It’s one of my favorite things to say about our noisy neighbors, but “Let’s all laugh at City” could soon be shelved, right next to the “35 Years” banner we literally held over their heads for the last 3.5 decades. With an FA Cup in their desolate trophy cabinet, City have started this league season with more than just a few pipe dreams. As I type this, they are 5 pts clear of us and a week off a 6-1 thumping of a United team that was a miniscule shadow of our early season form. We have some fickle fans, but even the most grounded United fans can share in some trepidation when it comes to this year's City team. The real question is: Are they better than United? Let’s find out.
The most glaring thing to notice about this City team is that they finally mean business, and I’m not just talking about spending the money this time. For years City have thrown money at a problem they couldn’t seem to fix – winning. When an ownership with deep pockets takes over, money will be spent. We all knew that would happen. But, we watched from our side of town while City made an attempt to replicate even the most minute United success with purchase after purchase. It’s quite difficult to sit on the other side while your rivals win every trophy possible, so City took the approach that loads of money would buy loads of the best players. The simple law of economics does prevail and, yes, whoever has the most money can afford the best players. The problem City faced was that they were buying players for exorbitant amounts of money, but they were overpaying and buying the wrong players. Robinho, Milner, Adebayor, SWP (the 2nd go-around), Santa Cruz, Zabaleta, Barry, etc. Some are gone, some are still there, but City kept buying. We laughed at the failures year after year, but at some point, these players would learn to play together. That time has come.
Over the last three or so seasons, City fielded a team with the highest wages and highest transfer fees, but no one wanted to play together. The joke was that no one spoke the same language, so how could they possibly play football as a cohesive unit. The funny part about this was that it was true. They constantly underachieved. Even an FA Cup and a CL birth last season were considered a letdown for a team with close to 600m in players. In the end, City and its fans were ecstatic with those two accomplishments, though I’m sure a Carling Cup win would’ve satisfied a City fan after 35 years of nothing. However, it still begged the question, “When will City produce?” No manager, Mancini or not, can stick around from just winning an FA Cup or Carling Cup each year. City wanted European glory just like every other team, so coming into this season the stakes were just a bit higher for them. They tasted some success and wanted more. But, is more success in City’s future? Let’s look at both teams now.
City have gelled in a way that hasn’t been seen since, well, since some 35 years ago. Mancini is finally finding a way to make the players work. His comment about having a lack of players was comical, but when you’re spoiled with money, you get greedy and unsatisfied. David Silva has been their star, controlling a mid-field that needed some serious grounding and continuity. Balotelli is still petulant, but he’s started producing. Tevez turned into the sour apple everyone in Manchester knew he would, so Mancini went out and purchased his replacement, Aguero. Kompany has always been their best defender, but they’ve fortified themselves in the back so far, conceding very few goals. Silva has glued their MF together while their strikers have put in goals. The bickering and lack of team unity have turned into a viable squad. They have slaughtered teams, including United – us being the only real competition thus far. You know who they remind me of? Chelsea this time last year. Remember what happened to Chelsea at season’s end? They were 9 points back of United. So let’s look at United.
We spent the off-season getting De Gea, Young, and Jones. We couldn’t lock down a CMF, but when the season started we settled in on using Cleverley as Scholes’ immediate replacement. The formula seemed to work – until it didn’t. Eventually, the MF issue of the last few seasons crept back into view and our early season form went away. The culmination of this slip in form happened to City. At home. 6-1. Does that mean City is better than us? On the weekend, yes. On the season, no. The one thing that we have on our side that will set us apart as season’s end is Fergie. He finds a way to win. Mancini hasn’t shown us that yet. He has a plethora of players at his disposal, but when his team starts sustaining injuries or booking suspensions or Balotelli’s temper, can Mancini find a team that works like Fergie can? For me, the answer is “No.”
You can could argue that on paper, and even on the field, City have a better team. Lord knows they have the money to support that. But, what they don’t have is a heart like Manchester United. Fergie has the respect of players. And, he holds their respect without having to demand it - he's earned it. It’s just the United way. Mancini has spats with his players on the sidelines – see Balotelli and Tevez. That would not happen at United. And while Mancini has dealt with Balotelli and Tevez, the bottom-line is that he shouldn’t have to. Sure, Fergie has had spats with players (Beckham and Ronaldo), but he's also been at the club for 25 years and it's almost never on the sidelines of a match. Mancini hasn't even hit the two year mark. He might very well be a great manager, but that has yet to be seen. The sincere truth is that there's just an air of professionalism at Old Trafford that has yet to find its way over to Stockport. And see, the season isn’t 9 games long. A Prem season is 38 games long. We understand what it takes to get through those 38 league games, and about 20 some odd others, and have something to show for it. Just drive by OT and you’ll see the proof of 19 domestic titles. Drive by Stockport and you won’t see any of that. You'll see one trophy and a half-empty stadium on match day. In the end, City isn’t a better team than United. It’s something they have to earn. Something they have to want. Something that they’ll have to come and get from us. Something I hope they have to wait another season to try and do.
