THE BALL WAS spinning in the air after an awkward bounce.
Nathan Collins was close to the half-way line and Kevin De Bruyne was sprinting in his direction.
There could be no mistakes, and judgement had to be made in an instant.
Wolves were up against it at the home of the Premier League champions, but holding firm at 0-0. There were 28 minutes gone when De Bruyne sensed a weakness in the visitors’ defence.
Collins didn’t flinch. As the ball dropped he controlled it instantly, swivelled clear of De Bruyne with a shimmy and got his team on the offensive with a sharp pass forward.
It was one of several moments which should have Ireland fans purring about the 21-year-old’s potential.
But in that moment, with the game still delicately balanced, he had to be mentally switched to deliver on his technical ability. It’s something which he continues to get to grips with.
“I think, the more levels you go through that will gradually come,” he told The42 after the 3-0 defeat. “When you come up against teams like City, it’s next level. Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal. It’s always next level.
“You have got to be concentrated mentally for 90 minutes on the dot. You can’t be messing around. Switch off for one second and you get punished. As a young lad, it’s better off to learn that early than leave it late in your career. The mental side of the game is massive.”
In the immediate aftermath of a sobering loss which chipped away at the goal difference that keeps them out of the relegation zone, Collins was not making excuses just because they were facing a side hunting down Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and looking to win a third successive title.
That’s how football is, you’re playing against one of the best teams in the world so they’re going to be good. They punished us. Life goes on, football moves on. you’ve got to go again.
“I felt like it’s a bit of a step back from the previous weeks. I thought we’ve been good, I thought since the gaffer has come we’ve been on the rise and today wasn’t us. It was a bit of a step back but we just need to dust ourselves down and go again.”
Julen Lopetegui is the new man at the helm, but has also has the benefit of being appointed before the World Cup break and had the opportunity to impose his ideals.
And when the television mics from Sky Sports were thrust in front of Collins while he was still wiping the sweat from his forehead, he spoke like the leader of the Spaniard’s team.
“We have to look at ourselves, look in the mirror and go again now. We know what we have, we know how good we can be, That’s not where the standard should be.
“I think the goals are going to come. In previous games we have been a lot better and a lot brighter. Again, goals have to come from everywhere, it has come from defenders at set pieces, it has to come from midfield, it has to come from everywhere so it’s a team thing.
“You could say I switched off myself, who knows? As I say, it’s a team game. We lose together, we win together and we have to go again.”
Erling Haaland’s hat-trick brings the Norewegian striker to 25 goals for the Premier League season – 31 in 26 games in all competitions.
“He’s a top striker, you can’t defend against strikers like that one v one,” Collins added. “You need to defend as a team, especially against City. Everyone has to defend, it’s not just one player. I don’t think you can defend against him alone personally.”
One national newspaper in England asked whether he should be dropped after a mini blip which resulted in them losing to Southampton in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup and suffering a 2-1 defeat against United in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
When he scores I don’t know how many hat-tricks and goals, (people say) he is the solution in our team and when he does not score a goal he is a problem in our team. This is a grey vision of this kind of things,” hie manager, Pep Guardiola explained.
“We know his quality, we know each other. He is not a player to be dropped. We cannot play a false nine with him, we have to adapt with him and I think we are doing quite well.
“Today we improved but it was just today, we will see what happens in the next games. People will see the goals from Erling, the assists from Kevin (De Bruyne) and the actions from Riyad (Mahrez) but there are things still to improve.”
Collins has his own battles to get to grips with.
