The last few couple of weeks has been an incredible time for fans
of Manchester football as both sides of the divide have witnessed their
manager`s departed and move to pastures new, One that walked and the other was
pushed out. It`s Unbelievable what a difference a year makes in football as it
was wasn`t so long ago that United was trying to catch their bitter rival in
the title race as it came down to the last seconds of the final game of the
season. So let’s look back at the last couple of years between the clubs and
how the managers have fared.
The
start of 2010-11 season had both Manchester teams looking for success for the
forthcoming season as Manchester United had lost their Premier League crown to
Chelsea, the Red Devils had lost the title by a solitary point and were hoping
to regain the title back.
For
Manchester City it was a bit of different story as they missed out on a
Champions League place when they faced Tottenham Hotspur at the formerly named
City of Manchester stadium (now Etihad Stadium) at the back end of the season,
when it came down to a shoot out between two for the 4th and final spot. City
lost to Spurs 1-0 thanks to a Peter Crouch strike for the North London side which
broke the hearts of City fans alike. So the summer they had to rebuild and the priority
was to get 4th place at least to qualify for the Champions league.
So
as the start of the season came around, it started with United exacting some
revenge on Chelsea as they beat them 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in the Community Shield
in August and were looking good ahead of the new season. United was the team to
beat as they are normally are, as they are benchmark for sides as if you finish
above them in the table then you’re more than likely you will finish as
champions come May.
Bulgarian
Striker Dimitar Berbatov was scoring for fun in the red shirt alongside Javier
Hernandez who was a newcomer to the league also after they signed him from Club
Deportivo Guaalajara in Mexico. They were looking a very lethal combination
upfront for the Old Trafford outfit that season that had Wayne Rooney scoring
too for the reds.
City
had signed a few big name players themselves notably in the shape of a
Champions League winner and Ivory Coast international in Yaya Toure. The big
Ivorian midfielder had moved from Barcelona and had beaten Manchester United in
the European cup final a couple seasons back and so that signing went down well
with City fans. Other players signed up were a European & World Cup
winner from Spain in David Silva, as he came from Valencia and so both looked
exciting signings for the club. One of the most controversial signing of
Mancini reign came he brought in a young Italian striker named Mario Balotelli,
his signing slightly triggered the downfall of Mancini in the coming seasons.
As
the season went on United dominated the league as Chelsea couldn`t cope with
the firepower United had and while United chalked up draws and were gaining
points , their rivals was dropping points and not being able to convert draws
into wins or loses into draws as United grounded out points. The Derby game
between City and United was seen as a yardstick for where City had come over
the season as they were fluttering in & out the top 4 places. So when
it came to the Manchester Derby it was decided by a brilliant goal by Wayne
Rooney to give the home side a 2-1 win over their City rivals and what made it
interesting was that they would meet again in the FA Cup Semi Finals at Wembley
soon after.
As
both Manchester sides arrived at Wembley for the Semi-Final, United wanted win as
it kept their hopes of a double going as Ferguson`s men were closing in on
their 19th league title to equal Liverpool as the most successful English club
side, plus they had a date back at Wembley for the Champions League final to.
City
wanted to end their neighbour’s hopes of a double happening and so a single
goal by Yaya Toure gave the Blues victory over the Reds and a place in the FA
Cup final beckoned too, along with revenge for the 2-1 loss they suffered
previously in the league.
City
also were gunning for a double of their own, as they had repeat of last season
with Tottenham Hotspur coming back to the Etihad for a place in the Champions
League plus they were now in the FA Cup final, So things were starting to get
brighter for Mancini`s men.
Sir
Alex Ferguson led his men to their 19th league championship and saw his side go
down to the Spanish giants Barcelona once again, at Wembley in the Champions
League final losing 3-1.
City
faced off with Spurs again and this time around they beat them at the Etihad
Stadium with Peter Crouch on target once again, however this time it was in his
own net and spookily from exactly the place he scored from 12 months before
when he fired Spurs into Europe.
