We can forgive Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his defensive patter. He is preparing to send his team to Dreadsville into a house of many terrors. Against a shredding machine that has forgotten how to draw, never mind lose, this should really come with a broadcast warning and appear after the watershed.
Manchester City are unrecognisable from the strangely muted ensemble that played out a tepid goalless draw at Old Trafford in December. They have contested 22 matches since, winning 21 without pause to rocket from ninth in the table to the ceiling.
They aren’t coming down, which accounts for the agitation infecting Solskjaer’s commentary and why his complexion has taken on the colour of his tracksuit top. Ghostly white.
Reports have emerged of a kind of back-to-basics symposium convened by Pep Guardiola and his key City lieutenants after the December derby, a brainstorming session to reassert first principles. We were after all in unprecedented times and Guardiola sought to put his team’s uncharacteristic malaise into context.
Guardiola is a master of his art. His tactical innovations continue to set the agenda. It is clear he found the answers, though you might quibble with some of his conclusions. Russian denials of state doping have more credibility than the claim City do not have one singular superstar to win a game.
For all their faults Solskjaer’s team are second. What would he give to call upon the likes of Phil Foden, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho, all of whom sat out Tuesday’s rinsing of Wolves. City suffered the loss of Kevin de Bruyne to injury for six weeks without penalty. Riyad Mahrez could have learned another language in the time he has spent on the bench this term.
However Guardiola justifies his methods, none of it survives the fundamental truth that quality is the ultimate arbiter, and in that regard City have more of it than their rivals, the weight of evidence supporting that argument currently measured by a lead of 14 points.
While City have been racking up the wins, United have been piling up the draws, bore draws at that to threaten the torpor of that passive derby shutout. In posting just three wins in ten United have turned a title race into a battle for the top four. Solskjaer is justified in his claim that United are in a better place than a year ago, when they required a late run to make the grade. But the differences are marginal rather than significant.
The gains made with the arrival of Bruno Fernandes and the development of Scott McTominay, Fred, Luke Shaw and Dean Henderson and the quasi-rehabilitation of Paul Pogba must be balanced with the diminishing returns of Anthony Martial, the dip of Marcus Rashford and the stalling of Mason Greenwood.
If Fernandes, who looks increasingly spent, does not spark, United flatline. If Gundogan doesn’t spark, Bernardo Silva will, or Raheem Sterling, or Foden, or Mahrez, or De Bruyne, or Ad Infinitum.
Thus have City scaled down their imperious rivals. A generous billing would have United negligible title candidates and fringe Champions League pretenders.
In attempting to rebut the failing narrative advanced by the critics, Solskjaer inadvertently made their point for them when he sold as marks of quality, United’s progress in the FA Cup and Europa League and their position in the top-four, all of which screams mediocrity for a club supposed to be market leaders.
With Pogba unavailable, Solskjaer’s options are limited. At 34, Edinson Cavani is no sort of answer. Dan James would not make City’s match day squad. Nemanja Matic is solid but slow and Adama Diallo and Shola Shoretire are callow under 23s.
So it’s fingers crossed for Rashford and Fernandes. Should United get a tune out of either they have a chance of stretching their unbeaten away record to 21. Failing that City march on 22 not out.
More on the Premier League
- ‘I want Burnley to be the UK’s favourite underdog’
- Young-Myles: The case for Spurs retaining Mourinho is diminishing by the week
- The making of Everton’s versatile defender whose rise surprised even his own manager
- Hall: Martial is running out of chances to prove he is part of the future at Man Utd
- The Czech ‘warriors’ who rose from obscurity to fire West Ham into European contention
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2PrPUv9
Post a Comment