WHAT THE PUNDITS SAY: TITLE SLIPPING AWAY
It s an 11 point gap now between the two
Manchester clubs and the disappointing part of the news for United fans is that
Manchester United are the ones who are eleven points behind potential champions
and arch rivals Manchester City. This past weekends derby was a chance for the
Red Devils to cut Manchester City's down to size, establish dominance in
Manchester and simultaneously trim down Manchester City's lead on top of table
down to a respectable five point. But much like so many other clubs in the
Premier League, the red devils came up shot and was forced to reluctantly
relinquish three points to the potential run away English Champions at the
moment. There was so much to pick from the game which Manchester United will
look back and know they did wrong, like deciding to sit back and allowing such
a quality opponent attack them in a derby. That’s never something any team will
want to do in the Premier League but Mourinho, being the special manager who
rarely makes any decision he is expected to make decided to set up the team
with a more defensive look and it backfired after waves of Manchester City
attack finally broke down the Red Devils on the day.
So the question now is,
is it over? Is it still to early to give up on the title? Should Mourinho
abandon Traditional 4-5-1 formation and probably take the 4-4-2 option?
Questions that will all be broken down and answered today. First off, a ten
point gap away from the League leaders is not a total lost cause when the dream
of becoming Premier league champions is concerned. Here’s reason why,
Manchester united and Manchester city still have lots of matches heading their
way from now till the end of the season. Let’s compare the two clubs next ten
matches in the Premier League. The Red Devils are heading into the next six
games in the Premier League facing clubs like Bournemouth, West Brom, Leicester
City, Burnley, Southampton and Everton. Besides Burnley, These next few
scheduled games, as anyone can see, is going to be against teams struggling
for points at this current point of the season and that will be an excellent
time for Mourinho to lead his team on a serious run to rack up some points to
keep the pressure on rivals city who could still drop points before the end of
the season. Manchester City on the other hand might be 11 points clear of
Manchester United but Manchester City can
still expect some tough games heading their way. With the blues scheduled to
face teams in decent form at the moment like Swansea City, Leicester City,
Liverpool, Chelsea and so much more difficult teams coming Manchester City's
way, the Red Devils can still have renewed optimism that the title might still
head to Old Trafford by the end of the season. However, according to the
Manchester United Evening News, it seems that Manchester United have started
showing their frustrations gotten from the huge gap the Red Devils have
relinquished to Man City. After last weekends derby ended and both teams headed
to their Locker rooms, a fight broke out between Manchester United players and
Manchester City's players. To be honest, I don’t think the players were to
blame for last weekends derby loss, Mourinho started the game in a more
defensive manner and decided to let Manchester City have the upper all through
the first half and most of the game. It was a derby to forget, before
Manchester city scored the first goal of the game, Manchester United barely
made any memorable attack towards Manchester City's goal and were extremely frustrating to
watch.
First question to be asked is, What
was the rationale behind the Managers defensive strategy all through the game?
Usually in the premier league when a team sets up with a defensive formation to start
the game, it’s usually down to the fact that one team has their quality does
not match the quality of the opposition. For example, if Manchester United were
playing a team like Bristol city then you will expect Bristol to take on a more
defensive set up for a majority of the match. No disrespect to Bristol but from
a statistics point, Bristol city will not have the required amount of skills in
their to go toe to toe with Manchester City so a more defensive minded team
will be expected to be used when Bristol face a team with the type of quality
Manchester City have in their team. But we are not talking about Bristol City, we
are talking about Manchester United, a team with player like Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku, Juan Mata, Ashley Young, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ander
Herrera etc, you would expect Manchester United to come out from the start of
the first whistle but that was not the case. United were flat, had no spice in
their game and for most of the first half, United decided to sit deep and let
Manchester City have most of the ball possession while United tried to hit City
with a counter attack or long ball options. The frustration passing around old
trafford as the club watches their noisy neighbours begin to make their way
towards another Premier League title is starting to reflect around Carrington
because the fans are starting to moan and groan on most games the team plays
this december which could mean that the fans might not be content that the team
are showing resignation that this might be another season the title slipped
away once again.
So with half the season gone, what are the
pundits verdicts on the team's title chances? Well according to an eight man jury made up
extraordinary ex-premier league legends and four ex Manchester United legends
Gary Neville, Owen Hargreaves, Peter Schmeichel, Manchester United have been
tipped as one of the favourite team to be crowned English Champions this season.
Not only that, but the pundits also have Manchester United's own Romelu Lukaku
as one of the favourite players to win the Golden Boot Award this season and
also as one of the most exciting players to watch. Congratulations Red Devils
fans, that has assured us that the big Belgian will be even better than he
already is.
Talk about exciting! The big man is already firing on all cylinder
and for amazing players who had played the game in the most exciting manner
possible to look at your own player and
say that his one of the best and will get better, well the fans should get
ready for even more goals and energy than we have already witnessed. That's not
all, the pundits also have Victor Lindelof as one of the most exciting signings
this season. I am so excited with the teams ratings this season. Yes the team
have found themselves falling behind in the title race to their fiercest rival
this season but the season still has a long way to go and with the vote of the pundits
stamped solidly on the teams chests, all hope is not lost. I expect United to
play with more energy, add more quality to their game and give Manchester City
a challenge to claim the right to be Champions of england at the end of the
current season. Sit back, relax and get ready for a thrilling race.