A Big Derby Deserves A Big Preview

By: Wayne Farry | May 9th, 2009

In the hullabaloo of the Champions League and debating whether or not we’ll beat Barcelona in Rome, we all seem to have let this little gem slip under the radar. I feel a little guilty for neglecting the prospect of such a huge match for the prospect of a match a few weeks away.

For you see, tomorrow at 13.30GMT we play host to our old rivals from Middle Eastlands, Manchester City. The blue side of Manchester come to Old Trafford on the back of a good run of form, which has seen them record their first away win since August. The main reasons for this return to form, or perhaps it should be called a maintained consistency because they weren’t really in any sort of form before, are that Robinho has started scoring and Elano has pulled his head out of his arse and remembered he’s actually a footballer. Of course, even through City’s bad period of the season Stephen Ireland was still getting rave reviews and he too has been stunning in the last few games, setting up numerous goals. We, meanwhile, have completely discarded any memory of our our two-game blip and are now striding towards the finish line, when it previously looked like we’d hobble over it. The two memorable performances of recent weeks have to be the 5-2 home win against Spurs and the 3-1 win against Arsenal in the CL Semi-Final Second Leg. The second half performance against Spurs and the entire performance against Arsenal showed that this team in full flow are nigh on unbeatable and can rip any defence apart with some neat passing.

It’s an interesting match, it appears, from the outset. Here we have two in-form sides who really don’t like each other and always want to get one up on each other. Earlier in the season we beat them 0-1, courtesy of a goal from Wayne Rooney, whilst they done the double over us last season. There are going to be some key figures in this game that I feel the need to discuss. For City, their main men are Robinho and Stephen Ireland. Ireland, when given time on the ball, can pull the strings in midfield and if he links up with the little Brazilian they can cause havoc. You regularly see the two parading and overlapping up the wings, ripping teams’ defences to shreds. Robinho is less of a danger I feel, I don’t feel that he has the ability to make something out of nothing that Ireland has, but he’s still a good player. If Rio and Vidic (or whoever’s playing centre-back) don’t close him down then he will cause us trouble. However, if they do close him down and rough him up a bit, I can see him getting phased out of this one.

In response to the talisman Ireland, I believe that Fletcher is one of our key men. Following on from his red card midweek, and living in that he’ll probably miss the Final in Rome, I think that Fletcher will want to leave his mark on this season. I think he’ll play every one of our remaining domestic games, starting with Sunday. He showed against Arsenal how he can cramp players, and give them little to no time on the ball. He needs to do exactly that to Ireland to cut City’s creative supply off at it’s source. he could do a job on Ireland on Sunday, if he can stay on his toes, and anticipate the Irishman’s movement he could nullify that threat. Ronaldo is another key man for us in my opinion. City are weak when it comes to their full-backs, Wayne Bridge has been especially dodgy after been tipped as City’s defensive saviour. If Ronaldo can get some runs up the wings he can terrorize Bridge. Bridge isn’t clever when attackers come inside from the wing so if Ronaldo does this then he has Bridge beat, I think.

These are just a few players who I think will play a big part tomorrow. Obviously, there are others (Rooney, Rio and Elano and Given for City) who’ll play pivotal roles but I think these players will provide the key battles on the pitch at Old Trafford.

It could be a tight game, as some have predicted but given the attacking nature of both teams and the attacking quality of both teams I think it will be very open. I think it will be end-to-end and there could be a few goals. Regardless of who wins it, it will probably come down to who defends best, because both sides can provide attacking masterclasses on their day.

I’m going for a 3-1 win for us.