RedsUnite: a man utd blog

While there are often days where I wish I was a resident of Manchester, today, certainly, is not one of them. Manchester City won convincingly today to give them their first double over United since 1969-1970.

The day started well. Today’s match commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster, and supporters from both sides observed a minute’s silence in honor of those who perished. While bangs could be heard outside Old Trafford, the silence within the stadium was impeccable. Supporters from both sides should be proud of their conduct today.

On the pitch, however, United looked like a team overcome by the enormity of the day. United needed a win today. Following last weekends poor showing against Tottenham Hotspur, United already stood two points behind a seemingly unshakable Arsenal side. The natural pressures of the season coupled with the added pressure of honoring the fallen members of a legendary United side may have proved too much.

Such pressures may simply be excuses, however, as United started the match brightly. They enjoyed the majority of the early chances, but the absence of Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra left United sorely lacking in attack. While having the luxury of plugging Ronaldo in at striker is nice, the versatility of our attack suffers greatly when he is absent on the wing. Patrice Evra’s penetrating runs down the left were noticeably missing, as Wes Brown and John O’Shea proved incapable of getting forward with any real consistency or menace. We never looked like we would score, to be honest, and City deserve the credit for that. City’s central defender Richard Dunne performed admirably today, my man of the match.

The Blues came into today without a victory at Old Trafford since 1974. Today, however, they were the beneficiaries of wonderful tactics. City played as well as an away side can play at Old Trafford. They were resolute in defense and clinical in their counter attack. They had little in the way of opportunities, but they did tremendously well with those opportunities afforded to them. While Rio Ferdinand was certainly not at his best today and the back four of United looked shaky, there was little that United could have done to prevent the goals they conceded.

Sometimes in a match there are undeniable moments where everything falls in line and there is little a defense can do to prevent the seeming inevitability of those goals. You simply hope that your side is the beneficiary of those moments, not the victim. Today, we were victimized by two such moments. While you could point finger at a player who was perhaps a moment slow in reacting, or to a moment previous that led to City being in the position to score, there was really no one to hold to account for the goals conceded. It was simply City’s day.

This, to be sure, is the low point in our season. We have conceded bragging rights to our crosstown rivals, we may fall five points behind Arsenal and Chelsea, if they manage to beat Liverpool, will only trail us by one point. We reach this low at a critical time in the season. Our next two matches are our FA Cup match against Arsenal and our Champions League Knock-out match versus Lyon. This is the time of year where the margin of error is slim if anything. If we seek to advance in those tournaments our form must improve quickly.

Football seasons are not linear, however. They are always marked by highs and lows and the teams that can rebound in the face of adversity are often those hoisting trophies at season’s end. If Arsene Wenger’s prediction is correct, however, and 90 points will be needed to win the league this year, United will need to play almost flawless football from here. 12 matches remain and we are 32 points shy of 90. Thus, we can only afford to give away four points in the run-in.

A Chelsea victory today coupled with an Arsenal defeat tomorrow will leave the three clubs within three points of each other. While they have been absent from the top of the table of late, Chelsea is not a side to be discounted. If the aforementioned possibility does occur, it will surely be anyone’s league to win. If Arsenal are victors against Blackburn on Monday, however, they will be five points clear and the prohibitive favorites at this moment in time. But as I previously stated, a football season is not linear and it will be our task to stay close should they falter. While this may be the low point in our season to date, our greatest task will be to insure we sink no lower.