David Moyes Set To Become New Manchester United Manager

Good morning.

Yesterday was quite eventful, wasn’t it? Sir Alex Ferguson announcing his retirement is something I had never really believed would happen. In spite of his age, I was under the impression that Ferguson would still be manager of Manchester United when I was 99 and being prepared for my coffin. Ferguson IS Manchester United. Not Bobby Charlton or Sir Matt Busby, but Sir Alex Ferguson. The man has won over half of Manchester United’s total trophy haul (Ferguson has lifted 38 trophies, with United winning 63 in total) in the 135-year history of the club. In a space of 26 years, Ferguson won 38 trophies. Read that sentence over and over again, and it still takes a moment for the enormity of that achievement to sink in.

It’s because of Ferguson’s achievements, that I pity the man who proceeds to become the next Manchester United manager. The next man will be judged directly against Ferguson, no matter what happens. I think that’s wrong and not at all how it should happen, but it will be unfortunately.

The poor man who looks set to follow Ferguson, is David Moyes. Think of watching your favourite band as they perform a memorable show that will live with you till your grave. Take that thought, then consider how you’d feel when an inferior act came on straight after. Naturally, you get a, “Ah, well it was nice while it lasted” feeling and you really just want to be able to rewind life.

For Moyes, that feeling will echo amongst Manchester United supporters for much of his tenure at Old Trafford. It could be the crippling of him.

It doesn’t have to be, though. For me, it’s so important that Moyes is judged on his own abilities, not those of a man who has achieved all there is to accomplish in club management. To give Moyes all the help he needs, it’s important Ferguson is forgotten as soon as possible and all of the focus is on Moyes and what he can do, not Ferguson and what he has done.

Moyes hasn’t been confirmed yet as Manchester United manager, but it feels just a matter of time before the inevitable is announced and David Moyes takes over at Old Trafford. When that happens, it’s important he’s appreciated for who he is.

That’s all from me today unfortunately, I’m very busy today!

See you tomorrow.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Craig in England, Everton, Manchester United, Premiership Leave a comment

Sir Alex Ferguson Set To Retire / One Of A Kind Would Be Missed

Good morning.

Flicking through Twitter last night, I bumped into the almighty news that Sir Alex Ferguson is strongly rumoured to be retiring as Manchester United manager. An announcement is set to be made by Manchester United at 10AM this morning. Nobody knows for absolute sure, but it appears very likely that Ferguson, the face of English football, will retire.

Should the news be very true, then it will be met with great sadness here at JFG Towers, and me and Mat support Arsenal and Leicester City respectively! Why would two teams, especially one which has endured such a great rivalry for a long time, (it’s waned in recent years, granted) feel despondent over the retirement of a manager so good, that he’s dominated the ever-changing landscape of English football? Why would any rival fan not jump around with joy, that Manchester United may potentially be weakened? Just think about it; no more Howard Webb jokes, no more “Fergie Time” and no more relentless winning of trophies. Gone will be the fiery post-match interviews and the image of a 71 year-old man jumping around on the touchline, red-faced, screaming profanities at the fourth official, referee and any other official unfortunate enough to be in his path when a decision goes against him.

No more Sir Alex Ferguson.

That sends a shiver up my spine: “No more Sir Alex Ferguson.” I’ll miss him, as a rival supporter, for all of the reasons above. Sir Alex Ferguson is one of a kind, a special breed of the “winning” type. When most men his age are complaining about the weather and price of a packet of biscuits, Ferguson is managing a team of men who are mostly in their mid-20s, travelling around the World, beating teams for fun and out-witting every other manager he comes across. When Ferguson doesn’t win, he’s not a good person to be around (so I’ve heard). He also takes defeat as a lesson. Upon being beaten 3-1 by Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League Final, Ferguson accepted defeat graciously, looked at Barcelona and went about recalibrating his own side to match their standards.