Follow me on Twitter at @JasTheDevil
Couple of points Ireland came from the youth development programme at city, SWP & Zabeltta were bought before the takeover.
ReplyDelete"Mancini has finally Found a way" OK so its taken him the 18months to build a side including having to get rid of the problem players (mainly purchased by Hughes) that's a really long time:-)you should really check how long Ferguson took to build a team at united and remember that Ferguson had a lot of money to spend (allowing for inflation in transfer fees) when he took over at united.
Now don't get me wrong its a long season and your right Fergie is a proven winner but then so is Mancini 3 Italian leagues the first did come via other teams getting points docked / relegated over match fixing but to finish second (by 2 points) when the other teams are fixing matches is perhaps more impressive.
It will be a close season and no one has won anything yet Chelsea could yet have a big say but I think it will come down to City or United and it ma just be that United's failure to address Central Midfield tips it in City's favour.
I didn't think this article was that bad to be honest. The last 2 sentences let it down. Using Carrington/Stockport is silly given that teams train next door to one another in Carrington.
ReplyDelete"they'll have to come and get from us" <- For me that's the significance of the 6-1. Currently the title race is out of United's hands.
That aside....For me the story of who will be the title winners lies in 2 questions.
1. Can City cope with the loss of Yaya Toure to the African Cup of Nations
2. Can United dig deeper.
1. Jury's out- it's a tricky part of the season and our fixtures are tough.
2. I'm not convinced- The spine of the De Gea, Ferdinand, Cleverly, Rooney seems a little rocky.
'It's the United way' means nothing. United need to outscore City by 6 points in the remaining games. Which means initially it's out of their control. They need City to screw up. Which they may, or they may not.
Not the worst article I've read to be honest but there's still some trademark nonsense in there. Yes we've spent a lot but so have United over the years. And spending money in itself is no guarantee of success as Spurs, Newcastle, Villa have found out. We also paid very reasonable fees for players like Kompany, Zabaleta, Barry. We've also had a few failures but that's the case with all clubs.
ReplyDeleteQuite right to say nothing is decided yet but I think you're overstating Ferguson's ability to a degree. He's made the whole greater than the sum of the parts for so long which has been a remarkable achievement but the signs are there that the parts aren't as good as they have been. United have allowed their opponents more chances than any other team, including the teams at the bottom. Theyve been lucky until Sunday, when they got found out. The senior players didn't provide any leadership when they've been the ones to do so in the past. And what will happen when Fergie retires in a year or two?
Finally why did you spoil an otherwise good article with the stupid Stockport and empty seats jibes? Every PL game has sold out this season and the Newcastle game in 2 weeks will sell out this weekend at the latest and that's with Newcastle taking a reduced allocation.
I was referring to SWP on the 2nd go around, which happened to be right before the club takeover. Same with Zabaleta. Zabaleta's sale was one day before the takeover, so I was lumping them in that whole timeline. The point isn't about SWP or Zabaleta. You could name 5 more players that City spent too much money on or players they just didn't need in an attempt to throw together a formidable team.
ReplyDeleteThe jibes at Stockport and empty seats were for effect. Each fan takes a stereotype about the other and they hold onto it. City like to say that United aren't even in Manchester. United fans make fun of empty seats.
My point with the entire article was that City are actually a team that mean business now. The days of them not working together seem to be over - the article was actually a compliment. I gracefully took the lumps of a 6-1 defeat, but thinking that one win over United is somehow going to catapult City to a trophy is just silly. We held the 35 years over City's head because we had actually won something to justify it. One win over United is a step, not a giant leap. Nitpicking over a detail here and there detracts from the overall gist of what I was trying to say: Watch out for City.
As other posters have said it's not the worst article but pointing out your errors is not nitpicking city made a profit on SWP cost 0 sold for 22million bought back for 10-12million sold on for 6-8 million, Zabellta was a direct replacement for Corluka who was sold to Spurs for more than Zabeltta cost, Ireland was again cost 0 and used as 8million (if you believe the papers) in the milner deal.
