XI Partially Hungover Conclusions: Man City 4-1 Man Utd

Chris Wright

22nd, September 2013

18 Comments

By Chris Wright

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium

We’ll have photos and highlights up in good time, but here’s Pies’ quick, partially hungover conclusions from today’s Manchester derby at t’ Etihad – which, we’re guessing you’re already well aware, City walked 4-1.

1. City just won the league. Congrats.

2. United looked worryingly devoid of threat without Robin van Persie spearheading their attack. Rooney looked like he was playing on his own when attempting to drive forward with Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia all utterly flaccid entities.

3. Other than the remorseless teasing, the result won’t hurt United too much. As a fevered reaction, they’ll probably maul Liverpool midweek and all will be well again as they systematically pick off all the Premier League’s lesser lights and stroll to second place. As we’ve seen countless times before, it’s the “small” matches that count in the long run.

4. Vincent Kompany: Yaya Toure: Sergio Aguero. Is there a better spine in world football?

5. Speaking of Kompany, that was a captain’s innings from Vinny. Gary Neville described the Belgian behemoth’s peerless performance today as one of if not the best he’s ever seen from a centre-back. Hard to disagree.

6. Aguero never met a cross he couldn’t stick away with aplomb…

aguero-united

6. When the game sparked in the 20 minutes either side of half-time, City collectively put on an absolute masterclass of aggressive, proactive defending from front to back.

7. We’re still not seeing what the £34million City spent on Fernandinho went towards.

8. Wayne Rooney’s headband is almost obnoxiously over-engineered…

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium

9. If United need to replace a player, it’s Valencia. Predictable, hopelessly one-footed, a bit slack defensively and not particularly good at the things he’s supposed to be good at, i.e, crossing.

10. Rio’s a close second. Torn asunder.

11. I need an asprin.

Agree/disagree? Struck by any epiphanies of your own during the game? Feel free to share…

Posted in Featured, Man City, Man Utd, Newsnow, Opinion, Top 10s & lists

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18 Comments

  1. Jack says:

    That would be 12 conclusions (2 #6’s)

  2. Dave Macbeth says:

    I thought Fernandinho was outstanding. What game were you watching?

  3. Kevin says:

    Dave – Agreed, Fernandinho did all the dirty work in defense, which allowed Yaya to do his thing on attack. He’s playing the De Jong role from a couple years ago, just without the fear of someone’s legs being broken…

  4. Red_Devil says:

    Disagree, if United need to replace one player it is Ashley Young.

  5. Ian says:

    United will still win the league, city won’t even get second..

  6. Jack says:

    There are 12 conclusions (2 #6’s)

  7. stu says:

    Agreed, young is awful, a utd player in name only

  8. Ryan says:

    Young was once again useless, he’s lost it sell him to QPR. Fellaini fitness of a pub player and Valencia one trick pony, who lost the trick.

  9. Steve says:

    #4. Any spine with Messi in it is automatically better than any one without.

  10. Guille says:

    Hope you are not cursing City by saying they won the league, Pellegrini needs and deserves a major title in Europe

  11. Adam says:

    #9 Moyes is still in Sir Alex’s shadow. He has Nani, Kagawa, and Zaha on the bench and starts Valencia and Young. Certainly, the benchwarmers would add more life, creativity, and fluidity to ManU’s attack.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Probably maul over Liverpool?? Really I don’t think so. Suarez will be back and despite losing this weekend they have been solid and already beat them 1-0 this season.

  13. michaelh says:

    Fernandinho? He looked classy in the middle of the pitch and covered for yaya well. I think you were were watching the wrong game.

    • Chris says:

      @Dave, Kev and Michael: Maybe so, but £34million is still an AWFUL lot of money to pay for someone to sit deep and play short sideways passes to the nearest available man for 90 mins (Dickson Etuhu used to do that for Fulham fairly well). Almost any professional footballer could do what he does but the role has become canonised for some reason.

  14. Peters says:

    ^ city’s transfer policy is now such they refuse to pay less than 20 million for a player (ya ya, Navas and Negredo were sub 20M go stuff it) but 34m for a player to pass the ball 4 yards in all directions? Care to take Tiote of our hands?

  15. Bruno says:

    @Chris

    City was just incredible. But they only play like this twice in a year. United will kill all the small teams as usual (as you’ve said) while City will struggle to consistently win the small matches.

    In the end, United or Chelsea will win the league. City to come third. Also, it was not just an incredidle performance by City, it was also a VERY poor one by United. They would lose against almost any Premier League team away from home playing like that.

    Agree on Valencia, Young and Welbeck. I would also add Anderson, Nani and Cleverly to that list. They are all not United level. Sir Alex Ferguson was able to make poor players play well sometimes, that’s why he was a genius (Brown, O’shea, Park, Saha) Moyes is great but he can’t do that. United really need a few top players but if Moyes starts to pick Kagawa instead of Young, it’s still a top team (in England, anyway). Can’t win the CL, but the PL is possible if Moyes starts to pick the right team.

  16. topo says:

    Afroman will come good, he will be the spine for years to come, Young is not even fit to be on the bench, let alone started few games in a row. Valencia..yes..one trick pony..a good squad player..nothing more. Glazers only target top three this transitional season so we dont expect much…give moyes chance. once in a while we’ll get our once in a blue moon spanking..we dont mind because we are MANCHESTER UNITED!

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