Manchester
City then tried completing a good season as they travelled down London way
again for the FA Cup final against Stoke City. The Blues were hoping to end 35
years of hurt as they had been trophy less for that whole time and had seen
their neighbours win a lot of trophies within that time. Finally they had ended
the streak as the hero in the Semi final against Manchester United was the hero
again as Yaya Toure smashed home the winner to give City their first taste of
Silverware for 35 years and Made Roberto Mancini a legend with Blues fans for
leading them to glory.
After
the season had finished both sides enjoyed successes over the summer more so
the Blue side of Manchester as it was a bit of Bittersweet season for United. As they had the chance to win the European Cup
on home soil and falling at the last hurdle and seeing City lift a trophy was a
step too far for United fans and seemed like a nightmare to many.
So
as we entered the 2011-12 Season, this was the season when Manchester football really
was the most talked about in footballing circles.
City
signed Argentina & Athletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero to partner
his fellow countryman Carlos Tevez alongside Edin Dzeko who had been signed the
previous season from German side Wolfsburg. Further signings in the way of Gael
Clichy and Samir Nasri came to the Etihad Stadium via Arsenal.
The
Community Shield saw the first ever All-Manchester Charity Shield match with
the FA Cup winners Manchester City playing the Premier League winners
Manchester United in the curtain raiser to the season. Roberto Mancini was seen
the man that could break the strangle hold in Manchester after he had led Man
City to the FA Cup trophy, Mancini had been entering his 2nd full
season at City having took over from Mark Hughes, after a deal was apparently
done under Hughes nose to bring the Italian to the club by the previous C.E.O
Garry Cook and this would be a recurring theme later down the line.
It
was Manchester United that took the first honour of the season, as City surrendered
a 2-0 lead to United going down 3-2 after Nani grabbed the winner in Injury
time for United. Sir Alex realised after the game he had a new rival to have
challenge him and he was well up for the challenge of his long time city rivals
awaking from their slumber to challenge the big boys, or as he called them the
"Noisy Neighbours".
Both
managers had their sides playing free attacking flowing football and it seemed
like they wanted to outdo the each other when they played, as when City won 2-0
United would win 3-0 and when United won 3-0 City would return the favour and
win 4-0. It was flip flopping the lead for the early part of the season
as it seemed early on it would be the two Manchester Clubs against the rest of
the Premier League.
Sir
Alex Ferguson started the war with Mancini when he was telling the media that City wouldn`t be able to cope with the
pressures of European football at the highest level in the Champions League
along with domestic football as it took time for them( united) to come to terms
with it when they first entered. Mancini seemed to laugh off the early parting
shots at his club and tended to agree with what the United manager said.
It
seemed like as much as Fergie tried to get under the skin of his opposite number
the Italian coolly played down the quotes he had directed at him by
Ferguson through the media and he shrugged it off.
It
started to get interesting the early part of the season as both played teams
from North London on the same day. City had the afternoon kick off at White
Hart Lane against Tottenham and United faced their long time rivals Arsenal at
Old Trafford.
Both
London sides were expected to test the mettle of both Manchester clubs and see
how good they really were this season as both Arsenal and Tottenham had started
brightly in the season.
So
when City thrashed Spurs in front of their own fans it proved that City were
the real deal, United then took on Arsenal with City holding a bit of a goal
difference on United after their win, However that was blown out of the water
as United put 8 past Arsenal inflicting a response from the Champions almost
like they were saying "Anything you can do, we will do much
better".
Game
after game both sides won and so as we came to the most mouth-watering Manchester
derby clash seen in years at Old Trafford, This was the game that propelled
Mancini to another level and shown that the city wasn`t just about United. This
derby shown that City and Mancini were not pacesetters but long distance
runners as they proceeded to inflict a horror show on the Old Trafford faithful,
as they beat their successful neighbours 6-1 with relative ease it has to be said.
Although United did have a man sent off when 2-1 down, City punished United and
every goal seemed to be like a body blow to Ferguson and his young upstarts, as
the goals bloodied the Champions noses with this beating as Dzeko who came on
as sub could easily have had a hat trick.
