Beat City's mid field and Beat City

The ‘noisy neighbors’ have indeed come a long way, as Sir Alex himself would agree. Any United fan, as much as he/she would hate to admit it, City are now potential rivals. While the derby has always been fiercely fought, made no less vitriolic by the incessant ‘Munich’ chants by the City supporters, the fixture has never been an important one for United to look forward to since the Premier League has begun.

United’s fans looked forward to the game purely for the bagging rights. And, who could blame them? Kiki Musampa and Antoine Sibierski were City’s most potent attacking threats not long ago. Fast forward five years from then and you have the likes of Dzeko, Tevez, and Nasri warming those Eastland benches. Of course, they have a long way to go; United’s achievements dwarfs City’s; and they are not even very popular as the empty seats on a big European night at the Etihad suggest. But, they must be recognized, along with Chelsea, as the hurdles in United’s path to their 20^th title.

Contrary to the self proclaimed tag of ‘Barcelona of England’, City’s strength lies not in its attacking flair but rather in their defensive rigidity. The 4-2-3-1 system that Mancini relishes almost ensures that City play with a back six when they defend. The deep lying mid-fielders – Barry’s and De Jong’s job description is essentially to man mark and stop the opponents’ playmaker. In the last year’s derby De Jong was like an incessant pest in Rooney’s park, and his job this time would be no different. So, how would United line up to combat that formation given their reliance on Rooney’s brilliance to cut open the opponents?

Two players that could really make a difference and throw a spanner into City’s works are Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck. Carrick, the much maligned player by the fans, is what Sir Alex turns to almost every time he looks to a game plan where possession football becomes the name of the game. What usually goes unnoticed is Carrick’s ability to originate most of United’s attacks and in turn to maintain United’s shape. Carrick’s cultured ability to retain the ball pulls the opponent’s mid fielders into United’s half and that allows space for the likes of Rooney and Nani to operate. Though United-City matches have had that Kamikaze streak in them for the last few years, I do not think we would witness matches of that intensity this time around. City are at the top of the table and they would want to be so after they walk away from Old Trafford.

But, what If City sit back and defend deep with no intention to take three points from the game? United’s possession in the mid field would be rendered redundant. Danny Welbeck then provides another lethal option to unlock City’s defense. Welbeck’s ability to fall deep, collect the ball and beat a man or two provides him an edge over Hernandez. Welbeck has come a long way since making his debut in the league against Stoke and scoring a cracker of a goal. Welbeck must have learnt from the likes of Darren Bent, whose primary strength is his movement of the ball, when at Sunderland and more so from Michael Owen. His combination with Nani and Young has been terrific this season where he has constantly exchanged positions with those two. That ability of his ensures that the center backs are drawn all over the place and that might be the key to allow Rooney have the freedom and the space to make an impact on the match.

For all the hype that the derbies generate, they tend to disappoint us with the sober, dull games. The Manchester derby though, going by the previous encounters, promises to be different.

Derby Delight for United

Goals and Highlights of Manchester Derby

It was not just a game of three points, it was not just any other derby game between the Manchester teams, this was a game to show intent, to gain an upper hand, bragging rights in Manchester. For all the hype created prior to the fixture, it did not disappoint one bit, did it?There were heated pre-match exchanges between both the camps, one trying to dismiss another, the other trying to stand up to be counted. Whilst Sir Alex called City ‘noisy neighbours’, Mark Hughes warned Sir Alex that he would help City knock United off their perch.

United started brightly, opened the scoring within the first two minutes. Evra caught City’s defense unaware and Rooney showed his strength to brush of two challenges to slot home his sixth goal of the season. After that, it was all about United and really looked up for it until a Ben Foster howler which allowed City to get back in the game. Foster has the talent to challenge for United’s and England’s No.1 jersey but he isn’t doing himself any favours by committing such school boy errors. He has the tendency to make a howler for every three good saves. City were gifted a goal and their three man mid-field started to get a hold of the mid-field. De-Jong and Barry were able to influence the flow of the game from there on in the first half. Chances were fluffed at both ends and the easiest undoubtedly fell to Tevez. He had a full view of the goal but could not find the target as he hit the post. That was a moment that vindicated Sir Alex’s decision to let him go, for all the terrier like attributes that he possess, he lacks real quality in front of the goal to demand such high fees and wages.

United started the second half as they did in the first, scored through a Darren Fletcher header. But United’s lax defending once more allowed City back into the game. To Bellamy’s credit, it was a screamer but a shot which should have been blocked in the first place. Bellamy is a right-footed player and O’shea should have closed him down and allowed him to run down the left. United got right back at City and the introduction of Valencia brought more directness to their play. Valencia pinned back Bridge and this stretched Man City’s mid-field as Ireland and De-Jong had to venture on the wide positions. Evra and Giggs, who was outstanding, created havoc on the left side. United played through the middle in the first half and were over run by City’s mid-field. Giggs started to hug the touch line in the second half and that stretched City which inturn allowed Fletcher and Anderson to boss the mid-field. Giggs bombarded City’s defense with cross after cross and United should have wraped up the match but for Given’s saves from Berbatov. Fletcher found the net again thanks to a pin-point cross from Giggs. That should have sealed all the three points for United. Rio Ferdinand, this time, made the howler which were associated with his West-Ham days and presented Bellamy with a chance to equalize. City were delighted with the equalizer and decided to settle for a point, they kept hoofing the ball into United’s half. Inexperience and cowardice cost them. Giggs brilliantly found Owen at the edge of the box in injury time and Owen duly obliged coming up with a wonderful finish in a nervy situation. He was bought to finish off matches under such situations and that is any player’s true worth not the transfer fee that they demand.

As Sir Alex described, it definitely was the best derby ever and one to savour for the United fans.

Owen stole the headlines but the stars of the day were undoubtedly Fletcher and Giggs. Giggs was by far the best player on the pitch that day. He rolled back the years and delighted the fans with his mazy runs. He skinned Richards, fourteen years junior to Giggs, time and again. If Giggs continues the season the way he started it, one wonders if he might win the player of the year award again this year.