WHY WENGER IS ONLY ONE STILL SMILING AFTER THIS
There were people here who had travelled from New York, some more from India, to see a special, important match. A long way to come for this show, that. To be fair, a bus ride from Salford was barely worth the fare.
Yes, there are derbies with less quality, but they tend to involve summer fetes and donkeys, not the elite of the english game.
It was a match that brought back memories of United’s encounter with Chelsea at the start of David Moyes’s brief reign. Jose Mourinho played without a striker and United may as well have. england manager roy hodgson was there and said he really enjoyed it. he was in attendance yesterday, too. Maybe his take on what constitutes fun has changed, because he had disappeared long before the end.
So he missed the best of it, which was two United chances in the final six minutes that could have won the game. The first came from substitute Jesse Lingard, who flicked a through pass from Anthony Martial on to the bar. Soon after, a free-kick pumped into the area found the head of Marouane Fellaini — it’s sophisticated stuff at Old Trafford since they got a Dutchman doing the coaching — and Chris Smalling turned on a low shot at the near post, which was well kept out by Manchester City goalkeeper Joe hart.
Credit to hart, who was unneeded for long periods but maintained his concentration to make vital interventions. Another came after 63 minutes when a forceful clearance from Marcos rojo pitched fortuitously for Mata, now clear behind enemy lines, requiring hart to race from goal and win a brave 50-50 on the edge of his area.
So, much ado about nothing-nothing, as the marvellous Geoffrey Green once had it, and the happiest viewers will have been followers of Arsenal, who will see this as further evidence their team has a real chance of winning the league this season.
To be fair, even some of the outsiders such as West ham and Tottenham may feel optimistically that there was little here they do not have in their ranks.
True, it was a derby game and local rivalries often produce wars of attrition. Both defences played extremely well and the match became mired in midfield, where frantic play and mistakes reigned supreme. even so, it was disappointing to see two of the Premier League’s elite performers produce a game so utterly lacking in not just drama, but class.
Manchester United’s play got longer as the game wore on, City seemed to settle for a point way before the end, having had the best of the first half. There were just five englishmen among the 22 starters but this was a match devoid of what we simplistically term continental flair.
We saw flickers of quality, but little more. raheem Sterling started promisingly but faded so quickly he did not make it through to the hour. Kevin De Bruyne was largely anonymous. Martial was the best of it for United, but that is hardly a compliment.
As usual, Wayne rooney’s performance was the lightning rod for much local dissatisfaction but he wasn’t the only striker who made no impact.
Wilfried Bony was woeful and did not match rooney’s work-rate. At least the Manchester United man looks busy, even on his quietest days.
Sergio Aguero, like many here, must also have wondered if this was the best use of his time, with Argentina in the semi-final of the rugby World Cup.
his team certainly missed him and David Silva, and City offered next to nothing after the interval, returning the compliment of United producing zilch in the first half.
It was a better result for City, of course, a point at Old Trafford not to be sniffed at and enough to return them to the top of the league. Yet they completed only 72 per cent of their passes, a worryingly low number that must improve against the better sides if they are to win a second title under Manuel Pellegrini.
Pass like that against Arsenal away in December, for instance, and they will lose.
So how bad was the first half? Well, since a company called Opta began providing a statistical breakdown of Premier League matches in 2003, this was the first time Manchester United had not produced a shot at goal going in at half-time. At least Manchester City had the odd go, without ever testing David de Gea.
In the 12th minute, Sterling had a shot deflected wide. Yaya Toure then headed a De Bruyne corner over the bar after 41 minutes, before fluffing a shot from a Bacary Sagna cross three minutes later. And that was it from the new league leaders, really.
When a Smalling header from a Mata corner, that Morgan Schneiderlin could not get over the line after 51 minutes, gave the red contingent hope of better to come, it was a false promise.
Louis van Gaal said he was pleased with the performance after a journey back from Moscow in midweek, so there were mitigating factors.
Yet those brought up on the thrill of Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams cannot help but feel underwhelmed on afternoons like these.
Much of the game was wincingly physical without the craft; exchanges of sloppy play and furious tackles, enlivened only by the odd booking and the sight of rooney getting his scalp stapled after a gory clash with Vincent Kompany.
Yet memorable highlights were few. even if either of these teams ends up winning the league, the point gained here will be largely forgotten.
There will be bigger, better matches. At least we must hope so.