Manchester Derby - Match Report (November 2011)

Dour Derby Dampens the Hype.

With hype surrounding the Manchester derby at an all time high, there was an air of inevitability around Wednesday night’s fixtures failure to deliver, as City and United played out a 0-0 draw in a very cagey and dull affair at Eastlands.

Much pre-match talk surrounded the sparse selection of players available to Sir Alex Ferguson after a virus had swept through United’s ranks. However, Ferguson was able to field a largely full strength-side, with only Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs - who missed a derby match for the first time in 19 years –the notable absentees. It was United who were by far the better side, yet for all their superior possession and composure they lacked the cutting edge and spark required in the face of a very negative City side.

The opening half rather dampened pre-match expectations, with neither side able to conjure any real opportunity of note. Patrice Evra offered United’s best opportunity of the first half early on, manoeuvring a small opening in the City box but seeing his shot comfortably saved by Joe hart. The game plodded on at a placid pace, and predictably it took Carlos Tevez, a player deified and vilified across Manchester to liven proceedings. He had City’s closest effort of the match - but saw his free-kick clawed out of the top right hand corner by United’s Edwin Van Der Sar. He followed this with a brief confrontation with Rafael Da Silva - but this case of mild handbags was as fiery as the encounter got, with it never once threatening to boil over in stereotypical derby fashion.

The second half settled into a relatively predictable pattern, with United dominating possession and City only threatening sporadically through Tevez and David Silva – an acrobatic Dimitar Berbatov effort was as close as either side came to breaking the deadlock.

Both managers suggested afterwards that they were content with the result, yet ultimately it was a game which suggested neither side are quite where they would like, and ought, to be.

Roberto Mancini’s insistence on such a cautious and defensive set-up, particularly at home, is difficult to fathom, and despite all the oily money pumped into his squad, an over reliance on Tevez to provide City’s drive and verve will surely hinder any legitimate claims for a place on English football’s top table.

Likewise, United’s inability to create any real opportunities suggests there is a Wayne Rooney shaped hole in the team waiting to be filled once more; and whilst they remain unbeaten in all competition thus far, it will irk Ferguson that Chelsea were able to sneak further ahead despite such a dominant display.

It was a derby which won’t live long in the memory, and whilst honours remained even, it is United who remain Manchester’s dominant force.