The Manchester United versus Manchester City derby in the English Barclays Premier League was a tense affair from start to finish, with the hosts, City, wasting possible match winners early on. Arguero could have silenced the prouder red side of Manchester, but his finishing came from the heart rather than the boot.
It took a dead ball situation and a defender to open the goals account when a Vincent Kompany thumping header nearly tore off the nets with a minute of the referee's optional time left in the first half. It proved to be a match, and potentially a championship winner as all toiled all night for naught.
The Manchester City coach tried to match the senior and revered mentor decision for decision throughout the encounter and was rewarded for reading his master well with the vital three points,maybe the biggest of his career.
United sought parity upon the restart piling pressure and pushing forward with men and mobility, and earning corner kicks and getting into vital positions. City refused to be bullied and intimidated as they pushed forward themselves to seal the deal. They kept possession much better and were a little settled and composed.
United became content shutting the back door and thwarting any further attack thrown at them. Evident desperate reactions from both sides were the order of the night as the second half got older and the match wore on. The obvious sterile attempts to thread the ball in early to the forwards by City was matched by United's thirst to defend well and feed Wayne Rooney who dropped deep either to collect balls or evade his markers.
Danny Welbeck was introduced as a replacement for the ineffective Park Ju Sung at the 58th minute to try to pry the City defence open. Smalling and Nani found themselves committing frustration-induced fouls in the midfield unnecessarily.
The hosts turned the fuel screw of the carburretor in as they sought to penetrate a negatively defensive United defence of four defenders and five linkmen. Joeleen Lescott and captain Kompany stood resolute and repelled all thrown at them, especially given an easy task of working against Rooney who fought a tough but lone battle upfront.
With a better final ball in the offensive third, the Citizens could have silenced the Red Devils for good quite early and even much later, but they delayed the party and the erratic passing in the box kept giving United hoping for the best upto the very last minute.
Midfield duels were always the contest to win as Roberto Mancini replaced the striker, Carlos Tevez with Nigel de Jong to step-up the combative battle with Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nani and Michael Carrick in the centre of the park. It was a move meant to counter Sir Alex Ferguson's withdrawal of a midfielder by a striker, that is Park by Welbeck.
Valencia replaced Scholes as a measure of desperation. This should have increased the attacking power of Sir Alex Ferguson's side but as tackles started flying from both United and City, it was brutally going to be a blood sweat affair. de Jong and Carrick got carried away with unwarranted tackles in midfield.
As tactics became more relevant, United introduced Ashley Young for the too silent Nani as David Silver left room for right back Michael Richards in a counter-move by Mancini. At that point, the visible progress of City was too irritating for the knight in Alex Ferguson as he boxed Mancini verbally, almost physically.
With 3 minutes to go, Gael Clichy could have wrapped things up convincingly before Samir Nasri had an even better opportunity after a fine run by Yaya Toure on the left, but he took too much time on the ball. He had an option of feeding Arguero but the ball was too close to his feet making it difficult for him to release it timeously.
As would be expected in a United match, there was 5 minutes added time even though there were no injury stoppages, but that would not take away the fighting spirit out of the blue half of Manchester and it did not help. James Milner was introduced as a way to kill time and break the possible rhythm United may have been hoping for, replacing Nasri.
Patrice Evra's last minute earning of a corner gave them some hope as the last kicks involving Smalling were thwarted by Joe Hart who was fouled when the Devils hoped for a penalty.
City could never be denied their glory against United and with that, set a finale to the season-end with a potentially explosive conclusion to the title fight. The title tilted to the blue side of Manchester as all is in their hands(feet) with two matches to go.
It may boil down to how United bully Swansea and Sunderland and how brutal against Newcastle and Queen's Park Rangers will City be. Go on folks.
Showing posts with label Roberto Mancini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roberto Mancini. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The most fireable managers of the Premiership
The 2010/2011 season transfer window has spectacularly changed the landscape of the Barclays Premier League managers’ job security, even if only just. As we have seen with the movements of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll to Liverpool and Fernando Torres, the focus at the bottom side of the table will lose some shine.
Arsene Wenger remains the manager number one to lose his job under the circumstances. Arsenal will need to win the FA Cup to drop him from the number one spot. This is basically because of his tired young side that desperately needs to win something. Until then, unless some senseless chairmen exhibit their rabies infected decision, Wenger heads the list. Frankly, at this point, Arsenal are not championship material, and you cannot put your money on them winning the champions league, but if they win either, Arsene will drop way below even Sir Alex Ferguson.
Chelsea's Italian Carlo Ancellotti is a close second. The reigning champions brought in Fernando Torres for a good sum. He gets paid well too. Ancellotti leans on the argument that Torres’s arrival came a little too late. It depends on how much money left does Roman Abrahimovic to buy that story. Otherwise, Chelsea will have to retain their title and/or win the champions league. They have the pedigree to achieve either or both feats, albeit with some difficulty.
Italians are usually a closely knit society and Roberto Mancini is just as close to Ancellotti in this index. For now, he will be buying time based on their current position and the fact that they did not enter the market to increase their firepower. His employers however, already have a huge wage bill and their big investment in the names they brought to Eastlands should be bearing fruit by now. They are within touching distance of the championship but Mancini needs both luck and the championship to keep his job. It will boil to the volatility of the character of his employers to remain there until May 2011.
