Manchester derby proved that PL clubs can look forward to challenging in CL again

Supporters from both sides of Manchester may have left Old Trafford at the end of a 0-0 draw between United and City shaking their heads at the lack of goalmouth action or excitement, but for me, it was 90 minutes which told me that Premier League clubs can look forward to challenging in the Champions League again.

The fan watching it probably thinks that it is boring, that the entertainment is poor, but I really enjoyed the game and the first-half was probably the best 45 minutes I have seen anywhere in the Premier League this season.
The Premier League is renowned for entertainment and madness, but this was a game for the professional and I genuinely believe there were a lot of very good things out on that pitch.
Both sets of centre-halves were fantastic, with Antonio Valencia and Marcos Rojo the same against Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.

Before the game, I saw United’s full-backs – Valencia and Rojo – as big weaknesses against De Bruyne and Sterling, but I thought De Bruyne was completely finished in the game after 20 minutes because Rojo dealt with him brilliantly.


For every attacking player out on that pitch, it was a nightmare, but that was largely because the defensive units of both teams did exactly what is required in the Champions League.
If I was a coach of United or City, I would be proud of how the players conducted themselves and followed instructions.
At a time when the Premier League is teetering with its co-efficient and facing the prospect of losing a team in the Champions League, this game offered a level of comfort in that teams are starting to apply themselves to defeding, concentration and focus.
What is a quality football match?
If City or United had torn the other apart, with the other team defending as they did, then you would say it was a quality performance.

But when a team nullifies the other, pays attention to detail of every one of the others’ strengths, you also have to say that that is a quality football match.
I will not be told by anybody that there wasn’t a lot of quality on that pitch today. When people talk about quality, they think of a great goal or a great shot or a great dribble.
But no, a quality football match is when two teams pretty evenly matched nullify each other and pay respect to each other.
I might be the only person in the country saying this, but I don’t care.
Every time I watch a big game in the Premier League, there is no doubt there is a correlation between the madness and chaos in domestic games and then the lack of application, focus and concentration that we see in the Champions League, where we have looked like the most naïve players in the world.
Concentration is a word that was rammed down my throat, and all my United team-mates’ throats, for 20 years.

But it seems like a word that doesn’t exist in the game anymore. It’s all about expanse, risk, goals, excitement, drama, mistakes.
The drama and mistakes of the Premier League might give fans some momentary high, but in this game, I saw a quality football match.
There is a place in football for this type of game. I want to see goals and incident, but when I have seen how we have been in the Champions League over the past few years, I want to see more of what I saw between United and City because, in all honesty, I think we have looked like muppets in the Champions League for the last three years.
We have looked like schoolboys playing against men.
There is still some way to go before that changes, but this game has given me hope that the struggle and concentration will translate itself into the Champions League.
The progress made by Manuel Pellegrini was also evident in this game and I think the City manager deserves credit for the changes he has made to his approach.
He will barely get a mention after this match, but a year ago, I had serious concerns about Pellegrini and City due to their naivety in the middle third, with Fernandinho and Yaya Toure in midfield and David Silva and Samir Nasri out wide.

They would go into games against teams with three midfielders, such as Bayern Munich or Barcelona, and looking naïve.
But against United, when Marouane Fellaini was introduced in the second-half, United went to a midfield three and a threat was posed – they threw down the gauntlet.
And to his credit, Pellegrini immediately reacted by putting Martin Demichelis on in midfield in place of Toure.
I thought that showed progression. It was like chess – one man makes a big move and the other quickly counters it.
Pellegrini did that and he deserves an enormous amount of praise for that because a year ago, he was getting battered for being naïve, arrogant for not changing his approach.

Chances were few and far between for both teams
He has learned his lessons and United, under Louis van Gaal, are also showing that they are able to implement a tactical game-plan against top quality opposition.
Every time I have seen a big game, going back to being a young kid and when I started playing professionally, I always thought that the biggest matches between the top teams, those in the top four, should be a massive struggle.
You think of heavyweight fights, when it difficult for the fighters to get a punch away, and there were not many punches in this one.
But that should not detract from the quality on the pitch because it was a game with many positives.

GoonerJay29 wrote:The flip side of this argument is that neither side had the attacking quality nor the tactical innovation to make a breakthrough against a good defence, which certainly wouldn't bode well our teams in Europe.

srigooner wrote:I largely agree with him.

I also think this will get trolled a lot here in GL, with bashing PL being the flavor of the last few months.

srigooner wrote:

srigooner wrote:I largely agree with him.

I also think this will get trolled a lot here in GL, with bashing PL being the flavor of the last few months.

Nosy colleague poking over my should went away. :/
So I can finish typing what I wanted to say earlier:

I largely agree with him about the part where he says that both teams got defensive side of things right. That is to say that certain aspects of the match are underappreciated by the adrenaline-junkie audiences, although the match itself made one want to gouge their eyes out.

I disagree with the part about that boding well for the CL. It's only a part of a larger whole - adding defensive focus to attacking prowess would bode well for the CL, not one at the cost of the other.  

Hapless_Hans wrote:qualifying from group stages doesn't really equal 'challenging for CL' though

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I know but you would think from the attitude of this article and many others that English teams are a disgrace to mankind. Sure none of the English teams are PSG, Madrid, Barca and Bayern level but it's not as bad as you would think it is.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:qualifying from group stages doesn't really equal 'challenging for CL' though

I know but you would think from the attitude of this article and many others that English teams are a disgrace to mankind. Sure none of the English teams are PSG, Madrid, Barca and Bayern level but it's not as bad as you would think it is.

At Old Trafford four members of City’s starting XI were signed this year. Their chief conductor and finisher were missing. The four players closest to the point of their attack – Wilfried Bony, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho – have now made just 18 league starts between them and scored nine goals. What were we expecting here? Valeri Lobanovksy’s telepathic Dynamo Kyiv? Instant Brazil 1970?

If Manuel Pellegrini’s attack looked like strangers at times, maybe that is because, in elite football terms, they are. Time is City’s friend here. De Bruyne and Sterling, in particular, are excellent combination players. They will only get better.

United are also still in a state of relative chop-and-change, with two new starting players in central midfield, a teenage left-winger making his fifth start and seven outfield players who have arrived in the last two seasons. It is increasingly easy to question Wayne Rooney’s presence as untouchable first choice centre-forward. But consider Louis van Gaal’s wider picture. Only three of his players against City are in double figures for career United league goals. Antonio Valencia has 13, Juan Mata 18 and the captain 172.

Such is the relentless turnover in the Premier League we tend to get a little blasé about this level of player-churn. But the best teams grow out of at least a core of stability, of grooved understanding, some kind of shared, evolved team groupthink. Again, time will help here, as Van Gaal and Pellegrini know better than anyone. It was no accident United went with a double-bolted central midfield at home, while for the last 10 minutes at Old Trafford City had Fernandinho, Fernando and Martín Demichelis strung across midfield like a trio of nightclub bouncers, with De Bruyne still lurking sensitively on the left wing trying to look useful. Sometimes setting out not to lose first and foremost can be a fairly sensible strategy.

Glory wrote:^ then nothing. There was nothing even remotely close in the article which meant he was talking about the 2 Manc clubs going on and delivering big in the CL this time itself.
He only meant there was improvement and suggested the signs aint bad for the future.