My favourite aspect of Ferguson, is that ability to innovate every single time a road block is thrown in his way. English football has changed greatly since Ferguson took charge of Manchester United in 1986 and he’s kept up with it for every step of the road, maintaining that frustrating habit of winning.

Should news at 10AM this morning bring about the announcement of his retirement, then it will be a decision which will be accepted regretfully, here at JFG Towers. Ferguson is one of a kind, unlike any manager we’ve ever seen. It’s likely we’ll never see another manager of this type again. We’ll miss that fiery figure wearing the grass thin on the Old Trafford touchline.

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Posted on May 8, 2013 by Craig in England, Manchester United, Premiership Leave a comment

Manchester United Win Premier League Title For 20th Time

Good morning!

I’m back to writing on my phone this morning, so apologies if this ends up being a tad shorter than what you’d usually expect.

Manchester United officially sealed the title that we knew they’d win since December 9th, 2012. Robin van Persie’s late free-kick secured three points in a 3-2 win over Manchester City, to poke United into a six point lead in the league.

From that moment on, we all just knew what was going to happen.

In years to come, when United supporters are asked to name a best XI, not many of this title winning team will appear, bar the obvious inclusion of van Persie. Sure, the likes of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs will be in said team, but it will be the Scholes and Giggs of Manchester United teams from the past. In their own way though, this title win is actually classic Manchester United.

Roberto Mancini remarked earlier in the season, that teams playing Manchester United are mentally beaten before kick-off. The times that United have won games they really shouldn’t do is outstanding.

I remember as an Arsenal fan, watching my team lose to 2-1 to at Old Trafford in the 2007-08 season. The likes of Alex Hleb, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie ripped United apart all match, dominating for large swathes of the 90 minutes. Adebayor gave Arsenal the lead after half-time and soon, Cristiano Ronaldo had equalised with a penalty and Owen Hargreaves scored with perhaps the only free-kick he converted in his professional career.

To lose to United in that instance makes a man sick; two set-piece goals is not how you want to lose, certainly not to a fantastic team like United.

No, Manchester United haven’t been consistently brilliant this season, but they’ve won matches and obviously, that’s the most important thing.

Next season, United have to step it up again. Performances in Europe have dwindled and the goal now must be to make the semi-finals (at least) next season. They also need to re-assert dominance in our country’s domestic trophies.

Central midfielders are desperately needed in the summer. United are very short in that department and this next transfer window must be the one where Ferguson signs the midfielder that United supporters have been asking for over the last three years.

Right, that’s all I have this morning. Really, what more so you write on a team that’s won the league twenty times and done so with matches left to spare, when we knew it had been effectively won in December.

Congratulations, Manchester United.

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Craig in England, Manchester United, Premiership Leave a comment

Manchester United Increase Lead, But It Still Isn’t Over

We’re approaching rather familiar territory once more.

“Manchester City’s faltering title challenge lies in tatters as Mikel Arteta’s late goal left them eight points adrift of Premier League leaders, Manchester United.” Read more

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Craig in England, Manchester City, Manchester United, Premiership Leave a comment

Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United

Good afternoon!

I have a Chicken doing its thing in the oven, so I thought to myself, “why not write a match report on the match whilst the Chicken cooks, eat it when I’m finished and watch the rest of West Ham v Liverpool?”. That’s some damned good organisation on a Sunday.

So, the match was everything we could have envisioned it to be. There were five goals, a bloodied Rio Ferdinand, Roberto Mancini and Mario Balotelli had their obligatory fall-out and Tom Cruise was in attendance, giving a pre-match interview to promote his new film, “Jack Reacher”, because, you know, a Premier League match is as good as going to the cinema now. Helena Bonham Carter will feature on next week’s televised match between Newcastle United and Manchester City to promote Les Miserables.

