Shame on United and City as they serve up a bore draw

A fan watching the City v United game on line

The big one

In England we had a documentary featuring Eric Cantona exploring the past and present of the Manchester derby a couple of days before the game and you couldn’t turn on Sky television in the past week without seeing an advert for ‘the big one’.

When the game finally took place what we got was an absolute waste of everybody’s time. A total and utter damp squib of a game that will only stay in the memory because of the pain and boredom it caused.

Ambition

It soon became clear that Manchester City were playing Carlos Tevez as a lone front man and that his nearest support was going to be Yaya Toure. Now Toure is a decent player but if he is the main support for your striker then the attacking ambition of the team has to be seriously questioned.

As for United, they had Dimitar Berbatov playing as the focal point of a front three, allegedly supported by Ji Sung-Park and Nani. It soon became clear that Berbatov was, in fact, playing as a lone front man.

Excitement

The net result of these two formations was that each time a team attacked, and I use the word in it’s loosest sense, they did so with a maximum of two players whilst the other team had nine or ten men behind the ball. Unsurprisingly we then had a game of no chances, no goals and no excitement.

If this was a game between two of the best four teams in the Premier League then the claims it shouts from the rooftops of being the very best league in the world, must be viewed with suspicion.

Abysmal

Whilst Manchester United were not exactly gung-ho in their approach, I feel that the majority of the blame for the abysmal spectacle must lie with Roberto Mancini and Manchester City.

City were the home team. City were the team with a point to prove. City are the team trying to show that they are worthy of challenging the likes of United and Chelsea. United were missing Rooney and Giggs. United had some players who had been ill in the build up to the game. United have not been playing well. If there is ever a good time to play against Manchester United then surely this was it.

Disappointed

In these circumstances I was really disappointed that Mancini set his team up not to lose. After the game he seemed happy with a point and his strategy was summed up by the use of £25 million striker Adebayor being used as a substitute to waste time as the game drew to a close.

Neither side came out of the game with much credit but Mancini is way off the mark to claim that this game showed his team are now at the same level as United. Occasionally teams from the lower end of the league put ten men behind the ball at Old Trafford, park the bus as Mourinho would say, and come away with a result. That doesn’t mean they are a team of the same standard.

Missed

I can’t help but feel this was a huge opportunity missed by City and that Mancini, by being ridiculously cautious, has wasted a chance to send a real message across the city and across the rest of the Premier League.

City are a team of great individuals who have been assembled at a cost beyond the comprehension of most people. For a manager to send those expensive and talented players out on the pitch with such a restrictive game plan suggests that he does not have any faith that those individuals have yet made a team.

I love the game of football and I have rarely been more disappointed by a game than I was on Wednesday. Both teams should be embarrassed by what they served up, but City fans will probably be the more frustrated.