Sorry mate, gotta disagree there.
Dark Sith Lord said:
I think we have a better defence when rio and vidic is fit.
City's defence is head and shoulders above Utds,.
As Pete says, Kompany is a class act. Take nothing away from Vidic he's a great player but having seen Torres rip him apart on three separate occasions, and those Swiss part timers beat a Utd team with him in it......
Rio is a quality player but he is now on the downward slope, and that back isn't going to hold up to a 38 game season.
Also City's fullbacks (take your pick from any of the four) are all better than anything Utd have. Evra has regressed at a rate of knots. Two years ago he was one of the best left backs around, now he is probably on borrowed time in that Utd team. Jones/Smalling are both great players with bright futures ahead of them but I'd take Richards ahead of either of them any day. Raphael, is the best of the Utd boys going forward but is too prone to brain-freezes to be considered a long term viable option, an outfield David james if you like.
Dark Sith Lord said:
We are equal in midfield.
Ehhh, did you really write that!?
Carrick = Barry, ok, that's debatable and as a Utd I can see how you've gone for your guy over City's, so I'll give you that.
Scholes = Toure!? Did you watch the game? One guy sprinted 80 yards to pick up an overhit pass in the 91st min, the other was bucked by the 65th minute! Take nothing away from Scholesy, in his prime he was worldclass (not a term I use lightly) but now age has caught up with him.
Nani = Silva? The Nani of last season, possibly. This season, no chance!
Giggs = Nasri? That one I think is close. Nasri has been pants for large parts of the season, but now he's coming good. Giggs, like Scholesy, is still a class act, but age is getting him. Plus you can't play Giggs+Scholes every week, TBH I don't even think you could get away with them alternating in your team.
Valencia and Young are great players. Ok, Young is diving wee scum bag but he's not the first to fall over quite easily (Gerrard does it too often for my liking, and Robert Pires made a career out of it). It's not really fair to compare either of them with Nigel De Jong as they are totally different types of players. Possibly a fairer comparison would be with Johnson or Milner. I'd say they are better, or at least more consistent that Johnson, Milner is a more rounded player, he can tackle and do a marking job were as you'd **** your pants if either of the first two were asked to man mark (Valencia slightly less, I have seen him play RB reasonably well, for a winger).
On balance there's not a single Utd player who would strengthen the City midfield. Valencia possibly, but City don't really play with wingers. Turned around, how many of those City players would you gladly welcome at Utd? Silva and Toure should be no brainers. Barry, Milner, Nasri? Possibly, possibly not. De Jong? You need a holding midfielder like Greece needs money! I'm still taking City's midfield any day though.
Dark Sith Lord said:
They have better strikers and they have a better GK
Yeah, we agree there.
Dark Sith Lord said:
Interesting one. Until Monday I may have given you that. Mancini has a great CV, but those league titles at Inter were won when the other big sides (Juve, AC, Roma, Lazio, Fiorentina) were either relegated or docked so many points they would never have challenged. So I tend to discount them. Kinda like winning an SPL title!
I also think Mancini has underachieved given the resources he's had at City. Mind you I'm not sure how much of a say he gets in who they sign, so that may well hinder his planning.
I just worry that Fergy is getting a bit too set in his ways. Giggs and Scholes are the prime example, as I've said, class players, but **** me, a team of Utd's calibre should not be relying on 37 and 38 year midfielers! They should have bought younger replacements FIVE years ago! Ditto the lack of a holding midfielder. That's not a new issue either, I (and a lot of others) pointed this out the first time Barca pulled your pants down in a CL final. A manager of Fergy's experience has to see and address these problems IMO.
On balance I'd probably just about plump for Fergy, but I think he's making a lot more mistakes now than he used to, and that's not a good sign for Utd fans.
Dark Sith Lord said:
What other chances did City create except the goal.
Off the top of my head, the one Nasri should have buried, were he beat 3 players and then tried to beat another 3 rather than putting it in the ****ing net!
Agguero stuffed up a good few half chances, Toure had 3 decent chances to shoot from just outside the box Clichy even had a shot De Gea saved well from.
