Mancs Monday

Mancs Monday

In local news... Well, reasonably local, I know a guy from Manchester. Next Monday, usually the symbol of gloom for us working types who forget that it's just a day like any other, will provide excitement and exhilaration as much as a new single from Rihanna or whoever is poisoning the music charts at the moment. Its the Manchester derby, and not just any derby. Its the derby to rule them all, the chosen derby, the one derby. They can take our lives, but they can never take our derby! Okay, that one went too far in terms of movie quotes, but I think it served to elevate the magnitude of Monday's game. Manchester City face Manchester United, who are three points ahead at the top of the league, at City's Etihad stadium. With just three games to go for both sides, the victor of this gargantuan clash will be in the driving seat for the remainder of the season. But you know all this...

There is vast indecision amongst my University mates about which way this tie will go. The Manchester based guy that I mentioned earlier is a strong Christian, and so believes that the Red Devils of United will succumb to defeat against the angelic Blues of Manchester City. That isn't true, he is just a City fan. Another believes that United's will have a ferocious blood lust after City's 6-2 hammering at Old Trafford earlier this season, and that the score could be somewhere in that region. That may be slightly sensationalist, but I am in a pragmatic mood. I can also see the future, and my crystal ball says that the score will be 3-2 to United. Prove that I'm wrong. Well, we'll see who can't tell the future on Monday.
Although I just had an argument with an imaginary reader, I want to think about this game logically. Manchester United's strength is that they have been there, done that and have a wardrobe full of the t-shirts. I'm sure Alex Ferguson has sold you one at one of his legendary boot sales. But whilst they have the undeniable experience, their squad is still a problem. I'm not going to talk about the same old central midfield position because I think Paul Scholes has rolled back the years recently. I'm not going to mention the goalkeeper, because despite early season critics, David De Gea has become the brick wall every team needs between the sticks. However, his defence may as well be the dynamite which brings down that barracade. In short, Rafael is promising but has more lapses in concentration than a twelve year old in maths class, Ferdinand would be more mobile with a zimmer-frame, and Evra is often in the opposition's penalty box when danger occurs. All three were displayed against Everton at the weekend, hence why 4 goals were conceded. Against City, I can see a struggle for the defence.
City, on the other hand, have too many ticking time-bombs in their squad. Whilst this is more of a long-term issue as Balotelli won't play for the rest of the season, and the Tevez saga has come to a conclusion, the squad never seems to be completely at ease or at peace with each other. But they do have six key players, who, if selected for the match, will be too much for United: Joe Hart, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and David Silva. It's the rest of the team that could let them down. I've never been impressed with Pablo Zabaleta, Nigel De Jong is essentially Mike Tyson with football boots on, and Gareth Barry represents the best of British, which is, in all honesty, rather unfortunate for us here in Albion.

Now I know what the score will be because I'm psychic and all that (I would display an squiggly-mouthed face, but I can't bring myself to insert an emoticon). 3-2 United and the title will stay with the red half of Manchester.

Sorry for such a long post. I will try and condense them down in future.

From way up here in Row Z, thanks for reading.