The Number two game on this years list is Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United. The Manchester derby always promises to be exciting, and has, in past years, not disappointed; this game, however, was exceptional even by the derby's standards.
Build Up:
United was leading City by 3 points when this game was played, on the 9th of December. Chelsea's poor run of form in November had allowed both teams to jump the Blues in the standings. United's defense had been a problem throughout the season, with Ferguson starting Michael Carrick in defense early on in the year. That day, Sir Alex gave Patrice Evra and Rafael the fullback jobs, with Johnny Evans and Rio Ferdinand in the middle. He also sat Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez for RVP and Wayne Rooney, a justifiable decision. On the other side, Roberto Mancini favored Mario Balotelli over Carlos Tevez; the Italian was joined up front by Sergio Aguero. He also started Matijia Nastasic over Joleen Lescott and Kolo Toure.
The Game:
The first goal of the game came 15 minutes in, when Patrice Evra chipped a ball 15 yards forward, from deep in his own half, to Ashley Young. Young headed the ball straight back another ten yards to RVP, who returned the pass to the Englishman. The winger dribbled for 10 or 15 yards down the wing, before hitting a short pass into the middle to Wayne Rooney. Rooney took the ball across the box, and, when he had reached the middle, with all his momentum going right, hit the ball all the way back across the goal, to the left. Joe Hart was caught completely flat footed, not even being able to dive to stop the ball. Rooney scored again to widen the Reds lead when, in the 28th minute, he got on the end of a low Rafael cross, redirecting it past Joe Hart. Michael Carrick had started the move, making a beautiful 30 yard lob pass to Antonio Valencia. The Ecuadorian played a through ball straight ahead to the streaking Rafael, who in turn crossed it in. City was down, going into the half, 2 goals, to United, at home.
Things got better though, for in the 60th minute, off several beautiful saves by David De Gea, Yaya Toure one timed a Carlos Tevez pass into the back of the net. It was disappointing for De Gea, who had made so many great saves on the play, only to be beat by a simple shot. City finally pulled even 25 minutes later, when a Tevez corner kick was headed out into the middle of the box, almost outside of it in fact, by RVP, standing 5 yards ahead of the front post. Pablo Zabaleta ran onto the ball, with no Red shirts for about a mile around him. The Argentine half volleyed the shot past De Gea, who was blocked by the large group of played directly in front of him. City and their fans had thought that they now had a point. But not so, said RVP, or perhaps better put, Samir Nasri. RVP had a free kick about 35 yards out of the box, on the right side, near the corner of the box. He curled the kick around the wall and past Joe Hart. The ball would have hit Samir Nasri in the chest, had he not been a panzi. The former Arsenal player tried to duck behind his other two teammates in the wall and just stick out a leg. That leg, in fact, helped the ball get more height, and thus go into the net. So United got the win in the Emirates, in the Manchester darby.
Aftermath:
Rio Ferdinand was hit in the face with a coin while celebrating RVP's winner, and a fan tried to run at the ref, but those ugly scenes do not reflect on the whole game. After all, Joe Hart defended Ferdinand from a City fan when the pitch invader tried to attack the United defender. All in all, it was a fantastic game, worthy of the number two spot. United would go on to win the title, dominating the league from that point on.
Stay tuned for the rest of Pitch View's countdown to the Premier League season.
No comments:
Post a Comment