Local rivalries bring out the best and worst in a city’s football fans, but do they really mean anything to anyone outside the catchment area of those particular clubs?
The mischievous among us would say the Manchester derby means an awful lot to all the United fans in the suburbs of Surrey, and to the City fans in Abu Dhabi.
There is no denying last season’s Mancheser derby fixtures had an awful lot of meaning to them though.
The 6-1 showed United may just have been wobbling on their perch, and the 1-0 at the Etihad was the knock-out blow that saw them crashing down to earth as the Blue moon cast a shadow over Manchester.
But with the Reds already putting the champagne on ice, could City do anything to make this particular edition of Monday Night Football anything more than another step on United’s relentless march to title number 20?
The neutrals among us hoped City would visit Old Trafford with a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude and throw caution to the wind in search of the Mancunian bragging rights.
And the opening stages lived up to our expectations, the game being played in basketball ‘you have a go’, ‘OK now your turn’ style.
Danny Welbeck’s lack of composure on the counter-attack probably cost United a goal in the early stages.
Had he seen Wayne Rooney to his right rather than running straight at Gael Clichy then the neutrals would have had the worst possible start on their hands – an early lead for United.
James Milner’s early cross-come-shot tested David de Gea as City took their turn to attack and Robin van Persie flashed an effort across Joe Hart’s goal.
But the mile-a-minute pace of the opening stages couldn’t be kept up forever and inevitably the game slowed as both sides attempted to find their rhythm.
For the remainder of the first half it says much that the most notable players on the pitch were the centre backs, and the young ones at that.
Both Phil Jones for United and Matija Nastasic for City made vital interventions as the game was characterised by the odd deft touch and neat lay-off but never quite strung together into anything that got you off your seat.
There was the odd feisty challenge (I’m looking at you Mr Kompany), and Rafael brushing the woodwork with a flicked effort.
But half time arrived and many without a vested interest in the game were weighing up how much longer they’d give it in the second period before switching to Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge.
In a game of this nature the onus was on Roberto Mancini to change things for City as United were more than happy to do what they do best – soak up pressure and hit the Blues on the break.
Would he bring on Javi Garcia to free up Yaya Toure for more rampaging runs at the heart of United’s defence?
No of course he wouldn’t and the teams emerged for the second half just as they had an hour earlier.
But despite the conservative Italian’s reluctance to put on a show for us neutrals, City soon got the goal we were all craving.
Ryan Giggs gave the ball away in his 39th derby (yes he’s played a whole Premier League season’s worth of them) and Milner eventually crashed it home off the legs of Jones to force Fergie’s hand and make United chase the game.
Ask and you will receive, United go down the other end and score a rather fortunate goal of their courtesy of Vincent Kompany’s back.
In all honesty I would have preferred to see United chase the game for a little longer but no matter as substitute Sergio Aguero ratcheted up the tension by putting the Citizens ahead again.
The closing stages inevitably got very tetchy and testy as United continued to fight for bragging rights and that’s what makes derbies so intriguing.
You can have no allegiance to either side, but when the passion on show is so evident and when tempers start fraying as heads turn more to the battle at hand rather than playing football, it doesn’t matter about the standard of the game.
Image courtesy of Sky Sports, with thanks
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