Ferguson
admitted in the post match interview that "we should have shut up shop and
kept it tight instead of trying to attack so much, As those goals could prove
the difference come end of season!" How right those words would be by Sir Alex
too. Both clubs were having mixed fortunes in the Europe too, as United had the
easier group to get out of from the 2 as they played SC Otelul Galati, Basel FC
and Benfica.
City
on the other hand was dealt the "Group of Death" of the tournament with
German side Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal who to be honest had a lot of
problems early on so it was really a 3 horse race in that group.
City
had been beaten 2-0 by Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener at the
Allianz Arena, then they needed a late, late goal from Sergio Aguero in
stoppage time to beat Villarreal in a 2-1 win a few days prior to the Manchester
Derby.
United
found it a struggle too, as they were knocked out of the Champions League as both clubs found
themselves entering the Europa League which was an Embarrassing scenario for a
club like United stature. As they always
prided it`s self on playing in the biggest club tournament in Europe and play
against the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Barcelona for
examples.
Sir
Alex Ferguson seemed at this point to be looking at himself and think
"have i outstayed my welcome" as he seemed to not be the same kind of
manager he had been in his tenure at Man United over the years, He looked a
very different character and found it hard with his youngish rebuilt squad. They
did play the Dutch giants Ajax in the last 32 of the cup where they won 3-2 on aggregate,
then in the last 16 played Spanish side Athletico Madrid and lost 5-3 over the
two legs.
Mancini
in the blue corner was equally finding it hard as he saw his team notch up
10pts in their debut Champions League season. It was unlucky for City as in
nearly every other season 10 pts would guarantee you a passage to the second
stage of the tournament, City lost out on second spot to Napoli and so went
into the Europa league where they beat FC Porto 6-1 on aggregate. They were
knocked out of the last 16 stage eventually losing to fellow Portuguese side
Sporting Lisbon 3-3 on away goals. Plus some called into question his ability
at managing in European competitions as he hasn`t got to a quarter final stage
in Europe before.
Plus
he was still sorting out the massive problems that dragged on all season nearly
with Carlos Tevez after the incident in Munich, when the striker refused to play
after an argument on the bench with Mancini after he made him warm up time
and time again instead of coming on as a substitute. Not only had he got
Tevez on his case but Edin Dzeko too, as the Bosnian came off with equal
bemusement towards Mancini when the Italian subbed him.
This
started to sow the seeds of doubt amongst the City players and
Mancini that would keep going till the end of his reign.
Mancini
then famously said "Carlos will NEVER EVER play for City again,
EVER!", Tevez wasn`t the first player to have disagreement with the
manager as Craig Bellamy the season before was took off and both had
a heated exchange resulting in Bellamy going to Cardiff City his hometown
club.
Ferguson
also had his run in`s with players over the years, but he had a style of man
management that worked where things that he didn`t like or had a dispute with players
over were kept behind closed doors and hardly leaked out to the media. Mancini
style of man management was seen as hardnosed like Ferguson is but instead of
keeping thing quiet he would then criticise his players publicly to the press
and gave them ammunition to use against him and create stories involving him.
Plus most of the time he was dealing with stories of training ground bust ups
that normally involved Mario Balotelli, as he had run in`s with Jerome Boateng
, Micah Richards, Kolo Toure , Yaya Toure amongst others. The constant talk of
training ground fights was getting to Mancini as much as the constant reports
of Balotelli, as he was getting in trouble all the time on or off the pitch. On
the pitch City were having success as they still led the championship at Christmas
time. New Year brought a mixed January
for the blues as lost to a last gasp winner up in Wearside to Sunderland 1-0 on
New Year’s Day. Wins over Liverpool, Wigan and a late penalty beat Spurs.
Sir
Alex men went on a run of 12 games unbeaten after they lost back to back games
against Blackburn Rovers at home 3-2 and away at Newcastle United 3-0, the Scot
wasn`t happy with his side and demanded better from his players. He got the
response he wanted as United went on a 12 game unbeaten run in the league,
alongside a 3-2 win at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City, coming in
the FA Cup and was revenge for their semi final the previous season. In the
game City Captain Vincent Kompany was sent off for a tackle near Nani and Chris
Foy sent the Belgian defender off , Although they were down to 10 men City
dragged the game back from 3-0 to 3-2 but couldn`t find a goal to force a replay.
