Story written
by Patrick Kamanga
RED DEVILS GO DOWN FIGHTING AS NOISY
NEIGHBOURS CLINCH MANCHESTER DERBY
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| Sergio Aguerro's sublime finish put matters to rest |
In a tense,
tight and controversial affair Manchester City overcame a brave Manchester
United in a titanic battle at the Etihad Stadium, winning by a solitary goal to
remain within striking distance of runaway table toppers Chelsea.
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| Smalling's silly block earned him a yellow card |
With central
defender Chris Smalling conceding two unnecessary and utterly silly yellow
cards that gave referee Michael Oliver no other option but to send him off, this was
a game City should have won more convincingly.
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| Chris Smalling's calamitous defending made him see red |
Is it therefore a case of City
playing below par or the Red Devils raising their game? I think it’s a little
bit of both because for all their possession particularly in the first half and numerical advantage,
City simply created very few clear cut chances and solely
missed the injured Danny Silvas’ clever runs and creativity in the deep pocket.
With both Yahya Toure and Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko’s form taking a dip,
creativity as well as goal scoring responsibilities have fallen on diminutive
Argentine Sergio Aguerro who has not disappointed the City faithful and grabbed the chance with both hands taking his goal tally
for the season to double digits at ten while his total for the derby is now
eleven.
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| Top scorer Kun Aguerro having a great season |
To emphasize City’s recent struggles, similar circumstances three
seasons ago in October 2011 when Johny Evans received a red card, the Sky Blues
superiority saw them pulverize and inflict the heaviest defeat in recent memory upon Man U at
the Old Trafford, winning 6-1. With Smalling hitting the showers as early as
the 38th minute, City had at least 52 minutes to apply their
numerical advantage into goals but they quite didn’t dominate the game as many
would have expected. All the reason for the hue and cry by City over the
penalty decisions which were ignored by the ref, an indication of their desperation. On a more objective note,
Sergio Aguerro’s penalty appeals were lame because on both occasions he hit the
deck with relative ease after very minimal contact. To be fair to City their
strongest case for a penalty which was unjustly ignored was central defender
Macos Rojo’s lunging tackle from behind, albeit unintentionally on Toure who had blindsided then
ghosted past him and was clearly setting to pull the trigger when Rojo clumsily
brought down the burly Ivorian.
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| Last man Rojo's clumsy tackle went unpunished |
With Rojo as the “last-man”, that infringement was a clear
penalty plus a red card! As if the “soccer gods” were colluding against them,
the Red Devil’s defense was stripped to bare bones when Rojo was stretchered
off after injuring his shoulder from an awkward fall. Teenager Paddy McNair
came on and played along Michael Carrick. With a man less, and a makeshift
defense, instead of folding over Man U miraculously picked themselves up in the
second half, took the game to their bitter rivals and actually put City
on the back foot.
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| Rooney in full flight, made life difficult the Sky Blues |
The Red Devils were almost rewarded for their bravery when Wayne
Rooney’s dizzying run that saw him skip past four City players set Van
Persie in the box, who miscued his shot and finally nicked the ball onto Di
Maria’s path whose volley was fisted out by Joe Hart. The last quarter hour plus
injury time saw City quite weary and jittery as Man U threatened to equalize and share the spoils. Defensive midfielder Fernando was brought
in for Aguerro in the 83rd minute as City closed shop and hang on to their solitary goal.
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| Man U can take plenty of positives from their brave show |
Despite
the lose, the Red Devils should take pride for the manner with which they coped
under extreme circumstances which should go a long way in building
character and grit as Van Gaal works on rebuilding his team and return them to
former glories.
