Anyone who saw Manchester City's three goal destruction of Liverpool last night will no doubt have been slightly shocked and surprised at how easy it was for Roberto Mancini's team.
Following last weekend's opening day clash with Spurs, questions were asked of Mancini's tactics: playing three holding players simply didn't look like the right tactic and the City manager was accused of being over cautious by some observers.
But having signed James Milner and by bringing in Adam Johnson on the right, City carried a much greater threat from both flanks and Liverpool had no answer. Wherever you looked City had more power, even Steven Gerrard was coming off second best in the 50-50 tackles.
The media as well as our own great illustrious leader have been openly questioning City's buying policy: Last week Fergie set his gun sights on City with a well aimed jibe questioning what he described as "Kamikaze" buying, but against Liverpool last night it was City's young English players who really took the eye.
Joe Hart, James Milner, Micah Richards and especially Adam Johnson stood out. Following what can only be described as a pathetic World Cup showing, you were left wondering what on earth Capello was thinking of when he omitted Johnson from the squad and equally as bad he didn't select Joe Hart.
Ferguson was at last night's game, he was sat alongside former Sunderland manager Peter Reid. The United manager would have been present to take a personal form-check on Liverpool, but going off the hammering dished out to our "old friends" he will have learnt little as surely the Merseyside Reds will not play as poorly as they did against City. However, there's a well used adage that says 'you can only play as well as you are allowed to'; City simply did not allow Liverpool to play, not at least where it really mattered. The match stats didn't look too bad from a Liverpool perspective, that is they didn't apart from the only stat that really counted - the final score.
City's performance against Liverpool will have sent alarm bells ringing at every top club in the land, because there was no weaknesses to exploit. City look especially strong in midfield and as far as United are concerned this is the biggest area of concern. No way will Scholes and Fletcher be able to cope against City's muscle in the engine room. When United play City, you can forget any notion of Fergie deploying a 4-4-2 formation.
Fergie will have to go like for like and select 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, but whatever formation the United manager selects there must be a very real danger the Red Devils will still end up being over-powered in the engine room just like Liverpool and of course Fergie doesn't have a Steven Gerrard in his squad.
It is very early days, but just two games into the new season and already it looks like Mancini has found the right blend of power, pace and skill, if so, it is a wake-up call for not only Liverpool but for United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs.
I do not as a rule read United sites but for some reason I decided to read yours. A good article and for a change a balanced view. I'm a 65 years old, old man and when I was very young my dad took me to see both Manchester clubs and always taught me to hold a balanced and fair view. I still have a soft spot for United but only when they are not playing against City. As far as todays' teams are concerned, I think you are spot on about the midfield battles to come. The most important signings City have made have been Ya Ya Toure and James Milner. They will be very strong for City this season.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool made City look like Barca last night, utter, utter dogshit. If Roy carries on like this he wont make bonfire night. City have a major, major threat in Adam Johnson, nicked from under everyones noses. Will be their best player this season no doubt.
ReplyDeleteCity can be broken down, quite easily in fact. Liverpool had the penetrative prowess of a marshmallow last night, soft and weak. Not taking anything away from the Berts but come on, last week they were outplayed by Spurs.
Jack,
ReplyDeleteMy old man (bless him) and my uncles followed United, but when we were playing away on occasion we went to Maine Road that was in Mick Channon's day... I'd like to think I'm honest in my opinion but some Reds accuse me of being too negative. I think City are in with a good shout of winning the title based on what we've seen already.
Mr Winter,
ReplyDeleteWe shall see, but I didn't see any weaknesses. City were awful when they sat back last season against United - I guess if tbey invite teams on to them it could backfire, but that didn't really happen last night apart from a very brief spell.
I will be lying if I said I wasn't worried about city's growing profile and ruthlessness. As Liverpool are by no means a team that should be disposed off with such ease.Even with Lucas in the middle of the park.
ReplyDeleteYou have to sit up and take notice of a team who did not even need to call upon players like David Silva, Adebayor,Balotelli, Boateng etc to give Liverpool a sound thrashing.
And I know why we all are looking over our backyards to our neighbours with new found oil wells. Our own misery. Scholsey won't be rolling back the years throughout the season. His old legs will eventually tire.
That is when we will have no one to run the play from the engine room.
There will be quite a few games where we will seen chasing shadows and worryingly it won't just be against the top four teams.
Teams don't fear us anymore and the neutrals are starting to like us. I HATE THAT.
Do you think just because City won one game ,and United drew another one, it means they are much better than us? This is so ridiculous...
ReplyDeleteI am not going to underrate City, but we have just seen 2 games so far.
R.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's see. You come back and we will discuss this some more as the season progresses.
United have serious issues in midfield which have not been addressed, do not forget that.
Overthinker,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the neutrals starting to like us, but maybe the love-in with City (everyone's second club) has ended.
Fergie was ashen faced at Eastlands - either he was ill or what he saw had him a bit worried. Time will tell.