As Manchester derbies go, this afternoon’s is rather unique. Of course, it is not unusual for one of the teams involved in a big local match like this to enter the arena as the obvious underdog. Today, however, is different, as you could argue both teams are underdogs.
City, as we all now, are a bit of a mess right now. Just one win and a draw from their last 10 matches has left Pep Guardiola banging his head against the wall trying to find solutions to a problem he has never faced before.
There appeared to be a shaft of light at the end of the tunnel when they comfortably beat Nottingham Forest a couple of weeks ago. But that was followed up by a lacklustre draw with Crystal Palace and a defeat to Juventus that leaves their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.
What started out as the sort of blip that any team can go through from time to time has rapidly turned into a full-blown crisis. I have even heard chatter last week that Pep is considering quitting if he doesn’t manage to turn it round in the next couple of weeks.
And that would be an absolutely incredible dip in fortunes for a man who is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. But you can’t get away from the fact that this current City team – his team – are infinitely more beatable than they have been for decades. On that basis you would have to consider the blue team as underdogs today.
This current City team are infinitely more beatable than they have been for decades
However, that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that, in the other corner, you have a red team that are all over the place. Fair enough, their current form is nowhere near as bad as their neighbour’s, but they are 13th in the Premier League, which tells you all you need to know about their consistent inconsistency. Capable of beating Everton 4-0 but equally capable of losing 3-2 at home to Forest.
They are a club currently in transition (it feels like we’ve been saying that for about a decade) as new manager Ruben Amorim tries to stamp his authority on the players and make a silk purse out of the pig’s ear of a squad that he inherited.
And if the combination of poor players, an appalling start to the season and the upheaval of a new coaching team wasn’t enough, the club is also having to cope with continuing boardroom shenanigans, with sporting director Dan Ashcroft shown the door last week.
Yes, that’s the same Ashcroft that United desperately prised away from a similar role at Newcastle United, paying millions in compensation after waiting months for him to finish his ‘gardening leave’. Only to sack him after five months. Chaotic!
You could argue that comings and goings at executive level shouldn’t have an effect on performances on the pitch, but I don’t think seeing the sporting director removed after a matter of months will give the coaches or players much confidence in the club’s stability.
All of which paints a picture that Manchester United are also not in a good place ahead of today’s clash. Add to all that the simple fact that, player for player, United are almost entirely inferior to their rivals, and that would, under normal circumstances, make them today’s underdogs.
So, there you have it – a Sunday afternoon clash between two massive city rivals with huge amounts at stake in terms of pride, confidence and points. It could be a cracker. And it could be like watching a League Two reserve match. I haven’t the foggiest which direction it will go.
Out of the Blatter, into the fire
Like millions of other football fans, I longed for the day Sepp Blatter would be kicked out of FIFA. Fast forward a few years and I am now longing for the day Gianni Infantino is kicked out of FIFA.
At first it looked like he was an improvement on his predecessor, as he said all the right things and made all the right gestures. But it has gradually become obvious that he is just as bad as Sepp, only in different ways.
Last week’s confirmation that the 2030 World Cup will be held on three continents and the 2034 World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia shows he cares little about football, and even less about the fans.
And the fact that both tournaments were approved by FIFA’s members without a proper vote – member associations were told to applaud to show their approval while taking part in a giant Zoom call – was an absolute joke.
Both tournaments are going to be supporter nightmares for a whole raft of reasons, ranging from travel to timing to human rights issues.
But as long as FIFA wins in terms of sponsorship money, Gianni doesn’t give a toss about anything else, and is happy to blatantly twist FIFA’s processes to make sure his preferred destination wins.
At least Blatter tried to pretend football’s best interests were behind his decisions...
Ref no more
I don’t think anyone is really surprised that former top-level referee David Coote was relieved of his duties last week.
The allegations against him, backed up by video evidence, were a bit overwhelming, and the only real shocker is that it took referee body PGMOL nearly a month to terminate his employment.
The funny thing is, despite what he was seen saying in those videos, there is a part of me that still believes he never took his bias on to the pitch.
The man himself had insisted: “Whatever issues I may have had in my personal life, they have never affected my decision-making on the field.”
As I’ve said before, I don’t think there is a match official in the world who doesn’t have one or more teams he passionately dislikes. It’s part of being human. But I don’t think there are many who would let that get in the way of doing their job.
Again, the Coote case was so blatant and in-your-face that dismissal was the only logical course of action. Even if he had been innocent of anything even closely remote to bias, he managed to cover himself in a shroud of doubt that would never have gone away.
E-mail: james.calvert@timesofmalta.com
X: @maltablade