Roberto Mancini opted to drop Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez from the starting line-up, giving Mario Balotelli his sixth start of the season and when the Italian has scored just one Premier League goal compared to Dzeko’s record of six and Tevez’s of seven this campaign, you have to seriously question the methology of Mancini’s decision. It was a big talking point between Manchester City fans and neutrals and had one of Dzeko or Tevez started, maybe City could have made the first 15 minutes of their domination actually count for something. City started brighter than United and played keep-ball early on, with United unable to win the ball back to the point where Robin van Persie was having to drop back to help out defensively.

Then, the game pivoted, swung into United’s favour momentarily and Wayne Rooney capitalised. Robin van Persie flicked the ball on for Ashley Young in midfielf, who tore away down the left, cut inside and squared a pass to Rooney, who let the ball run across the area before shooting back in the direction he came from. Rooney’s connection with the ball wasn’t the best, but his shot didn’t need to be struck at 100 mph to beat Joe Hart, as the shot was that precise that it had deceived Hart enough to roll into his bottom left-hand corner. After that, Manchester City lost their impetus, failed to keep the ball in the final third and United took a two goal lead thirteen minutes later, again through Wayne Rooney. Rafael’s cut-back found the England international on the edge of the areaand he swept home the chance for 2-0.

For all of the possession that City enjoyed, they had no cutting edge movement in the final third and the languid Mario Balotelli summed uo that half in a two minute spell, in which the Italian, David Silva and somebody else (Pablo Zabaleta, I think) were combining passes without going anywhere. Balotelli mainted his position on the touchline and played backward passes to Zabaleta, Silva was crowded out and all it took to escape the malaise was for Balotelli to innovate and find some space. He was like that for the 52 minutes in which he played. Everything was lazy from Balotelli and Mancini’s indulgence of his compatriot borders on the fatal.

Fortunately for Manchester City, a lazy back-heel early in the second half from Balotelli, which prompted the groans of over 40,000 City fans, knocked Mancini into action as he beckoned Carlos Tevez to strip ready for action. Instantly, City looked more threatening and they carried the game toward United, desperate for a way back into the game.

That route came via Yaya Toure, whose goal was similar to Rooney’s second, with the Ivorian sweeping home from the edge of the area and although they arguably deserved it, Manchester United should have been celebrating a third just a minute earlier. Robin van Persie’s right-foot shot cannoned off of the inside of the post, fell to Ashley Young and the winger converted his chance, but was adjudged to be offside. Replays showed that Young was being played onside by Zabaleta and the goal should have stood.

Sir Alex Ferguson must have been preparing his post-match speech on linesmen in the 85th minute, when Pablo Zabaleta, the man who played Young onside for the disallowed goal, poetically equalised for Manchester City. A corner was headed to the edge of the area by Robin van Persie and the Argentinian made no mistake with a thunderous strike, which made its way through a few red shirts to seemingly protect City’s unbeaten home record of two years.

With two minutes remaining, Manchester United attacked, with Rafael tearing his way toward goal before being upended by the stray boot of Carlos Tevez, thus resulting in a free-kick to Manchester United a dangerous area. Robin van Persie stepped up, swung his immense left boot at the ball, curled it around City’s “two and a half men” wall, the ball took a deflection off of “half a man” Samir Nasri, deceived the footwork of Joe Hart and the ball nestled in the bottom corner. As an Arsenal myself, watching Nasri take a dump in his shorts as he dodged the flight of van Persie’s free-kick was hilarious, though less so when I realised the Dutchman had done it again for United. Not that I’m bitter Arsenal consistently fail to sign their best players to contracts or anything.

Manchester United walk away with the three points, end City’s unbeaten run and give themselves a six point lead over their rivals as we head into the Christmas period. If United can avoid defeat through the upcoming busy period, then they will put themselves in a heavily fortified position as the season begins to enter the final stages. Fixtures against Swansea, Newcastle United, Sunderland, West Brom and Wigan gives Sir Alex Ferguson’s team a great chance to stake a big claim on first place. Manchester City themselves have a fairly comfortable period and by no means is the Premier League title race over, but the team to emerge first in January will be my favourites for the title.

