tomgerdy
The Manchester United fortress that had been built upon 19 league titles, 11 FA Cups and 3 European titles came crashing down around the feet of Alex Ferguson, as City thumped the Manchester rivals 6 – 1 at Old Trafford.
With City fans still coming down from the sugary blue sherbet buzz of a 6-1 victory over Manchester United, their euphoric come down will not be the only thing to take a tumble this week. The hopes and dreams of the Manchester United faithful will have taken a bruising, not at least to losing so definitively to their derby counterparts, but more because it puts a major dent into these early Manchester United Premier League ambitions.
Manchester City take the reins
The loss that ended United’s 19 game home winning streak seems to have really hit Ferguson hard, as his post-match interview revealed a lot of felt pain for the scot. In the interview with BBC, Ferguson said: ‘it was a horrible defeat’.
The pivotal point in the game came when Jonny Evans brought down an industrious Balotelli, though City were already in control at this point and continued to run riot on 10 men United.
While it was Mario Balotelli’s first goal that set a platform for the win, David Silva was the real fire behind City’s win in which Jonny Evans only added fuel to. And even though many Manchester United fans will have seen some hope in a Darren Fletcher consolation goal, the brutal reality was that even the Scottish international would be unable to derail the Manchester City freight train.
In the end, two goals from Balotelli and Dzeko, as well as contributions from Aguero and Silva was more than enough to sink the Manchester United destroyer.
The defeat marks Manchester United’s worst home defeat since 1955, as Mancini’s men scored 5 goals in the second 45 minutes to embarrass Fergie’s men who in the past have seen so much success.
There will be many fans that rightly pin point the sending off of Evans as the pivotal moment in the game, but in actual fact the warning signs had been coming long before his dismissal. Manchester United have by their standards limped through home games against Chelsea, Basle and Liverpool. Many of the red’s fans will contend the slump, but their results leading up the derby spoke volumes.
And with the fickle threads that are interwoven in the fabric of football as ever present in these modern times, Manchester City’s tag as being ‘noisy neighbours’ was well and truly put to bed, with questions surrounding their footballing dominance over the city now taking its place.
But the blue half of Manchester should not get carried away. As emphatic as this win was, let’s not forget Manchester United are Manchester United and seamlessly have the bounce-back-ability like no other team.
Ferguson will now need to lean on his experience to get his United team back to winning ways and put aside the shock that will be instilled at Old Trafford. If this is the case, it might be Everton who prove to be the unforeseen casualties in the United backlash.
Yet the questions surrounding a Manchester power slide still pose, which were raised quicker than the three stoppage time goals City scored. Whether this will be one of the most significant results in recent Premier League history remains to be seen, but regardless of what the future holds, this fixture will remain in the record books for a long time – at least, that will be the hope of Manchester United fans.
What was more evident was where Mancini had a rich squad of quality to flex, Ferguson struggled to come up with a solution when he looked to his bench with only Hernandez posing a real threat. Mancini though could bring on Dzeko and Nasri, both of whom possess real quality and are able to inject game changing performances. It goes without saying, the presence of Scholes was missed as United lacked his creativity, forcing Rooney to come far too deep to impose his goal scoring threat.
Nevertheless, life outside the derby continues and both sides will need to hurdle over the ramifications of City’s victory, as they find themselves in unchartered territory and their reactions from this game will be telling in the eventualities of the season.
Though two Manchester clubs clash this weekend in what is to be the tie of the season, there is at least one thing both sets of Manchester fans can share.
Following the ridiculous antics Carlos Tevez has subjected City fans to, Manchester’s rival fans have come together to vent their frustrations caused over the striker’s actions. Manchester has become awash with ‘Trash your Tevez Shirt’ waggons, which so far, have been well received by both sets of fans.
The unwanted shirts are to be shown to the Argentinian international and then suitably dispatched the local charities.
The images not only display the overtly enraged feelings of disgruntled Manchester City fans to a player who is still employed by their beloved team, but rarer, their tandem hatred for Tevez that is shared with the red side of Manchester.
Even Manchester City fans, who have had their fair share of the rough with the smooth, have reached their breaking point with the Argentinian.
So, it would be fair that without the backing of the fans, Carlos Tevez’s days in the colours of blue and white are over, right?
Well, it might not be quite as simple as that.
In this modern age of football, players have a regular habit of dirtying their images, only to wash it again with a goal in a crucial game or a season long performance that ultimately earns a club Champions League football perhaps..?