Next in this list is Liverpool legend, Kenny Daglish. The new Liverpool manager wisely made sound business deals that will make both fans and employers happy. They offloaded under-performing Torres for red-hot Suarez and Carroll. The two have not much time to settle and need to hit the ground running. That is a possibility and I believe they will. However, should fortunes not turn and luck abandons them, any slide down the ladder will render Daglish unemployed by the end of the season. One would expect The Reds to be close to their best with the new-look side.
Following that trend, Harry Redknapp has an excuse to his employers. They failed to secure all three of his targets. Tottenham Hotspur had Diego Forlan in their shopping basket. They signed Bongani Khumalo and Steve Pienaar when I think they should have gotten very solid central defenders. Khumalo will need to get experience to secure a position in the team. William Gallas is dependable but his pace is coming to question now and then. Redknapp is the hottest manager in the league and he is making history at White Hart Lane. People and his employers love him. It remains to be seen how the team will tackle the champions' league safari. After such a long break, the team may implode and glide down. Their experience players are old war horses you cannot put your money on. The rest are either novices or injury prone. His job, until he decides he wants to be English coach, is the second most secure in the league.
There is little doubt of the intentions of Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson is the most experience and astute manager in the league. He once threatened to quit, citing lack of challenge, wanting to rest and all. That is all forgotten and United are on their way to winning the umpteenth championship and the champions league. SAF will remain the top manager no matter the form of The Red Devils. His team is not playing anyway near their best and yet they are where they want. On his side, there are no likely candidates to replace him if he left. For that and more, he has the most secure job in football management, today and probably the rest of his career.
The rest of the managers, for different reasons, fall somewhere in between. Some have the problems of their undoing while others are in low budget teams. Usually, either way, it does not matter. Those in the precarious relegation zone are likely to keep their jobs until they have sunk the teams to the reef. They usually bounce back with promoted teams to sink them again.
Arsene Wenger remains the manager number one to lose his job under the circumstances. Arsenal will need to win the FA Cup to drop him from the number one spot. This is basically because of his tired young side that desperately needs to win something. Until then, unless some senseless chairmen exhibit their rabies infected decision, Wenger heads the list. Frankly, at this point, Arsenal are not championship material, and you cannot put your money on them winning the champions league, but if they win either, Arsene will drop way below even Sir Alex Ferguson.
Chelsea's Italian Carlo Ancellotti is a close second. The reigning champions brought in Fernando Torres for a good sum. He gets paid well too. Ancellotti leans on the argument that Torres’s arrival came a little too late. It depends on how much money left does Roman Abrahimovic to buy that story. Otherwise, Chelsea will have to retain their title and/or win the champions league. They have the pedigree to achieve either or both feats, albeit with some difficulty.
Italians are usually a closely knit society and Roberto Mancini is just as close to Ancellotti in this index. For now, he will be buying time based on their current position and the fact that they did not enter the market to increase their firepower. His employers however, already have a huge wage bill and their big investment in the names they brought to Eastlands should be bearing fruit by now. They are within touching distance of the championship but Mancini needs both luck and the championship to keep his job. It will boil to the volatility of the character of his employers to remain there until May 2011.
Next in this list is Liverpool legend, Kenny Daglish. The new Liverpool manager wisely made sound business deals that will make both fans and employers happy. They offloaded under-performing Torres for red-hot Suarez and Carroll. The two have not much time to settle and need to hit the ground running. That is a possibility and I believe they will. However, should fortunes not turn and luck abandons them, any slide down the ladder will render Daglish unemployed by the end of the season. One would expect The Reds to be close to their best with the new-look side.
Following that trend, Harry Redknapp has an excuse to his employers. They failed to secure all three of his targets. Tottenham Hotspur had Diego Forlan in their shopping basket. They signed Bongani Khumalo and Steve Pienaar when I think they should have gotten very solid central defenders. Khumalo will need to get experience to secure a position in the team. William Gallas is dependable but his pace is coming to question now and then. Redknapp is the hottest manager in the league and he is making history at White Hart Lane. People and his employers love him. It remains to be seen how the team will tackle the champions' league safari. After such a long break, the team may implode and glide down. Their experience players are old war horses you cannot put your money on. The rest are either novices or injury prone. His job, until he decides he wants to be English coach, is the second most secure in the league.
There is little doubt of the intentions of Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson is the most experience and astute manager in the league. He once threatened to quit, citing lack of challenge, wanting to rest and all. That is all forgotten and United are on their way to winning the umpteenth championship and the champions league. SAF will remain the top manager no matter the form of The Red Devils. His team is not playing anyway near their best and yet they are where they want. On his side, there are no likely candidates to replace him if he left. For that and more, he has the most secure job in football management, today and probably the rest of his career.
The rest of the managers, for different reasons, fall somewhere in between. Some have the problems of their undoing while others are in low budget teams. Usually, either way, it does not matter. Those in the precarious relegation zone are likely to keep their jobs until they have sunk the teams to the reef. They usually bounce back with promoted teams to sink them again.
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