Right, my chicken is nearly done, West Ham are losing 1-0 to Liverpool as I speak and Glen Johnson is playing so well he’s looking like Cafu… WAIT! THE REFEREE HAS GIVEN A PENALTY!! Joe Allen judged to have handled in the area. Mark Noble steps up… GOAL! 1-1.

Enjoy your Sunday dinner!

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Brave van Persie Move / Manchester United v Arsenal

Morning.

Here we are, smack bang at the end of the blogging week. It’s been exciting to say the least; Arsenal scored seven and conceded five in the Capital One Cup versus Reading and Manchester United scored four and conceded five against Chelsea in the same competition. How exciting is it, then, that Arsenal travel to Old Trafford on Saturday to face Manchester United? Last season, the fixture yielded ten goals, with Manchester United laying claim to eight of them. For Arsenal, it was a day to forget, but will it be the same as last year?

No.

Why? Well for starters Arsenal don’t have apocolyptic injury problems blighting them, whilst they are a much better side than the one which started last season. Naturally however, Saturday won’t revolve around what happened last season, everybody’s attention will be focused on Robin van Persie, who is facing Arsenal for the first time since his transfer to Manchester United in the summer. As an Arsenal fan myself, it’s ever so slightly irritating in the grandest sense of the word that the Arsenal team of this current moment will be compared to the one that featured van Persie last season. Players come and go, but the team always stays the same. That’s weird to say, in the same essence that Trigger does in Only Fools & Horses: “I’ve had the same brush for fifteen years. It’s had fourteen new heads and seventeen different handles”.

As far as football teams go however, the team will adapt to the loss of certain components and work out a different way to play. That’s no different to van Persie leaving Arsenal and I plead to the world and its pundits that comparisons between Arsenal pre and post Robin’s departure are left alone. It’s getting boring now.

What I am willing to say about van Persie, is that he’s a world class football player who is currently doing very well for Manchester United, but I am surprised that Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney and to a lesser extent, Shinji Kagawa, have gelled together so well in the little time they’ve had available. I thought an obligation to play the Dutchman with Rooney and Kagawa would have resulted in Manchester United becoming too congested and narrow. Naturally, I was completely wrong, but I I still stand by what I said in relation to van Persie’s transfer, that United should have invested the money elsewhere to cover their frailties in midfield and defence. I agree 100% that van Persie, so far, has been a success at Old Trafford, but in not buying a central midfielder or a centre-back, I believe their decision to buy van Persie could bite them in a not so pleasent area.

Manchester United, as it stand, have only Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand as their two experienced centre-backs and have conceded thirteen goals, the same amount as Swansea City in 11th place, seven more than their opposition on Saturday, Arsenal, five more than 14th place Sunderland and… haven’t conceded as many as Southampton, who have let 26 goals in to date, so not all bad I suppose.

Whilst United’s defence has been struggling, their attack has been thriving and that is what is keeping them going at the moment, having scored 24 league goals, the most in the Premier League. Now, they meet Arsenal, the league’s meanest defence, who have only let six goals past them. The Gunners have also scored 14, the least of any of the teams sat above them.

So, United have a strong attack, but weak defence, whilst it’s the opposite where Arsenal are concerned. Hmm. For me, the winner of the midfield battle will win the match. Although that hasn’t often been the case in recent seasons, where Arsenal have dominated and United have scored on the counter-attack, United aren’t that team anymore and will go toe-to-toe with Arsenal, rather than play cat and mouse. Recently, United have been playing in a diamond formation, with Rooney at the tip of it, accompanied by Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young. Arsenal will more than likely start with Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere at the base of their midfield, with Santi Cazorla acting as the trequartista, playing in a free role to provide creativity along with Wilshere who will push forward. On the wings, will be Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey , who will work to press and keep the ball. I am biased when I say this, but I don’t think it’s completely unreasonable to expect Arsenal to overpower United in midfield and win the match.

You heard it here first. Arsenal will win the midfield battle and thus the match.

Either that or again, naturally, I will be completely wrong and the match will be a 7-7 draw.

See you on Monday!

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Manchester United Miss Out On Lucas Moura, Then Go For RVP

Is any silver fox in the football world worth £220,000 a week wages?

Good morning!

Apologies again for yesterday’s article equivalent of the 100m, I was in such a rush that I couldn’t find time to elaborate. Saying that Steven Fletcher isn’t worth £12 million of anybody’s money, just because I think so, with no reasonable explanation, is not what this blog is about. To be fair though, Fletcher isn’t worth £12 million.

Once again though, I find myself starting an article later than I would have liked to, I even woke up earlier than usual this morning, but the current Google themes are hammering my morning routine. The game this morning on Google is slalom canoe and I don’t wish to elaborate on just how much time I spent playing the damned game. I’ve become pretty good at it though, I will say that much.

Right, to the news… Read more

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Craig in England, Europe, France, Ligue 1, Premiership Leave a comment

Lucas Moura To Manchester United? / Kuwaitis Take Charge Of Notts Forest

Fawaz Al-Hasawi – Will he meddle with Nottingham Forrest?

Good morning!

Some of the more eagle eyed readers will have noticed that yesterday’s article on Andy Carroll, Fabio Borini and Chelsea has disappeared from the website. This is down to the servers being swapped yesterday and as a result, we lost the post we did. Fortunately, I have the post on my side of things, so I’ll update it to the new server later today.

Lucas Moura

If you’re familiar with FIFA 12 or any respectable football manager game, then you will have encountered Sao Paulo’s Lucas Moura. Indeed you may watch a lot of Brazilian football, or may even hold a season ticket at Sao Paulo, I don’t know, but it’s certain to me that most of us British will know him from computer games. That’s not a bad thing, I myself barely know anything about him, other than that he’s a nineteen year old, Brazilian winger.

It’s rumoured that Manchester United sent a delegation to Brazil yesterday to negotiate a £30 million deal for Lucas, intimating that Nani could well be on borrowed time at Old Trafford. Nani is a fine player, but I get the impression that Sir Alex Ferguson has grown tired of the Portuguese winger. I don’t think Nani has developed in a way that everybody maybe hoped, he’s not been consistent and can go missing when it matters all too easily and it seems that Ferguson is willing let Nani leave and find a replacement.
Read more

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, Premiership Leave a comment

Whatever Happened To Manchester United?

Not a happy man.

Good morning all!

You’ll be no doubt relieved to know I’m over yesterday’s bout of illness. I’m as fit as an Alaska Salmon fish. Alaska Salmon fish traditionally sim upstream, so thus they must be pretty fit, it’s hard to swim against the current, especially when you’re preoccupied by a great big bloody Bear trying to eat rip you apart.

Alaskan Salmon fish aside, set aside, I said I’d get to work analysing what happened over the course of this season to both Manchester United and City, in terms of what went wrong, and what went right for both teams. One of the biggest mysteries over the course of this season, is what happened to the rapid, all-conquering style Manchester United adopted in the early stages of the now departed 2011/12 season? It seems only yesterday that my feelings were taking a severe punishment as United wiped out my beloved Arsenal 8-2. Fair enough, Arsenal had problems that day with suspension and injuries, but a top team like Arsenal should never, ever concede eight, yet Manchester United played with such an intensity that day, that it seemed impossible United would do anything over than win the Premier League title.

In a run of five matches stretching from Sunday 14th August to Sunday 18th September, Manchester United had scored an almighty 21 goals, meaning United were averaging 4.2 goals a game. It seemed at times if Manchester United were trying to emphasise their style on that employed by Barcelona, playing one-touch football, but at great speed. Barcelona in general don’t pass the ball around quickly, only doing so when they find a gap to exploit. Manchester United were racing about the pitch, playing extraordinary football.

