The Colombia striker was issued an ultimatum by his manager ahead of Saturday’s clash with QPR but the former Atletico Madrid star failed to seize the opportunity
- issued – mengeluarkan
COMMENT
By Greg Stobart at Loftus Road
Louis Van Gaal told Radamel Falcao he had to prove himself in the build-up to this game, but if it was some clever attempt at reverse psychology it backfired badly as the striker produced a woeful performance against QPR.
- backfired – menjadi boomerang
- woeful – menyedihkan
Manchester United won the game 2-0 but their unconvincing display was summed up by Falcao’s form in front of goal as the Colombian missed several wonderful opportunities when, in truth, he should have netted a hat-trick.
Falcao’s chances of completing a permanent £44 million move to United in the summer are fading by the week.
- fading – kabur, memudar
After being left out of the squad entirely for last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Southampton, the 28-year-old was handed a start at Loftus Road on Saturday.
But he needed second-half goals from Marouane Fellaini and James Wilson to spare his blushes as United recorded just their third away win of the season and moved up to third in the Premier League table.
- blushes – merah muka, malu
The £240,000-a-week striker took to the pitch with Van Gaal’s words from his pre-match press conference ringing in his ears.
“If a player costs £95m or £5,000, it’s not any difference for me… a player of £95m has to prove himself also,” Van Gaal said on Friday.
Falcao set about proving himself but found his chances restricted in the first half as United’s laboured under Van Gaal’s 3-5-2 set-up, failing to open up the QPR defence with their pedestrian use of the ball.
When a chance did fall his way, Falcao smashed straight at QPR goalkeeper Robert Green when he should have scored before seeing his rebound also thwarted.
- pedestrian – kurang menarik , menjemukan, pejalan kaki
- thwarted – digagalkan