Congratulations to Manchester City, deserved winners of tonight's Manchester derby, and presumably now winners of the Premier League title. Now that I have got that begrudging praise out of the way, I can concentrate on being critical of Manchester United, and in particular the usually legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. I just can't quite understand the great Scot's team selection or approach to the second half. I can understand the first half tactics, which very nearly came off, but that is about as praising as this article will be about the United boss as far as tonight's proceedings go.
The 4-4 draw with Everton eight days ago saw the best of United's attacking ability - I'm not American so won't be using the term 'offensive' - and the worst of their defensive ability. An injury to Jonny Evans enforced at least one change, and it would have been interesting to see if he had kept his place after a poor display in that game. However, I feel it would have been harsh for him to be dropped after what has been an excellent season by the Ulsterman, and ironically it was an error by his replacement, Chris Smalling, that cost United the game. At right back, Rafael was replaced by Phil Jones. I can understand the theory that Rafael is too gung-ho and that Ferguson wanted to opt for more defensive security, but I am not sure that Jones is the right player to provide that. I simply cannot remember the last time he had a good game. He started the season and his career at the club in sterling form, and received a million and one plaudits. However, whether it is a case of the plaudits going to his head or just a drop in form, he has looked very shoddy at times since, and was wasteful in possession tonight. In attack, Danny Welbeck was dropped after an excellent showing against the Toffees, with Fergie deciding to pack his midfield. Considering the excellent partnership being built up by Welbeck and Wayne Rooney, and the fact that Rooney prefers to play deeper, why didn't Fergie make Welbeck his lone frontman and play Rooney as one of that midfield five? Nani was ineffective and we didn't see too much of Ryan Giggs as an attacking force, so maybe starting Rooney from the left may have offered more balance to the team. Park Ji-Sung was called in as a reinforcement as has happened on many occasions in big games over the years. However, he has usually had much more game time than he has this time around and it was always going to be a big ask for him to come in tonight. He coped admirably for 45 minutes, but it was always going to be a risky selection alongside a 37-year-old and 38-year-old in Paul Scholes and Giggs, with it highly unlikely that all would complete 90 minutes. It was always likely that most or all would need replacing, lessening the flexibility provided by the United bench.
It is the use of the bench that brings up my second criticism of Ferguson tonight. Having seen his plan to stifle City made redundant by Vincent Kompany's stoppage time header, I'm surprised the manager wasn't more proactive at half time. His tactics had only made a fleeting attacking impression on City early in the first half, and were otherwise not designed to lay siege to the opposition, so it was strange to see a lack of change at the break. It took a wasted ten minutes before Fergie acted, bringing on Welbeck for Park, and it then took far too long for further alterations to be made. Antonio Valencia really should have started, providing a more direct threat on the counter than the tricky Nani, and he is also the pick of United's widemen defensively. When he was finally introduced, City had already retreated in to their Nigel de Jong plan, bringing the solid Dutchman on to reinforce their midfield and protect their lead. Ashley Young was the third and final change, and with him came some shockingly wasteful set piece deliveries which seemed the only hope for the Red Devils. Given that United lost anyway by being cautious, why didn't Ferguson throw more at City? What is the worst that could have happened? A defeat? Got that anyway. Perhaps he was belatedly learning a lesson from the 6-1 drubbing at Old Trafford earlier in the season when United's late gung-ho rescue show attempt caused a 3-1 defeat to turn in to a thrashing, but on this occasion it would not have mattered. Because of that hammering, goal difference has pretty much already been decided in City's favour and so United could have afforded to risk falling further behind tonight if it gave them more of a chance of actually getting back in to the game. To lose is bad enough, but to lose gutlessly is worse.
I should probably mention City a little more given they won the game, especially as I happily stated earlier that they were the better side. At the same time, I did not think they were particularly impressive, just better or at least more proactive than their neighbours. The players that impressed me were the ones that are usually unsung, in particular Pablo Zabaleta who I have previously failed to see the point of. Tonight I thought he was superb, voiding any attacking threat United posed down the left and helping his side cause Patrice Evra plenty of problems. Evra was not helped by the lack of any defensive cover, so much so that I would be hard pushed to tell you who was meant to be playing in front of him. It was from a raid down the right hand side that the critical corner was won, powered home by Kompany after some poor marking from Smalling. One poor piece of play destroyed United's game plan, and from then on City were left just needing to do to United what the visitors had been doing to them. Neither keeper had much to do and it was no classic for the neutral. What the game was though was a nervy and tense affair suffering from the weight of importance on its shoulders.
To summarise, I have very rarely seen fit to be critical of Sir Alex Ferguson, and I would have little right to considering everything he has achieved in the game. I just simply can't understand what was in his head tonight and why he seemed to freeze on the big occasion. Many a time his teams have produced memorable comebacks and superb late rallies, but rarely have they had to do it against such a well-organised defensive shield. Tonight called for Ferguson to be more proactive, if not in his starting line up then certainly once his team were behind. It was surely a mistake to leave his key matchwinner Rooney so marginalised on the periphery of the game, and to break up a strike pairing that was so deadly a week ago. Roberto Mancini saw fit to stick with a team that had been performing so well for him recently, and even if he wanted to strengthen defensively, surely Fergie too should have at least stuck with the attack that was firing for him.
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