Tom Cleverley in particular was rewarding Sir Alex Ferguson’s faith in him by not signing another creative midfielder, instead entrusting the 22 year old midfielder with providing Manchester United’s creative energy from the middle. Pair alongside Anderson in the middle, Manchester United possessed a lot of energy and during that period of five matches, Manchester United were untouchable, nobody could envision Manchester United being beaten.

The turning point in Manchester United’s early form came in the 24th minute of their fixture against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium. In that minute, Tom Cleverley came off injured as Manchester United were 3-0 up. Manchester United went on to score two more against Bolton, but they didn’t seem anywhere near as fluent without somebody to pick passes and provide that creative spark through the middle. Michael Carrick replaced Cleverley and though I like Carrick, he can’t do that creative role very well, he’s more a deep lying midfielder who tries to control the tempo, not a creative midfielder by any means, two goals and three assists all season proves my point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hdBaMH0b6A

In Manchester United’s following match, they played Chelsea at Old Trafford, winning 3-1. Chelsea, adapting to a new style themselves, had their high back-line exploited time and again, but equally found themselves causing trouble in United’s final third time and again. Fernando Torres scored, missed an open goal and Chelsea’s overall luck in front of goal that day was somewhat ‘limited’. Over the ninety minutes, United had somehow escaped conceding more than just the one.

Manchester United’s next four Premier League fixtures after facing Chelsea at Old Trafford were: Stoke City (A), Norwich City (H), Liverpool (A) and Manchester City (H). Of those fixtures, Manchester United won one, a 2-0 victory over Paul Lambert’s side on a day when, again, like Chelsea, Norwich could have walked away with a point if not for wasteful finishing. Manchester United were vulnerable to Norwich all day and on another day in season, Norwich might have even taken three points.

Two 1-1 draws to Stoke and Norwich may have been bad enough, but then came the big match, versus Manchester City at Old Trafford. In the middle, Anderson and Darren Fletcher weren’t capable of providing the ammunition to United’s dangermen in the same way Cleverley might have done. Manchester City, full of enterprise and flair, hammered Manchester United at Old Trafford in a way never seen before.

During the summer, Manchester United had been continually linked with Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder, a world class creative midfielder consistently capable of the wonderful. What seemed more likely was the potential signing of Samir Nasri, who refused to sign a new contract at Arsenal and was available for purchase.

It wasn’t a new problem that Manchester United faced in having no creativity through the middle, but one which had blighted them for several seasons during Paul Scholes’ physical decline. Yes, Paul Scholes is a phenomenal midfielder, but I ask you, does he affect matches in the same way he once did? No, as his body can’t physically demand it over a season.

During the summer transfer window, Sir Alex Ferguson was presented ample opportunity to sign a creative midfielder. Had Ferguson stepped up his efforts in trying to sign Nasri, may he have provided that extra spark they needed at times? I understand not signing Sneijder, he’s too old to merit spending £30 million on, but throughout Europe there are great creative talents United could have signed, yet they opted to stand still and sign a fifth defender in Phil Jones. Jones is a great talent, but should he really have been their hallmark signing over the summer? No way in hell. A fifth defender shouldn’t even have been United’s priority, Jones shouldn’t have even come anywhere close to Ferguson’s shopping list.

The waning of key components in Manchester United’s more influential players compounded their lack of creativity. Both Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have enjoyed fine seasons, but that’s all it’s been; fine, nothing more. Edwin Van Der Saar retiring was also a huge blow, as Manchester United had to make time for the young David De Gea to adapt to English football. For me, Anders Lindegaard should have been number one as De Gea adapted in ‘minor’ matches.

