Let's All Laugh at City???

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

Our Fantastic Back Four - Are They Really That Good?

Despite our most recent success, most notably over the last five seasons, there have always been issues that needed addressing. This is nothing new for any team because there’s always something that can be fixed. But during the last few years, injuries have plagued our defense, lack of creativity has plagued our MF, and true depth has plagued both those areas. With this new squad, we are chock full of options, especially in defense.  This hasn’t always been the case.

Fans will never forget the injured plagued season of three years ago, when it seemed like we never had a fully fit back four. Fans will remember SAF plugging the damn with makeshift defenders (Michael Carrick) just trying to stay afloat. With four titles in five years, SAF made it work. All of a sudden, we have a strong back line with options. When Rio or Vidic would pick up a knock three years ago, we cringed at who would be put back there. So far this season, Rio and Vidic haven’t really played and we’ve still looked excellent. This begs the question – Is our back four really that good? The answer isn’t as clear-cut as what the beginning of this campaign would have you think.

The long and short of it is that our back four, whoever we decide to field, is really that good. However, we can’t get carried away with the hoopla just yet. After the Bolton game, the biggest worry was whether or not Rooney would get a third successive hat trick. After the Chelsea game, the biggest worry isn’t just that we had a crap game in MF – it’s that Chelsea had many scoring opportunities. These scoring opportunities weren’t given in the first four games of the season. With that, we have to keep in mind that Chelsea was a first true test of this young PL season. It could’ve easily been a game that we lost. A big focal point? The defense.

Let’s take a closer look at who we have in the back and go from there. Since part of this article is about the depth in the back, let’s just leave Rio and Vidic out of the equation for now. The ten million pound signing of Chris Smalling from Fulham last year had some scratching their heads. Not now. The lad is a damn fine back and has shown us that. The shaky Jonny Evans of last year seems to be in hiding as he was my MOTM in the Chelsea game. There was mixed reaction when we signed Phil Jones. Some people hadn’t really seen him play at Blackburn and some just worried about his age. So far, Phil Jones is probably our player of the year. Evra didn’t have a good season last year, but has stepped up for us in these first few games. He does get caught out still, so he’ll need to keep addressing that. We also have the Da Silva twins. Quick fan favorites last season, the twins have gone back to being spectators as of recently, which is saying something about the quality of our defense. Rafa has a shoulder issue that’s kept him out, but even if they were both fit – and more level-headed – I still think that Jones, Smalling, and Evra would be the go-to players. These are the pro’s.

Here are the con’s. Our team has lacked youth in the last few years. We went from being one of the oldest teams to now being one of the youngest teams. With that comes the growing pains, as evidenced by the Chelsea match. Keep in mind that the group of defenders we have at our disposal haven’t played together all that much. Playing five PL games pales in comparison to having several seasons under your belt. While we can pat them on the back for the recent play, their youth and general inexperience will get exposed. Evra is currently the staple in the back. He didn’t play with Evans all that much, and before this season didn’t play with Smalling much or Jones at all. Evans has been a rock, but only played with Smalling during a select few games last year. Jones is new. He’s amazing, but he’s new. It takes time to gel together, to understand exactly how to work as a four and not a one, to know what a player will do before he does it. What I’m basically saying is that there is a learning curve. And while we’ve been ahead of this curve all season, there will be times where the vitality and youthfulness of our back four will become a liability rather than an asset. I don’t expect it to happen much, but it will happen. We’ve needed young players and now we’ve got them. And the good and bad that comes along with it.

United fans are quite fickle, but have hopefully adopted a new philosophy this season. We’ve been begging for a youthful side and we’ve got one. United fans must understand the trials and tribulations that go along with this desire. Almost all fans that I’ve encountered have been steadfast and true with our youngsters, especially backing David de Gea when pundits write him off. He’s had a few shaky moments, but he’s also produced some wonderful ones, too. But we’ve been there to support him. Hell, look at everyone’s Twitter avatar. This support needs to carry through to our other youngsters in the back. We haven’t had to give it much thought, but we have to now. To the fans who are already supporting them – good for you. It’s up to us to defend our defenders, through it all.

Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasTheDevil