The fracas at Manchester United was supposedly all about José Mourinho demanding respect but upstartery is a lot of what makes sport greatIs there a more elastic concept in modern football than “respect”? There certainly isn’t a more self-regardingly irritating one. Endlessly demanded, its absence or insufficiency endlessly condemned, “respect” is mostly a ball game for people too insecure to settle things with a ball game.Various instances of disrespect are held to have been committed at Old Trafford on Sunday, both during and in the wake of Manchester United’s defeat to Manchester City. By way of recap: there was some loud music, some milk, some pinching and scratching, and the Daily Mail surreptitiously repurposed its biannual Alma Tunnel graphic for...
Manchester City were vulnerable at times at Old Trafford but their hosts never looked like taking advantage due to tactics that do not fit with Manchester United’s stature or attacking heritageAbout 10 minutes before half-time, the plea went up around Old Trafford: “Attack! Attack! Attack!” It’s a chant that dates back to the 1960s. It was heard, for instance, at Wembley in 1968 when Manchester United beat Benfica to win the European Cup as fans revelled in the refusal of Matt Busby’s side to rest on a 1-0 lead even in a game so freighted with emotion and importance. By Louis van Gaal’s time, the chant had taken on a different tone: something between mockery of an approach based on...
Sean Dyche takes Burnley into lofty territory, José Mourinho miscalculated in the Manchester derby and Tiémoué Bakayoko fails to justify his costly transferThere is a temptation to regard Burnley’s presence in the upper reaches of the division as an early-season aberration. One of their alumni argued otherwise, while maintaining that improbable interlopers will benefit if they continue to be overlooked. Andre Gray, who traded Turf Moor for Vicarage Road in the summer, said: “The table doesn’t lie. It’s 16 games, not four or five where they’ve had a great run, and they’re seventh. They’ve been consistent.” The striker was jeered by some fans on his first return to Burnley, but had nothing but praise for his former colleagues and his...
In midfield or as an oddball centre-forward, Manchester City’s key man was brilliant in a win that could be decisive for his team’s title aspirationsWith half an hour to go in this taut, thrilling, at times spiky Manchester derby, David Silva could be seen chugging around at the point of the Manchester City attack, not so much pressing the red-shirted defenders as rumbling between them with a stately kind of grandeur, like a royal frigate in shallow waters.With Gabriel Jesus off and City leading 2-1 it was Silva, the most false of false No9s, who found himself shunted into that forward role. He has cut a more rotund, slightly more ponderous figure in the last year and a half, but...
Did José Mourinho’s decision to take the handbrake off hand the title to Manchester City and would things have been different if Paul Pogba was not suspended?This 20th head-to-head meeting of the managers ended with José Mourinho on the wrong end of a defeat and Pep Guardiola the correct one. Indeed Manchester United lost for the first time in 40 matches at home, since Manchester City won at Old Trafford in last season’s corresponding fixture. Far more significant is City now lead by 11 points and whatever is said about there being 22 games and 66 points to play for, the title is there for Guardiola’s men to throw away. As Kevin De Bruyne had mentioned in the build-up, the...