To avoid this season’s failure, it is imperative that Manchester United sign quality talent for the centre of midfield. Tom Cleverley should be back by then for United, but he’ll now be a year behind in his development and can’t be expected to play 38 matches next season. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs will feature again for United, but should feature only in cameo roles as a new talent beds himself in to United’s first team.

Anderson, Carrick, Park and Giggs are not the players who are going to turn a match on it’s head. It’s time for Sir Alex Ferguson to be bold with his signings and capture a world class talent to challenge for the title next season. Nor would it hurt for Ferguson to indulge in a left-back to provide efficient cover for Patrice Evra, who himself is in decline.

I’ve just solved all of Manchester United’s woes in under 1200 words. Sir Alex Ferguson has all summer to rectify his problems. Will he get it right?

That’s your lot from me today.

See you tomorrow.

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United

Manchester United's defence

Good morning!

Firstly this morning, I need to issue an apology to Manchester City fans. After the Arsenal defeat, I had ruled City out of contention for the league and lauded Manchester United in such a fashion it makes me feel sick even contemplating it. Last night’s win over Manchester United puts City ahead of United on goal difference, never has a league been this closely contested.

For Manchester City, anything but a win was not good enough. To rely on Manchester United dropping points in their final two matches would have been too much to ask. City started would their best attacking quartet of: Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Samir Nasri. Yaya Toure was playing behind those four alongside Gareth Barry as an additional holding midfielder, but no way in hell was Yaya Toure ever going to sit in midfield, his job was to bomb forward and support City’s attacking quartet.

As I’ve seen Manchester United do so often when playing opposition with an inclination to pass and move, they started with ball hoarders and energy rather than attacking threat. Naming Park Ji-Sung, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in the same midfield, along with Nani, was a statement of containment as the teams were released before kick-off. Manchester United’s ambition went as far as keeping a deep defensive line and playing on the counter-attack.

As you can see from that pretty little picture, Manchester United were very happy to sit back and let Manchester City come at them. Just look at how deep Rio Ferdinand and Chris Smalling are compared to Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany.

I’ve seen Manchester United stifle Arsenal so often that you can predict pass for pass what is going to happen in a match and maybe this style of energy and determination is wearing thin? If you said the manager of Manchester United was Italian then you wouldn’t be surprised.

It was noted that in Sir Alex Ferguson’s early days as a manager at East Stirlingshire in Scotland, Ferguson liked to buy young players with plenty of energy, valuing physical traits and a strong mentality over technical abilities and skill. Don’t get me wrong, Ferguson knows a flair player when he sees one, but the basis for many of his teams over the years has been energy and a strong will to win.

Again, don’t get me wrong, I refuse to knock that as it’s won Manchester United so many titles I’m bright green with envy, but it does but certain limitations on a side. Manchester City can match United defensively and throughout the match it never looked as if United would score and it’s no surprise to me that United didn’t land a shot on target all match.

After a tepid ten minutes, Manchester City controlled the first half, probing and prodding Manchester United’s defence, searching for an opening goal which they so desperately needed. There came a point where Samir Nasri was in possession on the edge of United’s area, shifting the ball about, looking for an opening, only to see every avenue of possibility to him denied, so Nasri had to go sideways and Niall Quinn on commentary duty for Sky Sports noted that he’d counted nine Manchester United players behind the ball.

Such was the extent of United’s enthusiasm to defend, I expected to see Mike Phelan and Manchester United’s medical staff form their own ‘Atlantic Wall’ (see top picture) in order to repel the repetitive blue waves of Manchester City shirts.

Manchester City scoring was only a matter of time and their solitary goal of the evening came courtesy of Vincent Kompany’s prominent forehead. Kompany lost Chris Smalling in a melee of players and then over-powered the former Maidstone United defender to head past a helpless David De Gea. There was nothing De Gea could do once Kompany had met the ball with that forehead of his and City were a goal up.

