Saturday, April 18, 2015

Toure's Birthday is coming. Manchester United 4 - 2 Manchester City





My Tata Sky has been down for the last 12 days, with the Tech support telling me every time how important my problem is with them. They actually managed to make me feel like the most important person in the whole world, for, after all even my wife has never told me how important I am to her for 12 consecutive days. To my horror, just an hour before the match I found out that my subscription I created with Star Sports was not working for some unknown issue. I had no hope at all when I sent an email to their tech support asking to look into it, but voila, within 75 minutes not only that I got an email reply and call, they resolved the issue as well. That is what you call customer support.

So all I missed from the game was the first 15 minutes in which, as I found it later, City started like a run- away train with a goal from Sergio Aguiro, only to be pegged back by a scrambled effort from Ashley Young.  Then onwards, United’s midfield took control of the game and I am pretty sure that I am writing this sentence only for the first time in the last 3 years. I thought I will never see the days when United’s midfield over running a City team which contains Yaya Toure.  Toure played like a man whose is having sex with his ugly wife while thinking about his gorgeous fling. In all probability he is already thinking of his upcoming birthday and wondering whether the cake is a round or square. Based on his performance in the last month, he will be lucky to get a cookie from the City hierarchy.

Marouane Fellaini scored a typical Marouane Fellaini goal from an Ashley Young cross to give United a 2-1 lead a t half time.  Those are the two players who received much flak in the last year for United’s form, but fair play to both of them for having the balls to face it and overturn it. A word on LVG too get both of them playing in the way they do now. Nobody, not even Ashley Young’s mom, would have thought that he will keep the British transfer record signing Angel Di Maria out of United’s starting eleven at some point this year, let along consistently for the last 2 months.

When Rooney turned and found Mata free on the left flank, the Spaniard ran towards Joe Hart, and for a moment I though he got too close to him, but slipped the ball between his legs to the Stretford end goal. Even at 3-1, the match was alive but City players did their best to hide it. Had players’ body language been the only parameter, Manuel Pellegrini would have been sacked midway through the second half.  It is fair to assume that there is going to be a clear out at the Etihad this summer and I will be surprised if Pellegrini is not part of it.

In the previous Manchester derby Chris Smalling managed to send himself off within 33 minutes with two clearly bookable offences, but this time he was commanding in defense and scored the 4th from a a freekick to put the result beyond doubt. With 5 minutes remaining after the second goal from Sergio Aguiro to make the score 4-2, the lack of celebration from City players told the story of the night, shone of hunger and fire, lack of energy and fun. Not that  any of those 70000 fans in red shirts inside Old Trafford was complaining.

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