In years gone by every Premier League fan eagerly checked their team’s fixture list and drew a big red ring around one match: Manchester United away.
The Theatre of Dreams was a name reserved only for the Old Trafford faithful, for everyone else it was a coliseum of nightmares.
Just when teams thought they would take something away from one of world football’s true footballing fortresses United would come from nowhere and snatch points from under the opposition’s nose.
However, gone are the days where a draw was once celebrated as a win – replaced with a sense of optimism from visiting fans happy to attack a wounded animal.
Perhaps the only thing left to do is to rename the Etihad stadium New Trafford as it has replaced Manchester United’s home as the North West’s most impenetrable ground.
While United have floundered in their own backyard, the ‘Noisy Neighbours’ have flourished – winning every home league game, averaging four goals in the process.
While Manchester City have been racking up results that mimic cricket scores, United have won only one home Premier League game since November 10.
David Moyes may have come along the M62 from Everton amid much excitement, greeted with banners labelling him ‘the chosen one’, but those banner-erecting supporters are quickly losing patience with the Scot.
For a team that has never finished outside the top three of the Premier League, United’s current seventh-place berth must be an especially uncomfortable one in which to sit.
Like a spoilt child who is used to having it their own way, the Old Trafford faithful have been all too happy to criticise Moyes after his indifferent first six months in charge.
Hand-picked by fellow countryman Sir Alex Ferguson, fans could be forgiven for thinking that Moyes would fit like hand-in-glove in the role after 11 successful years with the Toffees.
Now, with half of the season gone the Red Devils sit 11 points behind first-placed Arsenal with six defeats already on their record, and the cries of ‘Moyes out’ are intensifying.
Sir Alex’s 26 years at the club were built on the ideology that ‘success breeds success’, with success starting home and seeing them to 38 trophies in the cabinet.
If Moyes is to win back his retractors, he would do well to improve the club’s home fortunes – starting this weekend hosting Swansea.
When United fell to the Swans at Old Trafford last week it was the second of their three straight 2-1 defeats in 2014.
You can bet your bottom dollar, then, that Michael Laudrup’s team will enter the Theatre of Dreams fully believing there are points to be had and misery to be further inflicted.
While Moyes and his troupe fall to home defeats against the likes of West Brom, Tottenham and Newcastle, the only team to take anything other than a hammering away from the Etihad this season are Champions League holders Bayern Munich.
Getting through a Champions League group stage for the first time in their history, the Citizens face Spanish giants FC Barcelona in the first knockout round next month. As news of City’s home form sweeps Europe, the Catalan brigade will come to Manchester knowing they are in for a fight.
Two weeks before that, however, Manuel Pellegrini’s men have a mouth-watering dress rehearsal when they host Chelsea on February 3.
Chelsea have not won at Manchester City since 2008, and one would have to expect this run to continue in a game that win likely draw a hatful of viewers in north-east Spain, trying to scout out any weakness in Pellegrini’s fortress.
United, the 20-times champions of England do not have such a luxury, however, as this weekend’s arrival of Swansea is their sole home clash before their League Cup semi-final game against Sunderland.
With United looking to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit against the Black Cats Moyes will likely be only too aware that this could be the only trophy United still have a realistic sniff of winning in his first season in charge.
Their impending Champions League encounter with Greece’s Olympiakos might not be as intimidating as the one their crosstown rivals face, but it is a brave man that could call a United victory sure thing.
Image courtesy of Xavoun, with thanks
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