Hi everyone I’m Tolulope and I’ll be taking us through the pre match analysis for the Manchester united vs Manchester city game on Saturday. It’s the first day at work for me and I’ve really not done this before, there’s been a number of things running through my mind like why do you really want to do this? You don’t know how to write and what if they don’t like it? Anyway, football is a game I really enjoy talking about for those who know me they know that about me I’m quite passionate about it and I’m a die-hard Barcelona fan but I’ll try very hard to be objective in it all and I welcome any form of constructive criticism and also your comments in the comment box is very important for me please try as much as possible to leave something there. You can ask questions and I promise to get back really quick (it doesn’t even take me 5mins to reply my chats, lol. I’ll take this as important as that). So let’s go into the real deal.
Manchester united host Manchester city at the old Trafford in one of the most anticipated matches of the season. So which one are you actually excited about? The Manchester derby or the renewed Mourinho vs Guardiola rivalry? For me it’s the latter and it’s not because of any other fact than the tactical battle, though one seems very conservative with his approach they are both tacticians.
Match facts
- Guardiola didn’t win his first four opening league games at Barcelona B, Barcelona and Bayern Munich
- The citizens failed to score in both of their Manchester derbies last season
- Sergio Aguero will miss the premier league derby after being banned for three games after being found guilty of violent conduct after he elbowed West Ham’s Winston Reid in the last game
- The last Manchester City player to score in the derby apart from Aguero is Yaya Toure in 2014
- After losing four premier league Manchester derbies Manchester united are unbeaten in the last three games winning 2 and playing a draw
- Manchester City won the last Manchester derby in which both clubs had new manager (David Moyes and Manuel Pellegrini ending 4-1)
- Manchester United and Manchester City have won three of their opening league games making it the second time in history both clubs have won their three opening games, Jose Mourinho has won just 3 of his last 16 meetings with Guardiola
Guardiola vs Mourinho Head to Head
The pair have met 16 times throughout their coaching careers with Pep handling Barcelona and Bayern Munich while Mourinho was on the touchline for Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea. Pep won 7 times against Mourinho with Mourinho winning 3 times and they drew 6 altogether including the last game that ended 2-2 with Guardiola’s side coming out on top on penalties 5-4(I’m sure those Chelsea dudes/supporters remember why Lukaku isn’t playing for them anymore)
Guardiola 8, Mourinho 3, Draw 5
Team head to head
In the last five games in the premier league both teams have won 2 times drawing once with Manchester united winning the last two games
Man Utd 2, Man City 2 draw 1
Team news and tactics
Manchester united
Mourinho might be forced over the weekend to make some changes to his back four that has only conceded a single goal in their last three games considering that Shaw had to withdraw from the England squad as a precautionary measure after having some pain in his calf (by the way of explanation, the calf is just the back of the leg below the knee) of the leg he broke last season!!! And Fellaini didn’t join up with the national team Mourinho revealed that the midfielder from the “Jackson 5 group” picked up a back injury in the win again Hull City though he’s back in training and Mourinho will have to analyse the situation of his American players (Marcos Rojo, Sergio Romero and Antonio Valencia) in that they will all return just 24 hours to the game with Mourinho already questioning if they will be ready for the game (I mean if your team is not the Nigerian dream team you can’t try that) but why should Manchester united worry about Valencia when the have Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones and Timothy Fosu-Mensah? (just kidding he has been spectacular this season) and also in case Luke Shaw won’t play they have Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo (though Rojo and Valencia are in the same situation) and Blind that will mean him breaking up the perfect partnership with Bailly and I don’t think Mourinho wants to do that. Henrikh Mkhitaryan suffered a thigh injury on international duty and is a major doubt for the match with the Armenian FA saying he will be out for 10 days though he’s back at Carrington for treatment with him tweeting 2 days ago that he’s not sure if he will be back for the derby.
Manchester city
Pep Guardiola will also be facing a problem deciding who to start because Nicolas Otamendi won’t be back until about 24 hours to kickoff but Kolarov has played as a centre back this season and he did quite well also you remember that guy bought from Borussia Dortmund, yes that Gundogan guy exactly, the guy is back!!! I’m sure I’m not the only one who is happy about that right? He’s a joy to watch but will Guardiola throw him straight into the starting line up? I don’t think so, I think it will probably be too intense for him and also the midfield trio of Fernandinho, David Silva and De Bruyne (though De Bruyne is a little still stiff for the fluid nature of the team but he’s a very good player and will adapt) has been doing excellently well and the midfield nature hasn’t been altered since match day 1. Kompany is also fit but considering his injury history he will not be rushed. Also Leroy Sane has also not played any match for Manchester city this season following his £37 million move to the English club but has returned to full training and will probably be declared fit soon. Plus he will have to decide whether to play Caballero or Claudio Bravo. The latter will be training with the team for the first time on Thursday. Knowing Mourinho’s team, the problem is not building from the back the problem is advancing from the back which I’ll discuss in the post-match tactical analysis so he probably will give Caballero the nod. The problem left is Guardiola finding a replacement for Aguero who will miss the game after being banned for pulling a “Jason Statham” elbow stunt on Winston Reid in the last game. Nolito and Kelechi Ihenacho (yes that Nigerian boy popularly called Nacho) seems to be the only viable option after sending Wilfried Bony on exile to Stoke.
Predicted line up
Manchester united
De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Blind, Shaw; Fellaini, Pogba; Mata, Rooney, Martial; Ibramohimovic in a 4:2:3:1 formation
Manchester city
Caballero; Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Silva; Sterling, Nolito, Kelechi in a 4:3:3 formation with Kelechi a false nine and a right or left sided overload.
Refree
Mark Clattenburg
Where to watch and time
Supersport 3,12:30pm (you can also visit ball house oooo)
Predicted score line
Manchester united 2-1 Manchester city
Let me know your predictions below and in case if any girl not boy I say again not boy is interested in watching the game in our Ogbomosho village contact me I will foot the bill to the ball house and you will eat popcorn too.
See you after the game.
