Gary Owen Column
Another day, another disappointment
(Fri, 23 Apr 2010)
But when the dust settles, City can take some encouragement from what has gone on this season.
Three times we have lost to United, but all three required very, very late goals – apart from that, there was very, very little between the sides.
There were certain things on which I feel we missed a trick. I would have liked us to press them from the first minute.
I couldn’t believe the United teamsheet when I saw it, and it only made me feel even more that we could win the game.
I thought their bench looked stronger than their team, with Nani and Dimitar Berbatov sitting on it, especially when it became obvious that Wayne Rooney was not fully fit.
And with no Rio Ferdinand, they looked there for the taking,
But we sat too deep and handed them the initiative, particularly playing into Paul Scholes’ hands.
He was picking the ball up in midfield and distributing it at will.
There was a strange feel for a derby, as well. No really meaty challenges, no stand-offs, no confrontations.
When you consider United were fighting to stay in the title race and we were fighting to keep a chance of fourth place, it was odd that there was no real fight on display!
My eyes were on Craig Bellamy coming up against Gary Neville, and not just as a possible flashpoint.
I felt Bellers could get at those old legs and run him up and down the wing, we could have really got something out of it.
I was surprised Sir Alex Ferguson picked Neville ahead of the da Silva boys.
But Neville played him as well as any full back I’ve seen this season – and that’s why Fergie’s paid big money for managing a top team and I get peanuts for writing this column!
On the other flank Patrice Evra ran himself into the ground, which he seems to do in every game for United – I’m told he was six ft two when he first joined them.
It was the right move to bring Shaun Wright-Phillips on because Evra was breathing out of every orifice, but if we had to bring another midfielder on I would have liked to see Stevie Ireland early, rather than Patrick Vieira, to look for that killer pass.
But at the end of the day we perhaps gave them a little too much respect. United demand respect, but give them too much of it and they will take advantage, as we found out to our cost.
Article courtesy of the Manchester Evening News
Three times we have lost to United, but all three required very, very late goals – apart from that, there was very, very little between the sides.
There were certain things on which I feel we missed a trick. I would have liked us to press them from the first minute.
I couldn’t believe the United teamsheet when I saw it, and it only made me feel even more that we could win the game.
I thought their bench looked stronger than their team, with Nani and Dimitar Berbatov sitting on it, especially when it became obvious that Wayne Rooney was not fully fit.
And with no Rio Ferdinand, they looked there for the taking,
But we sat too deep and handed them the initiative, particularly playing into Paul Scholes’ hands.
He was picking the ball up in midfield and distributing it at will.
There was a strange feel for a derby, as well. No really meaty challenges, no stand-offs, no confrontations.
When you consider United were fighting to stay in the title race and we were fighting to keep a chance of fourth place, it was odd that there was no real fight on display!
My eyes were on Craig Bellamy coming up against Gary Neville, and not just as a possible flashpoint.
I felt Bellers could get at those old legs and run him up and down the wing, we could have really got something out of it.
I was surprised Sir Alex Ferguson picked Neville ahead of the da Silva boys.
But Neville played him as well as any full back I’ve seen this season – and that’s why Fergie’s paid big money for managing a top team and I get peanuts for writing this column!
On the other flank Patrice Evra ran himself into the ground, which he seems to do in every game for United – I’m told he was six ft two when he first joined them.
It was the right move to bring Shaun Wright-Phillips on because Evra was breathing out of every orifice, but if we had to bring another midfielder on I would have liked to see Stevie Ireland early, rather than Patrick Vieira, to look for that killer pass.
But at the end of the day we perhaps gave them a little too much respect. United demand respect, but give them too much of it and they will take advantage, as we found out to our cost.
Article courtesy of the Manchester Evening News
Derby Day!
(Wed, 14 Apr 2010)
BUCKLE your seat belts and get ready for the biggest derby since … well … since the last one!
That is how it has gone in Manchester football. Every time United and City come up against each other these days, there seems to be something big at stake.
Last time it was a place in the Carling Cup final, this time it is our Champions League ambitions going up against United’s last throw of the dice in the Premier League title race.
Some City fans are seeing this as possibly a landmark derby. They feel that if City win it, in years to come we will all look back at April 17, 2010 as the date on which the tide truly began to turn.
I don’t see it that way at all. I think the tide began to turn on the day our new owners took over, and regardless of the result on Saturday, we will continue to move forward to the point where we are sitting at the same table as United and Chelsea – and indeed Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Fergie senses it as well. That is why he fielded his strongest team against us in the two cup semi-finals, and even accepted an extra match suspension for Rio Ferdinand in order to let him play in the second leg.
There has been plenty at stake in derbies down the years – like the 1974 classic when United’s fate was hanging in the balance.
But you have to go back a long way to the last time there was so much at stake for BOTH clubs, in such a positive way. Perhaps the last time was 1968, when City won 3-1 at Old Trafford to begin a run which carried them to the league title, and pipped United into second place.
I believe that if City win this one it would take a Herculean effort by Spurs to pull back the gap, especially if they don’t beat Arsenal in the north London derby tomorrow night.
Four hours after the Manchester derby, Spurs will face Chelsea, and if we have already won, they will go into that game knowing that their chances will disappear unless they win – so the pressure will be huge on them this week, especially after that poor result against Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final.
But first City have to win. United have won two out of the three games between the sides this season, but both times it was last-second goals, which shows how very close the games were.
It’s not often in the past 20 years that City fans have looked forward to Manchester derbies, but that is certainly the case this time. It has the makings of a classic.
Story courtesy of the Manchester Evening News
That is how it has gone in Manchester football. Every time United and City come up against each other these days, there seems to be something big at stake.
Last time it was a place in the Carling Cup final, this time it is our Champions League ambitions going up against United’s last throw of the dice in the Premier League title race.
Some City fans are seeing this as possibly a landmark derby. They feel that if City win it, in years to come we will all look back at April 17, 2010 as the date on which the tide truly began to turn.
I don’t see it that way at all. I think the tide began to turn on the day our new owners took over, and regardless of the result on Saturday, we will continue to move forward to the point where we are sitting at the same table as United and Chelsea – and indeed Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Fergie senses it as well. That is why he fielded his strongest team against us in the two cup semi-finals, and even accepted an extra match suspension for Rio Ferdinand in order to let him play in the second leg.
There has been plenty at stake in derbies down the years – like the 1974 classic when United’s fate was hanging in the balance.
But you have to go back a long way to the last time there was so much at stake for BOTH clubs, in such a positive way. Perhaps the last time was 1968, when City won 3-1 at Old Trafford to begin a run which carried them to the league title, and pipped United into second place.
I believe that if City win this one it would take a Herculean effort by Spurs to pull back the gap, especially if they don’t beat Arsenal in the north London derby tomorrow night.
Four hours after the Manchester derby, Spurs will face Chelsea, and if we have already won, they will go into that game knowing that their chances will disappear unless they win – so the pressure will be huge on them this week, especially after that poor result against Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final.
But first City have to win. United have won two out of the three games between the sides this season, but both times it was last-second goals, which shows how very close the games were.
It’s not often in the past 20 years that City fans have looked forward to Manchester derbies, but that is certainly the case this time. It has the makings of a classic.
Story courtesy of the Manchester Evening News