City
shown though that they had heart and team work in them as they would need it as
the season progressed towards the end. Also Sir Alex welcomed back the shock
return of Paul Scholes to the United line up in the FA Cup tie against City,
Some people saw it in different ways as half called his recall to the Champions
a brilliant master stroke by Fergie, while the other half called it a desperate
move bringing him back to the fold. However the move was paying dividends as
Scholes on his return to Old Trafford scored and in doing so drew them level on
points with their neighbours at the top of the tree but lay in Second place on
goal difference.
United
a few games later played at Stamford Bridge and were 3-0 down after 50 minutes
in the game, But the Reds produced a stunning comeback to make it 3-3 and saw
them drop 2 points but gained confidence too, As this was more like a win than
a draw for them as they saw the positive sides of the result. United kept the
pressure on Mancini`s City side as they beat Spurs 3-1 at the start of March to
still be 2 points behind but was always ready to take advantage of any slip up
by City on the way.
City
had a tough game at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea as they were beaten by the
Swans 1-0 and with that gave up their top spot to United who beat West Brom 2-0
to jump above and lead the title race by 1 point. City knew they couldn`t
afford to drop many more points now to the end of the season as the 2 sides was
like Ali v Foreman. City were like Foreman better attack and everything going
for them and United were like Ali, Taking the punches but knowing if they
carried they would soon tire and they could advantage.
City
beat Chelsea 2-1 at home on a Monday night game to reduce the lead to 1 point
in the title race and a sub plot to the game saw the return of the prodigal son
Carlos Tevez to the City side. After all the talk since the Munich incident
with Tevez refusing to play back in September, he helped create the goal that
let Samir Nasri net the winner and give them hope of regaining top place again
with the come from behind win.
Manchester
City weren`t looking the force that had been since the turn of the year, and
when Sunderland came to town it was regarded as an easy 3 points for the blues.
However it wasn`t to be that straight forward for them as Sunderland led 3-1
till the 85th minute when 2 late goals rescued a point for the home
side and also saw Balotelli involved in yet another talking point on the
pitch. The Controversial Italian striker
had recently been given a ban for stamping on Scott Parker head in the 3-2 win
v Spurs, so in this game he had a childish argument with Aleksandar Kolarov
over taking a free kick with brought Kompany over to defuse the situation.
The
win brought out a defiant Roberto Mancini who predicted “United will slip up
down the road”, Seemed it was more out of hope than an actual belief at the
time. As we went into the start of April, United were on a crest of a wave now
as they were on their winning streak and looked to be on course for title 20,
while Mancini and City looked dead and buried after the 1-0 loss to Arsenal
which also saw Balotelli once again in the news as he was sent off late on and
seen Mancini furious at his Italian striker.
People in the football world were saying “If Balotelli had played for
Fergie, Then he`d have sold him a long time ago!”
Mancini
had defended his striker so much that it seemed the other players around the
squad was starting to get fed up with the constant antics by Mario and the way
the Manager would always deflect negative stuff away from him but lambast the rest
of the players in the press, Notably Adam Johnson. Roberto Mancini had quiet
often criticised in public Adam Johnson to the press for not being in shape or
saying he needed to cut out the drinking if he wanted to be a regular in the
first team.
That was all fine and well but he was one of City`s best player`s
on show and had scored vital goals for the blues under the Italian reign in charge,
but Mancini seemed to bemoan the player than give the player credit and praise
him. It became a common theme during while he was manager that players were
open to be bad mouthed to the press, Yet the only player that seemed to be
shielded from Mancini and was more deserving of the criticism was Mario
Balotelli, No matter what the striker did he was blame free in Mancini`s eyes
as he was more trouble than good. So when the team are giving 100% he was
hardly giving 20%. He just strolled around the pitch having tantrums and you
could see the team starting to lose confidence in Mancini in a way with how he
constantly defended Balotelli.
