J-Rodd: A difficult game to analyse. I obviously have a bias towards Man Utd but for the first 30 minutes of the game, we outplayed Man City who hardly had a kick. Our unsettled defence again concedes a soft goal and we go into half time 1-0 down. Evans is a good centre back but has lapses in concentration, had one in the 46th minute and we are 1-0 down and a man down. We then played well for the next 10 minutes, before City then over ran us completely. When Fletcher got a goal back, we had a little spell where I did wonder whether we could sneak a miraculous draw but Ferdinand gives away a sloppy corner which we concede from and at 4-1 the game is over. Man Utd then let history and their winning mentality take over and pushed everyone forward to try and get some goals back which was tactically naive, just plain ridiculous in fact and Man City score another 2. City clearly deserved to win the game but 3 goals in stoppage time added a lot of gloss on the result and until we went a man down, we were matching them, arguably playing better than they were. It was embarrassing and I am receiving plenty of stick for it but at the end of the day, it is only 3 points. We lost no ground on Chelsea and oddly, losing as we did may kick start our season in a way which a close defeat may not have done.
October 1996 - Newcastle 5-0 Man Utd - Man Utd overturn a 12 point deficit to win the title ahead of Newcastle
March 2009 - Man Utd 1-4 Liverpool - Man Utd win the league ahead of Liverpool
October 2011 - Man Utd 1-6 Man City - ??? I still think we will win the league!!!
Robert: I’m glad that you are confident in United being able to rebound. The effort against City was, dare I say it, Arsenal-esque. I think they will to, but I think winning the league will be difficult. They can no longer be considered the front runners, but they are still one of the favorites. I really see Manchester City, United, and possibly Chelsea as all viable contenders for the top spot. Liverpool, Tottenham, and Arsenal are all a step behind. United’s defense was weak, which wasn’t that surprising. What was surprising is that United’s midfield looked pretty awful, which is concerning. Was it a one game fluke or is this a harbinger of things to come? I think it is the former, but it will be interesting to see how they play this weekend. As for the other two teams, they have holes as well. Chelsea showed that they lack discipline this past weekend and may not be ready to contend. I just read that Tevez is considering suing Mancini, so that about sums up City’s season. This season will be a roller coaster ride.
Whats Your Verdict?