Ole Gunnar Solskjaer warmed up the atmosphere for tonight's crucial Manchester derby, which could easily decide the destination of the Premier League title between Anfield and the Etihad, by saying that City "snap at your heels and kick you". This has produced a degree of disbelief from many commentators and a hurt response from Pep Guardiola, saying he "didn't like" Solskjaer's comments and his team "is not built for that, not at all".
Now the stats clearly show that City commit fewer fouls and get fewer yellow cards than just about anyone. But the stats only tell part of the story. Over a year ago I noted that City are masters of all aspects of the game, including gamesmanship and the dark arts (see The Most Cynical Team In The Premier League? 3 April 2018). I'd picked up that Jonathan Norcroft of the Sunday Times had reported that the chairman of another Premier League club noted that his team had so little possession against City that their opportunities came down to eight or nine counter-attacks "but they fouled us on six of them, so what did we have left?" As I said at the time "Fouls at three-quarters of the dangerous transitions in possession - wow".
So I watched Everton's game against Manchester City at Goodison in early April last year with that point specifically in mind. City had an embarrassing 82% of the possession and scored after only four minutes. But soon after that Kyle Walker deliberately (and painfully) clipped Leighton Baines's ankle near Everton's box to prevent a quick break. Before City scored their second goal, after only 12 minutes, Leroy Sane interrupted Everton's best passing spell with a deliberate handball just inside his own half. Neither foul led to a yellow card. So this was in the first 12 minutes of a game City dominated. On other occasions I've noticed the silky skilled David Silva stopping a quick break with a cynical professional foul, remarking that he had made himself the complete team player.
Of course Solskjaer was trying to influence the referee for tonight's match. And quite right too, I've commented many times that the top teams get preferential treatment, probably subconciously, from referees. But don't try to tell me that City don't get up to these things, don't cite their low number of cards as evidence and pull the other one, Pep.
Solskjaer knows that United will need to get some breaks to get a result tonight. Breaks in terms of good fortune, rub of the green etc and probably breaks in terms of counter attacks. United are equipped to score goals on the break with Rashford, Martial and yes, Lukaku (well he used to do it at Everton). It may come down to a few occasions in the match when United could really harm City. But if City stop them at source - and are allowed to get away with it by the ref - United's chances will be much smaller. Though don't rule out United's chances of a goal from a set piece - after all Chris Smalling won the derby at City last year that way, United have a team with quite a few big lads and any team, including City, can be vulnerable especially the way defences line up with suicidally high defensive lines at free kicks these days.
The title race is one of the most dramatic in many years, with City and Liverpool on remarkable runs as they battle it out. The "race" for the last top four slot (looking at the fixtures I'd already given third place to Tottenham before last night's win against Brighton, haven't they coped well without Kane?) is close but the contenders - Arsenal, Chelsea and United - all seem to have been bidding for the Europa League slot, so weak has been their form. Nevertheless a very interesting Premier League season, however it pans out.
Whoever triumphs between City and Liverpool will clearly have deserved it, even if Liverpool have possibly had more luck at key moments with their late and fortunate winners at home against Everton and Tottenham. Even I, for whom City is my least favourite club (I hold a grudge about a hooliganism incident at Maine Road in 1972) and Liverpool - well they are essentially the anti-Christ - would have to hold my hands up and grudgingly offer respect.
Even if it hurts. Just like having your ankle clipped does, Pep.
No comments:
Post a Comment