At the heart of football Wounded City are now under attack from the fearless young guns.. and Pep’s troops are losing the battle
I’VE never agreed with people who say you should keep politics out of sport when the two are so clearly intertwined.
For example, you can’t say what happens in a football stadium merely reflects what’s going on in wider society, then argue to keep the views and actions of politicians, who shape the national agenda, out of the game.
So well done to Gary Neville for having the balls to voice this opinion over the incident at the Etihad when a Manchester City fan allegedly abused United star Fred: “You are watching the Prime Minister’s debate last night where he is talking about migration to this country, and people having to have certain levels.
“It fuels it all the time. It has got worse over the last few years in this country and not just in football.”
He was spot on. Boris Johnson is on record for demeaning black people and Asians, playing on the immigration issue to win the
Leave referendum and doing the same in this general election.
His words don’t turn football fans into racists, but you can argue that a Prime Minister who spews racist language – and gets away with it – provides cover in the mind of the bigots to do the same.
Neville was right and brave to call it out.
IF YOU’D asked for a price on a certain pre-season bet, the odds, after the bookies had stopped laughing in your face, would have been huge.
Because the wager would have been perceived to have less chance of coming up than the one Sam Allardyce surely has on himself to manage a side in El Clasico.
That before mid-december inquests would be held into why Manchester City, 14 points behind the league leaders, had blown the title race.
But we’re having it and no one’s debating the reasons why.
They didn’t replace Vincent Kompany’s defensive or leadership qualities in the summer meaning an injury to Aymeric Laporte has left them in tatters at the back.
They’re weak down the left side, the intensity of the past three years has caught up with mentally-drained players, David Silva’s level of genius is slightly dipping and Pep Guardiola is suffering from his usual fourth-season syndrome.
But there is another factor, pointed out by Guardiola, which may account for City dropping as many points after 16 games as they did throughout last season: opponents going after them.
“Before, teams were just defending and using the counter-attack. Now most of the teams have the courage to play, young managers, they have nice spirit, nothing to lose and go forward,” said Guardiola last month.
This isn’t to say City no longer inspire fear but that fewer teams are sacrificing the fixture, which happened too often last season.
In the middle of their unstoppable run to the title in the spring, most opponents were beaten before kick-off.
After Guardiola’s men thrashed Chelsea 6-0, West Ham, Bournemouth, Watford and Cardiff City wrote off the City game, sat back and managed five shots on target between them. Manuel Pellegrini made five big changes and gave a debut to teenage full-back Ben Johnson and Eddie Howe ditched his usual attacking formation to put 10 men behind the ball.
Javi Gracia dropped seven Watford players and Neil Warnock went one better by announcing the towelthrowing in advance: “I will probably play the Under-23s against City and try to keep it down to 10 or 11,” he said, before abandoning the mass changes but surrendering 80 per cent possession in what turned out to be a glorified training session.
The mental surrender Warnock had signalled to his players was summed up by Transport for Greater Manchester putting signs up saying: “Manchester City vs Cardiff Under-23s. Weds 3rd April. Delays expected.”
Even their biggest rival gave up the ghost before a ball was kicked. When Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United were beaten 3-1 at the Etihad their mindset was so negative that in the first 10 minutes they managed only five passes and 13 per cent possession, allowing City fans to eventually serenade their own side’s dominance with a chorus of “oles.”
Contrast that with the opening half-hour of Saturday’s derby when a rampant United went for the jugular – albeit with swift, intelligent counterattacks – and scored the goals that took the points.
As Guardiola prophesied, a fearless young manager with nothing to lose attacked his side with courage and spirit.
It leaves a wounded City needing Liverpool to effectively lose five games before the end of the season to give them a chance of retaining their title.
And with Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers and Wolves’ Nuno Espirito Santo having no fear in taking the game to City either side of Christmas, you wouldn’t bet against them going into 2020 needing even more.
I LOVE how Sheffield United have been performing like a top-eight side all season, despite few pundits believing they would survive more than one Premier League campaign.
There’s a long way to go, but Chris Wilder’s side are only six wins off the magical 40-point survival mark, with 22 games remaining.
And on Sunday at Norwich they came from behind to win, and match Blackburn Rovers as the only newlypromoted team to go unbeaten in their first eight away games in the Premier League era.
Back then, Blackburn were the richest club in England thanks to Jack Walker’s millions, had record-breaking goalscorer Alan Shearer up front, and multi-title-winning manager Kenny Dalglish in charge.
Dalglish was eventually given the Freedom of the City of Liverpool. At this rate, Wilder (above) must be on course for receiving the same from his home town of Sheffield.
Well, they gave one to Sebastian Coe, so why not?