Sure, there was a sublime Manchester City winner from substitute Sergio 'Kun' Aguero that brought back memories of the final day of last season.
As for the 165th Manchester derby, it was a match of little resonance outside the city. The real action this week is going on in Europe without any English clubs — and this match merely confirmed why.
United look tired and deflated — no one more than Wayne Rooney. Once the star of the show, he looks little more than a bit-part player.
United, evidently, have still to come to terms with their Champions League defeat by Real Madrid — while City got up for it last night only because it was Old Trafford.
With a five-year contract worth £37million burning a hole in his back pocket, why should the Italian be concerned by anything?
Here was a man in need of a result to cover up all the mistakes he had made this season. And, boy, will he be using it.
In fact, you can hardly think of anything he had got correct. A 4-2 League Cup defeat at home to Aston Villa actually looked pretty reasonable by the time City had been eliminated from the Champions League.
That was after a showing in the group stage which made a total mockery of the £1billion lavished on the club by Sheikh Mansour.
As they went into last night's match, Mancini was also attempting to avoid another low-water mark — overseeing the worst defence of a league title since Blackburn finished 21 points behind United in 1995-96. Not that he hadn't got excuses for all of this.
It was because his board hadn't given him the money to sign proper footballers in the summer, such as Robin van Persie and Eden Hazard.
Then there was all the tactical nonsense, the zonal marking and changing of formation — especially in the Champions League.
This wasn't exactly kept secret, either — which hardly added to the harmony in the camp, as he fell out with Joleon Lescott, Joe Hart, Samir Nasri and even Vincent Kompany.
And still the vainest manager in football refused to look in the mirror. Flailing in every direction, Mancini finally alighted on the REAL reason why City had struggled so much this season.
Because other teams were too frightened of United, they didn't believe they could beat Ferguson's mob and consequently took to the pitch behind a bloke carrying a white flag.
With City 15 points adrift of United before kick-off, last night's encounter was little more than an exercise in damage-limitation. But a victory at least allowed that self-satisfied smile to once again creep across Mancini's face.
Ferguson had fielded a team of such attacking intent — Van Persie, Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Ryan Giggs — he seemed hell-bent on United reversing the 6-1 scoreline from last season before half-time.
And yet in the opening 45 minutes they managed just two chances — a shot from Van Persie that drifted just past the far post and a toe-poke from Rafael that hit the top of the crossbar.
City, with Carlos Tevez in for Aguero because of the Old Trafford effect, had one purple patch early on but still went no closer than Nasri slicing a 12-yarder hopelessly wide of the target.
Yes, things perked up after the break but you were still left with one impression. That Europe has caught up with English football.
It should be an intriguing clash, especially in midfield where there will be a battle royal between Yaya Toure and David Silva and Eden Hazard and Oscar.
Link: [Live Football] Zaglebie Lubin - Korona Kielce - Polish Ekstraklasa
No comments:
Post a Comment