Towards the end of the match, Sky commentators were to say that Chris Smalling’s moment of weakness was to potentially cost Manchester United the title to their deadly rivals and that it was essentially the fault of Smalling. Firstly, I must say what utter bollocks that is. Chris Smalling was never meant to figure in this match, it was only until Johnny Evans was ruled out midweek that Smalling was drafted in to the starting line-up. This meant that Chris Smalling, a player with 34 Manchester United appearances to his name, was to play in Manchester United’s biggest match of the season. Smalling was under-prepared for last night and in one moment, was over-powered and out-classed by a world-class defender enjoying his best match of the season, something that a young, inexperienced Chris Smalling can’t be held accountable for. Last night was not a reflection on Smalling’s true quality as he simply is not ready for these matches yet.

In the second half, Manchester United were to enjoy the more of the ball and it was City’s turn to play on the counter-attack. Whereas City looked equally as threatening when playing on the counter or playing possession football, Manchester United never looked comfortable with either and failed to break down a solid Manchester City defence.

Late on, Manchester City could have grabbed a second through Samir Nasri, but the French international couldn’t get the ball out of his feet when just a few yards from goal and his chance was eventually denied him as Rio Ferdinand dispossessed the Frenchman.

Nasri slammed the sodden turf with his hand, Roberto Mancini exploded and David Platt looked as if he could eat Nasri alive and it was no surprise when Nasri was withdrawn to be replaced by James Milner for the final few minutes.

Not only was it Nasri’s missed chance the City bench were angry with, but the fact it took Nasri an age to get to his feet again and thus a tired-looking Nasri was taken off as Mancini looked to solidify in midfield with renewed energy.

What did we learn from last night?

First and foremost, we’ve learned that Manchester United need to address the absence of a creative midfielder. Sir Alex Ferguson had ample opportunity to sign Samir Nasri in the summer, a player who was keen on joining United, but failed to do so. Nasri was one of City’s better players last night and whilst Nasri has had a quiet season, you do have to consider he’s playing a team where he’s no longer a leading light of creativity, rather just another light. Five goals and nine assists so far this season is good for what has been a ‘quiet season’ from Nasri and surely Sir Alex Ferguson must feel he missed out when he watched Nasri toy with the football last night?

Three Manchester City players also confirmed their place in the starting XI for England over the summer. Joe Hart is a world class goalkeeper, no doubt about it and whilst he had nothing to do all evening, his organisation and commandeering of his team was to expert proportions. Similarly, Joleon Lescott was as imperious as he has been all season and it’s now a question of who partners the former Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers defender for England this summer. Gareth Barry, though unassuming and ‘quiet’ last night was very influential on how City controlled the game. Barry is capable of joining attacks and defending them when needed and for me, is a Chameleon of a player in that he is adaptable to most situations. For me, Barry is another started for England at Euro 2012.

Finally…Roy Hodgson

It’s agreed that England are under-going a transition period, correct? Fabio Capello layed the foundations for new talent joining the England squad and was doing a good job in blooding through Jack Wilshere etc into the England set-up. For me, Capello was one of England’s better managers. Even though his World Cup campaign with us was a complete and utter disaster, his vision for the future will serve us well and in the full knowledge we require change, I thank Capello for what he did.

Roy Hodgson is the perfect man to continue that transition. Tactically, Hodgson is miles ahead of Harry Redknapp. Redknapp is a man-motivator. In a recent interview, John Hartson described Redknapp’s philosophy as simple and the way in which Tottenham Hotspur have imploded toward the end of this season pays tribute to that.

Tactically, Hodgson will get the best out of England and I’m fully supportive of his employment by the FA. I think it’s a brave choice considering the overwhelming popularity held for Redknapp, but the right choice nonetheless.

Looking at Euro 2012 rationally, I don’t think we’ll win it, though I will convince myself otherwise for the tournament. I’m excited as to what Hodgson can bring to the England set-up for the future not necessarily for the ‘now’.

That’s me done for today, I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Posted on May 1, 2012 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

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