And for Carlos Tevez, the stage is set with a Manchester derby. Primed ready for a match winning performance that we know the Manchester City forward to be capable of against their local rivals would be like vaccinating the blue side on Manchester with amnesia serum. So, I suppose the real question that poses is; does Mancini share that same faith?
The Italian manger needs to remember what business he is in, which of course is winning games. Regardless of his personal feelings and injustices, a Carlos Tevez match winning goal is enough to cement his standing of City’s most success manager.
And it is in these pressured situations that risky decisions are made, often providing not only a source of entertainment and talking point, but the definitive moment in a tie of this nature. It is for that reason, Tevez reaches the summits of my football betting strategy this weekend, as I can see a pivotal moment in the forward’s career. Whether that be a demise or a rise to blue moon stardom remains to be seen. But with odds available like they currently are, the sky might just be the limit.
Posted in Football News | Tagged arg
For what many have called a two horse race, the Premier League looks odds on to produce the grand national of footballing spectacles this Sunday, as Manchester United take on the derby rivals Manchester City.
Even though we are still in the first furlong of the race, the competition between both clubs is rife and the pressure has provoked players from each club to speak of the challenge that mounts.
Both Nigel De Jong and Nani have openly spoke out in the media, talking of their confidence going into the weekend. Whilst De Jong spoke of his determination to win the game, Nani has also spoken out, factoring United’s home form into his derby confidence.
And he would be right to do so. Manchester United have won 24 of their last 25 games at Old Trafford, but City go into the weekend 2 clear points ahead of Fergie’s men.
Manchester United
Manchester United winger Nani has every reason to be confident in himself too, after scoring twice in their last meeting in the community shield back in August.
The game promises to be a pivotal moment in the season, as both clubs have started their respective campaigns impressively. It is in light of this, that many Premier League fans feasibly forecast a similar result to that of when an immovable object met the unstoppable force.
But on the contrary, the Premier League should expect to see goals and one of these Manchester clubs wield their dominance in a league that has yet to be claimed. Though this is still very early in the season, winning these sorts of games not only stands you in good stead, it gains momentum to unquantifiable measures and instils a fear amongst those teams who are fixture to play you.
There really is a lot of reward in this Manchester contest. Whether you agree or disagree with how this story will end, the pressure that will reach boiling point and with some much on the line, this tie promises to be dramatic.
With UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations reshuffling the Premier League deck, it has left many of its club owners looking at whether they will be able to cash in on the hand they have been dealt. But for Roman Abramovich, the prize pot looks to diminish, as he looks to raise Chelsea’s stakes in a bid to outplay their rival clubs.
The Russian billionaire wants to move Chelsea away from Stamford Bridge in order to help them gain extra leverage against the new UEFA regulations. Finding a new home will not only help the club expand its fan base, but it will also accrue the club valuable extra revenue and thus, extra money to spend when the transfer market dawns.
Though the current capacity of Stamford Bridge is a fairly healthy 42,000, the home they have loved for the past 106 years is fairly small by European standards. The Bridge is actually ranked the 60th for largest stadium in the Europe.
A Move away from Stamford Bridge…
So a move for a club like Chelsea with an owner like Abramovich is easy then, right? Wrong. As well as the usually headaches that go hand in hand with moving home, Chelsea board do not actually own free hold of the stadium. That was bought by the fans in the late ‘90s, as thousands of Chelsea supporters clubbed together to form Chelsea Pitch Owners Ltd and protect the club against property developers. It would mean that Abramovich would have to make an offer to each member of the owners club for them to move to another location.
And the problems don’t stop there. The feasibility for Chelsea finding another home will prove difficult. London is already a cramped space and cost may well outweigh the plus sides of the venture. The Russian billionaire has already spent £1m trying to find a solution to remedy this posing problem.
So why not revamp Stanford Bridge? The answer is simple. Even if they persuaded Chelsea Pitch Owners Ltd that it was the right move, the location where they would play their games would need to be decided upon. Even with Twickenham down the road, the schedule of the stadium is already crammed and the likelihood of Chelsea’s fixture list fitting within that is implausible. Craven Cottage could also offer its services as a potential temporary home. But regardless of the issues that would arise in any ground share, Craven Cottage is too small for Chelsea and their fans.
A solution to alleviate the pressures that have been exerted on the Premier League’s top dogs is critical. Ensuring that they can cope with the financial demands of the world’s elite players and maintain their levels of performance, hinges on their generated income. Failure to find a solution means they will lose their transfer market edge, and with it, the prosperity of European football success.
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