While few are willing to bet on the takeover as owners’ motives remain uncertain, most believe we are now in the endgamePurgatory spiced with speculation, hope blunted by stasis. So it goes for Manchester United supporters, for week after interminable week.It is nearly seven months since the Glazers put the club up for sale – the “anniversary” is Thursday. Yet the family remains in situ, still inflicting the sort of slow torture that would make Torquemada flinch, still desperate to make every last penny before they depart. If they depart. Continue reading...
Jack Grealish was penalised for inadvertently touching the ball with his fingers, giving United the chance to equaliseAs it turned out, it didn’t affect the destination of the FA Cup or deny Manchester City a chance at the treble, but it might have done. Manchester United had created very little when suddenly VAR gave them a penalty for something almost nobody appealed. Assuredly, under the laws, as they are now interpreted, the decision was correct. Jack Grealish’s hand was raised almost to shoulder height as Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s header struck it, and that these days is an offence. But really, why should it be?Why should games be decided not by skill or heart, by organisation or improvisation, but by 75% chances...
It’s easy to forget the German midfielder was Pep Guardiola’s first signing – he is the original component of this City eraThis was perhaps the perfect way to win it, the perfect way to confirm Manchester City’s status as the defining domestic force of the age and all-round era-machine.The words used to describe this team, the semantic field of Pep-era City tend to be mechanical. City are a juggernaut, a steamroller, a fully operational death star. They completed the league and Cup double here with a couple of moments of routine, mid-30s brilliance from a footballer who looks less like a visitor from the footballing future, more like a cuddly pirate. Continue reading...
Erik ten Hag turned to striker for equaliser against Manchester City but only underlined how money bloat sealed fate years agoWith 14 minutes remaining, Pep Guardiola made his first substitution of the afternoon. Off came Kevin De Bruyne, the best player on the pitch, perhaps with a view to giving him a rest before next Saturday’s Champions League final. On came a fresh Phil Foden, one of the best young players in Europe. Right. Your move, Erik ten Hag.So it was that a minute later, Manchester United unveiled the secret weapon that they hoped would win them the 2023 FA Cup: Wout Weghorst. Continue reading...
The first all-Manchester FA Cup final is framed by City’s pursuit of total supremacy and opponents’ quest to avenge humiliationIt was a small and inconsequential moment but one that said plenty about a mood and a rivalry. Manchester City were 6-2 up in the Premier League derby against United at the Etihad Stadium last October and we were into the 89th minute.Previously, after Phil Foden had made it 6-1 on 73 minutes to join Erling Haaland as the scorer of a hat-trick, the City fans had joked that they wanted 10. Or maybe they were not joking. Now, shortly after the United substitute Anthony Martial had pulled one back, City built in midfield only for João Cancelo to play a...