Roberto
Mancini saw his side trail by 8 points in the title race with 6 games to go and
looked like the pressure had got to him and his team, However things on the red
half of Manchester was smelling of roses. As Sir Alex Ferguson men seemed to be
unstoppable now as they were winning games and keeping clean sheets and though
they may not have thrashing sides it didn`t matter as the 3 points was more
important than that. Arsenal beating their rivals was an added boost to United
as they looked like they were on course to win the title, Things though then
took a twist in the championship. Three days later the Champions travelled down
the road to Wigan at the DW Stadium what should have been a routine win with
respect to Wigan, They faltered as a Shaun Maloney goal gave a struggling Wigan
the win and with news of City winning 4-0 at home the lead dwindled to a 5
point difference.
United
loss at Wigan blown the title race open again as it looked like United were
starting to show a couple of cracks in their lead at the top, the following
weekend saw both sides win their respective games as United won 4-0 at home to
Aston Villa while City thrashed Norwich at Carrow Road 6-1 with Carlos Tevez
grabbing a hat trick. This started a change in the title race as City was
injected with belief now that they could kick on and catch their bitter rival
at the top.
The
weekend after was the biggest turning point, United played Everton at Old
Trafford and saw one of the most incredible games. United built a 4-2 lead mid
way through the second half and it looked all over and that United were still
on course, Everton had other ideas as they came back into the game and with 5
minutes to go Steven Pienaar scored to make it 4-4 and was this the game that
saw the title swing change. The game
finished and it was a draw which left Sir Alex furious with his side giving up
the lead and then saw both managers in the following weeks claim the other side
had the upper hand in the race for the title.
Ferguson
was trying to play the old mind games by saying the Everton 4-4 result had cost
them the title now and it was City`s to lose now, While in the Blue camp it was
Mancini stating "IT WAS United`s to lose not City" and this kind of claiming the
team were favourite a theme till the final game. A week later saw what Sir Alex
Ferguson christen the “BIGGEST DERBY” game he`d ever been involved in City as
United went to the Etihad Stadium knowing anything but a defeat would help them
in the table. United played a poor game and City with their injection of
Confidence of late took the game to United and moments before half time Vincent
Kompany headed home to give City a 1-0 lead and set up the second half now.
United never got in the game and saw the two managers have a spat on the
touchline as Sir Alex and Roberto Mancini argued with officials and assistant
managers calming them down. City took the spoils and with 2 games to go and
move above United in the table but on goal difference.
The
Penultimate match saw United beat Swansea at home 2-0 and seen City beat
Newcastle at St James Park 2-0 with 2 strikes by Yaya Toure giving them the
lead at the top still on goal difference. Ferguson once again claimed it was
City`s to lose now as the Blues were red-hot favourites to win, Mancini
disagreed as he said it could go either way yet and so we went to the final
game of the season. United played Sunderland knowing a win and QPR getting
anything for the game would give them the title.
United
struck the first blow as Wayne Rooney scored to put the reds in the driving
seat and towards half time in Manchester Pablo Zabeleta scored to put City back
on top. There were a few twists to come as QPR scored twice for a 2-1 lead and
Ferguson and United fans were delighted at the news filtering through, Time was
ticking down as United had won their game it was all about what was happening
at the Etihad. Edin Dzeko pulled one back for City to make it 2-2 and then literally
moments after United match had finished Sergio Aguero smashed home the winning
goal to give City their first title in 44 years.
Sir
Alex defiantly and boldly predicted things would be different next season and
so the build up to the 2012-13 season, saw Manchester United sign Robin Van
Persie from Arsenal along with Alexander Buttner from Vitesse in Holland. Sir
Alex Ferguson was ready to unleash his United side for an assault on the
Premier league as they desperately wanted their 20th title and to
become the Most Successful English side in history.
For
Mancini he made the strange decision to say he turned down jobs by other teams
to stay at Man City over the summer and also complained the chiefs at City
weren`t doing enough to speed up transfers and were too slow to bring in the
players he wanted and gave Brian Marwood a grilling through the media for the
cause of no signings. Mancini seemed to
be very angry with people at the club over things and would carry on over the
season. He did make a few signings to
the team with Javi Garcia from Benfica; Jack Rodwell from Everton and the
signing that was more looked upon as extremely bad buy in Scott Sinclair from
Swansea City.
