da bet nacional： Manchester United exacted revenge on City. It’s the first time since December 2012, when Robin Van Persie scored a deflected free kick in the last minute at the Etihad, that United have beaten City.
da spicy bet： United are on an impressive run of form, losing only one of their last 10 league games. City, on the other hand have lost four, and six of their last eight games in all competitions.
So the 4-2 scoreline was no surprise to anyone, really. But in the first half, United didn’t really look like battering City just as much as the actually did in the end.
City scored first, and United replied with two goals of their own as they targeted the City defence, and pulled Marouane Fellaini out to Gael Clichy, creating a mismatch in the air.
But actually, City had chances of their own, especially in the first half. United’s defence has looked shaky from time to time this season, despite their defensive record being absolutely fine – they’ve conceded fewer than City. But it does definitely look like you can get in behind them.
As United plied the pressure on the City defence, they looked vulnerable to the counter, and the pace of Jesus Navas and also of Aguero looked dangerous. There were numerous times when De Gea cleared the ball only inches away from a City attacker, and there were chances for Navas and Aguero in particular.
It was probably United’s first half goals that won them the game. The third goal put the game out of City’s reach, but it was how United turned the scoreline on its head and sank City hearts that won them the game. But had City been able to convert those moments in the first half where they managed to get in behind the United defence, it could have been a much different story.
So although United won the game, their weaknesses were all too exposed.
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I think these are weaknesses we already knew about. It’s too simplistic to say that United’s defence is dodgy, or that it’s too slow, or even that the defenders are positionally unaware. They are none of these things. Some defences look good, but are actually papering over the cracks, cracks that leak goals. United’s defence is the opposite. It looks leaky, but really, it isn’t. At least, the defence itself isn’t leaky, it’s just how the team plays football.
Van Gaal wants his teams to keep possession, to camp in the opposition half and pass the ball around, not allowing the other team the ball so they can’t attack. And the territorial advantage also puts a strain on the opposition defence, and the players who are running around after a multitude of passes tire later in the game.
But he also likes to play a high line. A high line allows United to press high up the pitch, but it does leave you susceptible to a high ball over the top, and pace is always a problem for you.
We see it so often when a team has 60 or 70 % possession and absolutely batters the opposition that they concede goals on the counter and lose the game. It doesn’t look fair, but the counter can make you look silly. In the case of Pep Guardiola’s Bayern last year against Real Madrid in the Semi-Final of the Champions League, it made him look very silly indeed.
Having a keeper like Manuel Neuer, though allows you to play like this more often. He stands at the edge of his box, if not even outside his box, for the majority of the game ready to pick up any ball over the top of your pushed up defence.
Perhaps with a goalkeeper pushed up a little further against City, United would not have looked so exposed at the back, as all of these hopeful balls over the United back four could have been cleared much more quickly by De Gea, instead of being booted into row Z under severe pressure from the speedy Jesus Navas Gonzalez.
I don’t mean to criticise De Gea too much, he showed that he was good enough with his feet to deal with these balls. He’s also clearly a wonderful goalkeeper who is perhaps on his way to a player of the year nomination. He might be able to learn this different sweeper position in the future. But for the moment, it looks dangerous every time there’s a ball over the top, and United need to have the confidence that there’s a goalkeeper about to sweep up behind the defence when they push up. If they don’t have this confidence, they’ll be second guessing every pass, making sure not to play a risky one in case it’s intercepted and the counter leads to a goal. This is no way to attack, and it certainly isn’t the Van Gaal way.
So although United won the game, it doesn’t mean they’re back to challenging for titles just yet, but they are very very close. In the mean time, they have things to work on. It mightn’t be a popular opinion, but either transforming De Gea or else replacing him might he high on the list. He’s one of, if not the, best keeper in the league, but he’s not quite what United need just at the moment. He’s not far off, though.
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