ReplyDeleteIf you had pointed out Santa Cruz etc then that's a good example of overpaying but remember Ferguson paid 1.2million for Danny Wallace in 1989 according to this blog http://betting.betfair.com/sports/oddly-enough/the-10-most-costly-manchester-united-transfer-flop-141010.html is the equivalent of nearly £17million in today's money.
To suggest Ferguson has a better winning record than ferguson seems obvious. However mancini's record in Italy is superb if you bothered to check basic sources such as wikipedia.
You have written a good article which in broad terms I don't disagree with, But you have let yourself down with bad examples and poor research.
I mentioned buying the wrong players AND also overpaying for them. Buying SWP again made no sense when it came to fielding a team. If he was vital to the team, he wouldn't have been sold to Chelsea. After his return, he was as non-existent as before he left. Now he's on QPR. Ireland was used as a trading chip, but Milner's pricetag was ridiculous anyway.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Danny Wallace or any other player that hasn't really panned out, Fergie is allowed some errors. He's been there for 25 years. Mancini has been around for 2 years and City have thrown money around on players that don't play or players who aren't worth the fee. United have money to spend and aside from this off-season (55m spent), our transfer windows have been very quiet. SAF doesn't just throw money around for the sake of spending it. City think that spending all that money must eventually yield a roster full of people who can get the job done - a job they are currently doing well.
Also, I never doubted Mancini's ability as a coach/manager, but Serie A isn't BPL. Success is success, but now we're comparing two managers in the BPL.
Come on then list mancini's errors in the transfer market (remember not to list mark hughes)
ReplyDeleteI will raise you
Veron
Taibi
De Gea (from performances I have seen)
Bosnich
David may (1.4 million lol)
Jordi Cruyff
Quentin Fortune
Fabian Barthez
Diego Forlan (Really got the best end of that deal)
David Bellion
Dejemba Dejemba
Kleberson
Saha
Carrick
Hargreaves (17 million -> free)
Of course there will examples of Ferguson's errors he has been manager for a long time.
But to suggest that man united have been very quiet in the transfer market is ridiculous.
Season after season the transfer record was broken by united or Liverpool (before united had won anything) then by united,arsenal or Chelsea.
City have simply tried to and seem to be succeeding in doing this 'investment' in a shorter period of time. Will there be failures by mancini yes but no more that any other manager.
Arguably Serie A is more difficult you actually need a qualification to coach there.
Well, in fairness, you’re listing a slew of players over the last decade or so and I could only list players since Mancini has been at the club. And City have been tossing money around since the Sheikhs took over, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t make bad decisions regarding players before the transfer in ownership (Hughes and beyond).
ReplyDeleteA few issues I have with some on your list. First, you can’t list De Gea at all. He’s been at the club since the summer. In that time, he’s made the most stops in the PL. And other than one or two shaky performances, he’s played well and gotten unjust stick. But, if you can count De Gea, shouldn’t I be able to count Tevez for just this season alone? That’s not fair either. Second, I wouldn’t even consider Saha a complete bust. Did he live up to the hype, no, but not a failure. Injuries didn’t help. I’ll definitely not give you Carrick. He played an instrumental role in us winning 3 titles in a row. Hasn’t played well for a season or so, but no flop. On the Hargeaves tip, I’d have to concede that only because he wasn’t fit. Every club, including City, wanted him before he came to United and he sat because of his knees. Yes, you have him for free, but I truly wonder what you’re paying him. More than I’m sure he deserves for sitting out for two full years. Forlan pains me the most because he’s a great striker now. Actually wish we could've signed him in the last year. Oh well.
How is it ridiculous that we’ve been quiet? Name players that we’ve gotten that we’ve paid “City” money for in the last five years that haven’t produced. We paid 31m for Berbatov and it took him awhile to come around, but he was instrumental in us winning the league last year. Worth the fee. He’s lost favor because of Chicharito, who cost only 6 million. What about great deals like a million dollars for Eric Cantona? Transfer records will continually be broken because that’s how the PL is, but City seem to be a catalyst for the overvaluation of players. Every graph I’ve seen over the last X amount of years shows City dwarfing United in the spending department.
Lastly, I’m not quite sure how I should take the Serie A debate. Success there doesn’t translate to success in the PL. It’s subjective, but most people agree that the PL is the best/toughest league in the world. And to that extent, I’m quite certain that if someone like Fergie can have success in England, he could have success in Serie A.