Things
started well for him though as they beat Chelsea 3-2 at Villa park in the
community shield, City also went on a unbeaten run till December when it was
United who inflicted their first defeat on City of the season when a last gasp
Van Persie free kick gave the Reds the winner and from then on City never
recovered.
United
however started off badly to their season as they went down to Everton in the first
game of the season 1-0 from a Marouane Fellaini header, Ferguson saw his men
start off slowly and not look that convincing in the few opening months of the
season as they had lost 3 games by Mid November. It finally clicked for
Manchester United when they met City in the Derby in early December time, They
found themselves 2-0 up with Rooney scoring both and in the second half City
responded like Champions dragging it back to 2-2 before a deflected Van Persie
free kick in stoppage time gave United the win and put them 6 points clear at
the top, it was a lead United would never surrender as they took over from this
game.
Ferguson
saw his masterful team have a mini wobble as they knocked out of the Champions
League by Real Madrid and saw them give up a 2 goal lead to Chelsea who drew
2-2 to force a replay at Stamford Bridge. United hadn`t lost a league game
since Norwich City beat them 1-0 on November 17th, and wouldn’t lose
another one till April 8th when it was City who would return the favour by beating
them at home 2-1 thanks to a Aguero strike.
Ferguson watched his men seal the title at home with a 3-0 win at home
to Aston Villa as his big summer signing Robin Van Persie got a hat trick and
helped Sir Alex Ferguson achieve his aim of leading United to the top of the
premier league for the 13th time and make them the greatest English
club team ever leap frogging Liverpool in the most titles won by 1.
Days
later it the Scottish manager announced he would be retiring at the end of the
season and brought an end of an era at the Old Trafford club as he would move
on and enjoy retirement. His final home
game he took charge off was against Swansea last weekend when a tearful Sir
Alex gave a heartfelt speech thanking the club, players and the fans for the
support over the years and the players made him lift the Premiership trophy out
of respect.
On
the blue side of Manchester the season it was a stuttering season as players
didn`t fire on all cylinders and tactics by Mancini was partly to blame for his
downfall, City lost away to Spurs 3-1 and after they had the lead they seemed
to lack any play and Spurs won the game. Games later they didn`t get out of 1st
gear and looked lacklustre in their play, amid rumours Mancini was going to get
the chop from the owners. Mancini had took his side to Wembley in the FA Cup
final against Wigan Athletic, where yet another poor performance fuelled talks
before the game that if he didn`t win the cup he was gone. Wigan beat City with
a late winner and that seemed to put the nail in the Italians coffin as his
manager job at City was concerned. 2 days later on the 1st
Anniversary of the greatest day in the clubs recent history when they won the
Premier League Roberto Mancini at 22:28pm was report to have been sacked by the
clubs owners for not hitting the targets set by them.
The
way things had been conducted left a very bad taste in the mouths of many as it
was nearly a repeat of Mark Hughes sacking prior to when he arrived. News of
players revolting against the manager and speaking to the owner about wanting
him gone was increasing and his management style of being distance from them
didn`t make for a happy team environment and so it proved as his sacking was
reported to be the players ears and the next night City played Reading and put
in a very convincing display and could have won more than 2-0 they got.
One
reason in my eyes why he never got the best out of the team, was his changing
of the Winning system of 4-3-2-1 and made it 3-5-2 which had players in the
Champions League especially bamboozled as they had no idea what their roles
was. Signings he made looked to be rushed or desperate with none of them having
made any impact at all apart from Jack Rodwell who glimpses of good form till
he was always breaking down injured and spent most of it on the treatment
table.
Plus the biggest problem was when his side lost over the last couple of
seasons he would admit to the press, “i didn`t prepare the team well enough”.
In my opinion if you use that statement more than 2 times then you’re begging
to be sacked. He used this phrase at least 4 occasions during his reign at
Manchester City and one was reason to let the Manager despite the fact he had
won 1 FA Cup, 1 Premier League title and 2 Cup final appearances.
