the forward took a touch to control. The ball was still bouncing when he spotted the right pass; the type of pass that gravity would make awkward for even the most technically proficient. Cantona made it look easy, with the weight perfect for Ryan Giggs to race on to. In truth, it was such a magnificent pass which caught the Norwich defence flat-footed that both Sharpe and Paul Ince had also run into great positions. Giggs rounded Canaries goalkeeper Bryan Gunn to score.
Cantona was not involved in the second goal which came seven minutes later through Andrei Kanchelskis, but rarely has a player’s influence been more felt. The flicks and back heels between Ince, Giggs and Kanchelskis were outstanding and representative of the respective ability of those three magnificent players; and yet, that style of play was conspicuous by its absence in the pre-Cantona days.
United were running riot. Less than 60 seconds later it was 3-0, with the hosts caught on the counter again. Paul Ince rampaged past three, drawing out Gunn and then rolling the ball casually across to Cantona who accepted the gift.
Norwich pulled one back but lost 3-1; it was one of those rare games where every player had put in an exceptional shift, and yet Alex Ferguson was still keen to reserve special praise for Cantona, who he described as “quite marvellous”.
“That was the turning point,” Cantona later said. “We played the perfect game. We played perfect football.”
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Due to the circumstances there will be no such moment today. It won’t serve as a catalyst for seven consecutive wins to win the league and set up a generation of dominance.
It is nonetheless a reminder of where we once were, the standard we needed to reach and the necessity to rise to the challenge of local rivalry.
And, especially following Wednesday’s impressive first half against Sheffield United, it would be somewhat fitting if United were able to put in another fine display which could help serve as a springboard for a first trophy under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
