ERIC CANTONA has been described in many ways since his shock arrival at Old Trafford four years ago last week. Unpredictable, inspirational unconventional genius, brilliant match winner dieu. But for about the past six weeks there are only two words that can truthfully be used to convey the Frenchman's standard of performance. One is "poor", the other unaccountably".
Cantona is way below par at present and Saturday's 90 minutes must surely have been his worst in a red shirt. To quote Liverpool's Kop: Cantona couldn't have found a red shirt in an abattoir. Virtually every time he received a ball Cantona promptly gave it to a Leicester City player, even when through on coal.
Thankfully, perhaps, for Cantona that only happened once, after a quarter of an hour, and true to form Cantona practically passed the ball straight to Kasey Keller. It was from roughly the same spot that he had volleyed erratically against Juventus, only on this occasion Cantona had more space, more time and less pressure.
The result, though, was the same, and you have to go back to mid September, nine games ago, for Cantona's last league goal. He has scored since then, away at Fenerbahce, and United followers will hope that is an omen for Wednesday night in Vienna.
As there is no denying Cantona's calibre, all that needs to change it seems is a little flick or a two yard tap in and maybe his last involvement here - a neat return pass to Nicky Butt who ran on to score his second and United's third - may prove to be the spark that reignites the Cantona flame.
With their aorta malfunctioning, it was Roy Keane, David Beckham and for the last half hour Ryan Giggs who showed the necessary desire, though it should be said not a piercing imagination, to finally rip into a Leicester side vacuum packed into the last third of the field.
Roy is Keane by name and by nature, and with many at Old Trafford unhappily beginning to settle for frustrating home point and Leicester even showing a degree of composed adventure, the Irishman's sheer determination tipped the balance United's way.
Alex Ferguson also deserves some credit for this as, after replacing the ineffective Jordi Cruyff with Ole Solskjaer, Beckham was switched inside so that Keane could "run up the channels". It took a few minutes, but when Keane accelerated past Ian Marshall on the right and crossed for Butt to nip in ahead of Keller at the near post, the game was won and lost.
"When the breakthrough came," said Ferguson, "it looked as though we could score every time we went upfield." They nearly did, and two more shots whizzed past Keller in the next 10 minutes. Butt got his second immediately after Solskjaer hag supplied a finish to a Giggscross that Ferguson hinted would guarantee the "baby faced assassin" a place in the starting XI in Vienna.
Gary Pallister, no bonny baby these days, should also be there having played his first full game for over a month without suffering any ricks to back or knee, although as he said afterwards he had not had much to do. Leicester's level of expectancy about repeating their League Cup win could be assessed from Martin O'Neill's remark: "When I saw the team sheet I was quite pleased Bobby Charlton wasn't playing."
But considering their selection problems Leicester defended commendably, and during their brief, second half attacking flurry even threatened to take an unlikely lead.
However, it was left to Neil Lennon to rattle in a consolation after Leicester had succumbed.
It followed a basic error by Karel Poborsky, another class player wallowing in the Cantona Syndrome.
