Knocked Off Our Lucky Perch

            “I'd also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me. Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important..”

            After 27 incredible years of chewing gum in the United dugout, Sir Alex Ferguson left behind these words for the Old Trafford faithful to cling onto, as their last reminiscence of a glorious era gone by. An era marked by success of a nature and consistency unheard of, a landscape dotted with the rise of club legend after legend, two and a half decades of knocking Liverpool and pretty much every other English club off their perch, to quite firmly entrench it as their own, a time brimming over with an unparalleled desire to win, and most of all, a never-ending series of ups and downs, the oft dour English game transformed into one rife with nervous anticipation and sheer excitement.  All this made possible by a straight-talking Scotsman from the city of Glasgow, forever peering carefully through his glasses, chewing away, as though he were ruminating on the game of football that was unfolding in front of him. But the day had to come when he would finally have to hang up his boots, dragged as they had been through the rain and mud of Manchester. And with his departure, it felt as though a part of Manchester United had left, never to return, never to douse the Red half of Manchester with glorious sunshine again. He asked them all to keep the faith, and believe in their new manager, but then Sir Alex was always more than just a manager, he was the driving force that spurred Manchester United onto greatness beyond any the Red Devils could ever have imagined.

David Moyes must surely have known that this would be a nigh on impossible act to follow when he took up the reins at Old Trafford this summer. The trepidation and uncertainty that muddled the minds of all us United fans was only to be expected, left rudderless as they were. But with that great man’s last plea in mind, it only seemed fair to give his preferred man for the job a chance to prove himself. And after a rather poorly planned transfer window, with the last-gasp signing of Marouane Fellaini, and a topsy-turvy start to the season, finally came the litmus test for Moyes, the one match where a win would sway every single Red his way, the one match where every single touch of the ball would write his forthcoming destiny as the manager of Manchester United.

When Manchester United play Manchester City, it is personal. The tackles, the lunges, the shots, the brutal displays of strength and power, they all boil down to an unquenchable quest for victory over the most bitter of rivals. El Clasico is an exhibition of the best that football has on hand to offer, but the Manchester derby is all about the blood, toil, sweat and tears put into making a sworn enemy bite the dust. City’s rise to prominence, their sudden ascent from being a gnat that United would habitually swat away with ridiculous ease, to usurpers of United’s throne backed by vast reserves of oil money, quite possibly rankled deeply with the Red Devils. And thus yesterday, these two teams met, with new managers in tow, the cool calculated calm of Manuel Pellegrini crossing swords with the gutsy determination of David Moyes.

                       

The Empty-had was filled to the brim, packed with fans eagerly lying in wait for their teams to draw first blood. City started with ten foreign outfield players, and Joe Hart in goal. Their backline was greatly fortified by the return of their captain Vincent Kompany, while Samir Nasri, Aleksandr Kolarov and Alvaro Negredo were all handed starts. United on the other hand were badly jolted by the news that Van Persie had suffered an unfortunate thigh strain and would thus play no part in the derby, with Danny Welbeck leading the line in his absence. Given his impact the last time these two sides had met at the Etihad, he would undoubtedly be missed. But even he would not have been able to foretell how painful his thigh strain would eventually prove to be.

Both teams entered the fixture on the back of comfortable wins in the Champions League. When the game got underway though, United looked anything but comfortable. The only real occasion in the entire first half, when they got behind City’s defence, was in the very first minute when Welbeck intercepted a Kompany clearance and make a run for goal, albeit to no avail. Thereafter, it was all one-way traffic. At the end of an agonising first half, the stats showed that City had an incredible 11 attempts at goal, in comparison to United’s pitiful 2. However, the stats belie the true nature of the turmoil that United were put through.

