Post Mortem: 5 Things That Went Wrong at the Manchester Derby

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I am pissed. Seriously pissed.

At the beginning of April, Arsenal snatched a win at the Emirates over Manchester City to gift Manchester United with a whopping 8 point lead at the top with only SIX games remaining! Man Utd were in a position beyond ‘pole’ to claimed their unprecedented 20th Premier League title.

3 matches later, Man Utd had dropped FIVE points – suffering a 0-1 shocker at Wigan and a near impossible, wild 4-4 draw vs Everton. All of a sudden, the Manchester Derby on Labor Day 2012 would prove more decisive than ever. With THREE important points at stake and having a more superior goal difference, Man City would go top if they were to triumph over Man Utd.

End result: Man City 1 Man Utd 0, with Vincent Kompany heading in the only goal to push Man City to the top on a +8 goal difference with 2 matches remaining. Sigh.

So without any ‘grey-coloured’ jerseys to blame, where did Sir Alex Ferguson get it wrong this time? Here’s my post mortem of 5 things that went wrong at the recent Manchester Derby:

1. Lacking Ambition

Holding on to a slender 3 point lead heading into the Derby, SAF was clearly lacking the ambition to go ahead to kill off the competition. His tactics and strategy clearly highlighted his objective of securing a draw and protect the 3 point lead. I don’t think I saw any dangerous attempt at goal or even any shot on target from the team in red. Big Mistake.

2. Ageing Midfield

I still couldn’t believe SAF opted to start the Derby with a museum-like midfield consisting of Scholes, Giggs, and Park. With Man City’s tough midfield general in Yaya Toure and flanked by speedy Nasri and Silva, Scholes in particular had absolutely no chance to dictate the pace of the game. Park was left running aimlessly (till he was substituted) and Giggs was quite invisible supporting the flanks.

3. The Hunger Games

SAF totally got it wrong if he had thought experience would win see Man Utd through. With so many ageing stars who already have won plenty at the club, perhaps a gutsier option would be to throw in some youth who would have more hunger to win the Championship. Check out the talent left warming the bench: Young, Valencia, Chicarito, Welbeck, etc. With Nani being the only noticeable winger o the field, Man Utd offered absolutely no threat along the flanks. I usually notice Nani pairs up well with Evra on the left, but the preferred lineup pushed him to the right, which impeded his usefulness.

A better option would have been to start with Valencia on the right and Nani on the left, offering more offensive options along the flanks. Scholes should have been rested in this high-tempo game in favour of Jones in midfield and Rafael to cover right back. But then again, SAF was playing his defensive set of cards that day..sigh.

4. Faulty Formation

Over the years, SAF has been openly criticized for playing the ultra-defensive, Champions League mode formation of 4-5-1. It has (i) never really brought Man Utd much success and (ii) often created more confusion amongst the players who are almost programmed to play the attacking 4-4-2 formation week in, week out.

So the 4-5-1 formation clearly cements SAF’s fear of the opponents capabilities. It was until much later in the 2nd half when Valencia and Young were thrown in to save the game. Sadly by then, the noisy City bus was already parked in their goal behind Joe Hart.

5. Losing Mind Games

I have to tip my hat off to Mancini. Over the years, SAF is highly regarded to be a master at playing mind games with his opponents. Most evident was when Man Utd chased down Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle from 14 points down in 1996 to win the title behind SAF’s effective mind games.

This season, Mancini has successfully taken the pressure off his players in these last few games by insisting Man Utd would still win the league, bla, bla bla. I would never have imagined Man Utd to lose the plot with just 6 games remaining but it looks like we are choking as badly as Keegan’s Newcastle back then…

When I reflect on the past 36 games of the current season, I have to admit Man Utd has been quite poor in terms of consistency in performance, exertion of authority and in-game focus. However, it does not take away the fact that coming round the final bend of this season, a run of 8 consecutive matches has put Man Utd in a superb position to win the league again…until now.

We have totally lost the initiative to Man City with 2 games left. I certainly hope SAF can inspire Man Utd to finish strongly and hope for Man City to drop points to Newcastle or QPR…

What could be worse than living next to noisy neighbours? Why, living next to noisy champions, of course….

Please Man Utd…please don’t make it so….