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e. We haven’t seen the same crispness or rpness about some of the City players ly. heir confidence seems to have taken a hit they have been muddling through es. hey have only been winning by the odd l and it’s taken something special to it. West Ham were unlucky not to get ething out of them, having defended o well. At the start of the season, I think too many teams decided to have a go at them and ended up getting destroyed. Now they’re sticking 10 behind the ball and City are finding it harder. Losing John Stones was a big blow for them because he makes it all tick. He plays the first pass forward very quickly and suddenly they are on you. Now it’s slow. None of their other centre-backs are as comfortable on the ball and can pick a pass the way he can. It has definitely affected them. The Champions League defeat might affect them as well. Remember last season when they were flying and they went to Celtic, changed the team, drew 3-3 and it all went wrong? That could be a sign.
I think United need to bluff them out in this game.
Play Romelu Lukaku up front with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial out wide and tell the two of them to stay wide.
Take a chance. See what City’s full-backs do. Do they push on and take a risk or do they sit back and worry about Rashford and Martial?
For Lukaku, these are the games where you earn your money. This is where you prove it. You have to turn up in these games. This is why you are paid the big money. It’s not for scoring the third goal in a 3-0 win. It’s for scoring the winner in a big game like this.
That’s why if Zlatan Ibrahimovic had been fit, I would have played him. He’s a big-game player and he always makes it count.
The Swede has something that Lukaku doesn’t, and he would have been ideal for this game. United lacked pace up front last season and that’s why they bought Lukaku, to stretch teams.
But you don’t need pace in this game. You need a centre-forward who can hold the ball up, lead the line and make it count in the big moments. That’s Zlatan.
He would have too much guile for Nicolas Otamendi (left). Lukaku was on fire to start the season, but he has dipped off since then and needs a goal. His form suddenly went.
However, he can make himself an instant hero if he scores in the derby.