Oli Burke, then.
Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So it is with Chris Wilder and Paul Heckingbottom re the use of Oli Burke.
In the summer, United had the rare luxury of a player that we weren't planning to use being wanted by another PL club. Callum Robinson had disappointed, but WBA wanted him after he had gone on loan there. Rather than holding out for a full cash payment, United took Burke in part exchange.
At this point, things took a really strange turn. Chris Wilder started talking Burke up as a striker. This was surprising to most people who had actually seen Burke play, because he (a) was invariably used as a winger or a wing back and (b) has a scoring rate that makes Conor Sammon look like Sergio Aguero. Wilder said that he had the attributes of a striker, and we would use him as one.
It turns out that Burke has none of the attributes of a striker.
He can't shoot, he can't pass, he falls over, he can't run with the ball, he has pace but never seems anywhere near long balls, his crossing is poor, and his mistimed headers are the stuff of legend. There is an argument that Burke is the least talented player in the league this season, though there are others that run him close.
Is his 25 league games Burke has managed one goal, a deflected effort at Old Trafford which was probably our best moment of the season but which would have not gone in had Tuanzebe not got in front of De Gea. Other than that, his highlight reel consists of the following things by my reckoning:
- An excellent run against Villa that led to the penalty that Lundstram missed
- Outpacing David Luiz at the Emirates and getting pulled back, no goal resulting
- A good header at WBA from Bryan's cross that was tipped over
- Robbing Dean Henderson in the home game v Man Utd to set up Didzy's first goal
- a good run against Brighton followed by an awful miss
That's 6 things, including the goal. Once every 4 games, Burke does something worth doing. Twice there has been a goal as a result.
It was obvious after a few weeks that Burke wasn't a striker. And yet Wilder kept trotting him out there. You could look at the teamsheet and see, say, Burke and McBurnie and think, well, no goals today.
And of course, Heckingbottom carries on doing the same thing. Burke started Saturday up front. He had a header off his shoulder that went 4 yards wide, and did nothing else of note in the game. Why does he start up front? What does Heckingbottom expect is going to happen?
And throughout this farce, this pretence that the poor lad is something he is not and likely never will be (not above League One at least), neither of our managers have tried Burke at wing back or on the wing - you know, a position that he's actually played before in top leagues in various countries. There was a home game a few weeks ago - sorry, they all merge into one and I can't remember which - where after substitutions Burke found himself at wing back for 2 minutes, but we can't have that, can we, and someone else came on to ensure he was shunted back up front.
I am genuinely baffled as to how Burke has been transferred for multi million pounds on more than one occasion, and yet I feel really sorry for the lad, expected week after week to try to do something he has proved time and time again that he cannot do competently.
Insanity.