Done 6-1 at home by our Blue boys
How do you like them apples Ferguson? Done 6-1 at home by our Blue boys! We’ll bathe in the glory of this one for a wee while, says Soccer365’s Howard Johnson, then get on with the business of winning the Premier League!
But allow me to indulge myself for a few minutes and savour the thrill of humiliating the reds for once. It hasn’t happened all that often in my lifetime. Allow me to revel in the artistry of David Silva, already possibly the greatest player ever to wear the sky blue shirt and a man who sees a pass like no-one else on earth. Let me enjoy the ice-cold precision of Mario Balotelli in front of goal. The Italian rarely smiles in celebration when he scores,Rob Gronkowski Jersey, clearly because he knows that’s just normal service. Indulge me as I tip my hat to Sergio Aguero, the lightning-quick Argentine with the dazzling feet who’s as classy off the pitch as he is on it. Any player who can induce collective amnesia and make the entire Etihad Stadium forget Carlos Tevez has to have something going for him. I could go on, of course, for this is a City squad that’s packed with class from top to bottom,Andre Johnson Jersey. I don’t think there’s any argument that the blues have a better group of players than their neighbours across town. The question was whether we had a better team – and on Sunday’s evidence that’s no longer in doubt either.
The league is ours for the taking. Nobody has City’s swagger or City’s style. And the bellyaching that all we’ve done is ‘bought’ success is no more than pathetic sour grapes,Demaryius Thomas Jersey. All of Manchester United’s success was built on being more financially muscular than anyone else. United always got the pick of the best players,Heath Miller Jersey. Then Chelsea did it. And now it’s our turn. It just so happens that we’ve got far deeper pockets than anyone could previously have imagined.
I’ve also noticed that there have suddenly been some grudging signs of admiration for Manchester City. Whereas last season there was constant moaning about City’s lack of style, all of a sudden we’re being hailed as top entertainers. It’s true that we’re a delight to watch. But the idea that Roberto Mancini would be able to construct a winning team that was also easy on the eye, in just five minutes flat, was always nothing short of ridiculous. They don’t call it ‘building a team’ for nothing and the Italian has gone about constructing an outfit that’s fit for purpose with a measured calm and a logic that’s all to his credit. First he got the foundations in order in defence. Then he added the finishing touches and the decorations in attack. And now look at us!
There was something of the unreal about yesterday’s slaughter at Old Trafford. Manchester City’s annihilation of their haughty neighbours United has laid down a marker about Blue ambitions, while giving us supporters a bit of a problem. It’s been 22 years since a hugely-unfancied City walloped United 5-1 at Maine Road and ever since then that win has become part of our football culture. Any City fan worth his salt talks about ‘The 5-1’ incessantly. Or should I now say ‘talked’? Because now we’ve got a 6-1 under our belts there’s a whole new history that’s in the process of being written. No longer do City fans have to keep harking on about all-too-infrequent good days at the office somewhere in the distant past. Now we know we’re following a team with serious ambitions to be at football’s top table on a regular basis. ‘The Project’, the name by which many within the club rather pompously refer to City’s ambitions, is well underway and it says much for our vision of the future that the resounding message coming out of Old Trafford on Sunday was that City were very much keeping their feet on the ground,Emmitt Smith Youth Jersey, focusing on the bigger prize of the Premiership title.
At one time a 6-1 hammering of our deadliest rivals would have resulted in weeks of street parties and a run on bunting the like of which Manchester has never seen. Nowadays if it’s not exactly a footnote, this is a win that’s being seen as very much ‘in context’,Whitney Mercilus Jersey. A great day out and a nice tweak of the Ferguson nose, but just three points like any other at the end of the day. Three points that take us three points nearer the league title.
“We are not, we’re not really here/We are not, we’re not really here/Just like the fans of the Invisible Man/We’re not really here”
And yet we’re absolutely right not to get carried away. The ambition is to be Europe’s elite club, better than Barca. But as our Champions League lesson at the hands of Bayern Munich proved recently, we’ve still got a long way to go. Conquering England is one thing. Planting our flag further afield is another entirely. But 6-1 at Old Trafford will do very nicely for starters, won’t it?
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