manchester united: Manchester derby: Coming, a test of Manchester United’s revival

Manchester United were back on top, restored to the pinnacle of the English game, reaching a historic high. When his financial results were released last week, his salary bill, £384.2m, was the biggest ever in the Premier League. As came their worst season since the 1980s, when they were 35 points behind their neighbors and as close to Watford as Man City, it showed that the cost of failure has never been higher.

United regained their title as big spenders in the summer; Given the increased fees, it may be wrong to say that they brought in £200m of players, but they paid £200m. Meanwhile, Manchester City made transfer-market profits and signed a striker at Erling Haaland, who now has 11 goals in his last six appearances.

The Manchester derby is still a money derby. It is a generalization to say that, after Alex Ferguson retired, both have spent a fortune, City Vale and United badly, but there is some truth to this. They won’t put up statues of Wilfred Boni or Eliakim Mangla outside the Etihad Stadium, but while United’s £1bn splashdown has arguably only been an unqualified success, in Bruno Fernandes, City’s annual nine-figure outlay has produced several, In which Kevin De Bruyne is on top. list. This summer, they were a far better seller than United.

But if the expense can be analyzed individually, and if so it is worth noting that Calvin Phillips’ 13 minutes of football means he has hardly given value for money so far, while Jack Grealish The £100m fee means they don’t even have extensive testing mass. City have had five Premier League titles since Ferguson’s retirement, United have none. City have won 11, since United’s last trophy, the 2017 Europa League.

The final verdict may be that, like Pep Guardiola before him, Erik ten Haag initially paid off to secure signs that would be transformative within the framework of his blueprint, or that United’s Skagen spending made a huge difference. The separate heir continued to cause problems. , It is too early to say that.

Instead, Sunday will be a barometer of progress, a test of the resurrection. United’s victories over Liverpool and Arsenal were flawed in the losers but still really encouraging.

The Etihad Stadium is a curious situation for United; They can win battles in enemy territory but, in one season, lose the battle. He has won four of the last six meetings on city soil and yet begins to trace Ferguson’s subsequent two reigns. David Moyes had a solitary defeat before the September 2013 visit. This proved particularly punishing for Marouane Fellaini, his lone recruit at the time, as United went down 4–0 in 50 minutes. United lost at home to West Bromwich six days later and Old Trafford’s invincibility began to blow.

Rewind to March and Ralph Rangnick traveled to Manchester with a more-than-respectable run of 26 points from 13 games. Another 4-1 defeat started another downward spiral. It reflects City’s justified fear of midfield domination. Cristiano Ronaldo was absent, injured and in Portugal, but he was dropped anyway as Rangnik made two false nines choices in Paul Pogba and Fernandes.

Ronaldo is part of the background. United’s salary bill would not have been that big if he had not been the highest paid player in the country. It’s been a little over a year since City’s original flirtation with him, which led to the delusional coup to re-sign the United legend; Such a long-term plan at Old Trafford could involve Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had been luring his former Molde charge Haaland to be the future of United’s attack, but sacked a Norwegian long before he was picked for City. was done.

Originally published at Pen 18