Sergio Kun Aguero has always been a man blessed with remarkable ability to wound United deeply, and thereafter twist the knife in those wounds, as anyone who recollects his title-clinching winner against QPR would very well know. Yesterday, he was at it again, scoring City’s first goal that was the outcome of a swiftly executed counterattack, . A precise long pass forward from Matija Nastascic found its way to Nasri, who toyed momentarily with Chris Smalling, before flicking the ball expertly into the path of the onrushing Kolarov, who had been left untracked by Antonio Valencia. Kolarov’s momentum gave him just the amount of space needed to engineer a cross, and he did exactly that, with a powerful hit across the face of goal that Aguero got his foot to resulting in a spectacular no-look volley that left a hapless David De Gea in its wake. United started the game sluggishly and continued in similar fashion, looking to contain City, showing very little spine and a considerable lack of application, holding back and drawing a rampant City onto them as they tightened the noose around their own necks.

The image of a furious Vidic reprimanding Tony stood out, as United attempted to pick themselves out of the dust. But the City juggernaut merely kept trampling them underfoot, stamping their authority on the game, with frenzied attack after attack. Fernandinho was clearly set up to do a job on Wayne Rooney, clipping away at his heels every single time he came into possession of the ball, a role he performed splendidly. Marouane Fellaini, United’s 27.5 million pound man, ostensibly asked by Moyes to do the same against the towering threat of Yaya Toure, however came up woefully short of what was required of him and was largely at fault for the second City goal. At a corner late in the first half, he committed the grave error of leaving Toure unmarked and went for the ball, missed completely, and watched in dismay as Toure kneed the ball in off Negredo’s head-on. United’s solitary shot of the half came from a Valencia shot that smacked into the boards some way down towards the corner flag. At the end of the half, a desolate United traipsed in, well aware that Fergie time and the hairdryer had long bid them goodbye.

As United emerged from the tunnel for the second half, their chances of constructing another miraculous escape looked slim, shorn as they were of Van Persie, and with Moyes having left the creative genius of Shinji Kagawa on the bench. Any hopes they may have had though, were quickly dispelled as City came out all guns blazing in the second half, and scored two goals in quick succession early in the half. Aguero, once again, and Nasri, effectively put the game to bed, as City ripped asunder a shambolic United defence on the counter. Thereafter, on 51 minutes, Moyes took Ashley Young out of the game, and none too soon either, for the winger had been nothing more than a mere passenger  for most of the game. Tom Cleverley’s introduction was marginally delayed by City’s fourth goal and was also viewed by many as another negative tactic by Moyes. United fans were irate at the manner in which Kagawa was ignored once again. However, quite surprisingly, Cleverley’s introduction seemed to breathe life into United, as the much-maligned England international showed the character and will that had sorely been missing in his teammates all afternoon.  Where a lazy Fellaini and a slow Carrick failed miserably, an energetic Cleverley fought tooth and nail with the imposing Toure for every touch of the ball, and gradually began passing the ball around to bring a semblance of flow into United’s game. City too fell back, virtually assured as they were of three points, and United came close on a few occasions, hitting the post as well. Eventually, a stupendous free kick from Wayne Rooney found its way into the top right corner of Hart’s net, but that offered little consolation for the disarray that United found themselves in at the referee’s whistle.

For years, United’s midfield has been something of a medical marvel, a regular source of astonishment, as to how it somehow holds on obdurately inspite of a dearth of any real talent. However, with Fergie no longer around to gloss over the gaping errors, Moyes now faces an uphill task to bring this doddering central midfield to life. Also arising is a swift and foreboding pattern of Moyes’ being apparently clueless in bigger games, as proved by the abject surrenders to Liverpool and City. It is essential for him to be brave in his squad selection, for Fergie was an astute risk taker. Manchester United have undoubtedly been blessed with the luck of the devil, be it the last –minute goals, the glorious comebacks, overachieving with graft over skill. But now with the team in transition, and yesterday’s monumental defeat raising serious doubts, their lurks a shroud of uncertainty in the minds of every United fan at present: Have we been knocked off our lucky perch?

                       

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Somdeep Dey - follow me on twitter - @Red_deyvil

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