Sometimes the only explanation that makes sense is that football is not governed by the laws of physics, by data, xG and logic, but is actually a malevolent deity, capricious and mischievous and that sometimes she takes it out on you and there is really no reason. lots of things that can be done.
The Manchester derby was a largely dreadful match between two faltering teams, lacking confidence and belief, pushing and prodding and giving very little indication that they were the two most successful clubs in history of the Premier League. But City had all three of their shots on target in the first half and, in that sense, were worth the lead they had been given when Joško Gvardiol headed in a deflected cross from Kevin De Bruyne, a goal that would have seemed weird if that hadn’t been the case. The eighth United have conceded from corners this season, and the fourth under Ruben Amorim.
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But in the second half United tried to play on, without looking particularly good; The city did not do so. They froze. United pressed on, although Amad Diallo was the only player who looked vaguely dangerous. Even then, everything suggested it would be a scruffy 1-0 victory for City that would have brought them back to within six points of leaders Liverpool and perhaps restored morale.
But then Matheus Nunes left a back pass short, allowing Diallo to step in, before compounding the error with a careless attempt to regain possession and conceding a penalty. Bruno Fernandes, after what was surely his worst game in a United shirt, converted the penalty. Nunes had initially been deployed at left-back as part of a Guardiola reshuffle, with some attempting to discover a new combination that could restore a sense of calm. It was a selection to recall some of Guardiola’s strangest decisions before big European games, but if he thinks too much about games against this United team he is truly doomed.
Once a United goal was scored, the second was inevitably curious: a long punt, a simple diagonal run by Diallo between two central defenders far too far apart, a first touch that ‘stretched in front of Ederson, then a volley. of immaculate cruelty, flowing gently between Gvardiol’s legs. None of this was explainable: but some distant mind decided that Guardiola must suffer, that after so many years of unprecedented success, of coldly rational position playhe must experience, in a single concentrated draft, the feeling of helplessness familiar to most managers.
On 29 October, Erik ten Hag was sacked as manager of Manchester United. The following day, City lost to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup – a night whose grim significance was underlined by Timo Werner’s goal. Since Ten Hag’s departure, City have lost eight of 11 and only beaten Nottingham Forest; imagine where they would be if Jim Ratcliffe had been decisive enough to replace him this summer.
So we have a Premier League in which, while Liverpool and Arsenal both stutter this weekend, it is Chelsea – chaotic Chelsea, with their absurdly stretched team, walking the PSR tightrope – who emerge as the victors relentless, a twist that no one saw coming. . This is one of those seasons that serves as a reminder of how difficult it is, even with the financial advantages enjoyed by the elite, to dominate in the way City – and to a lesser extent Arsenal and Liverpool – have done in recent years . The Premier League’s middle class, not just Aston Villa and Tottenham but also Brighton and Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Brentford, is of extremely high quality. Suddenly, fascinatingly, every game seems full of possibilities – as it should.
But the focus remains on City because the collapse is so spectacular, so unforeseen. The legs and the heart become one. It’s like sitting in Rome in 410 and watching the Visigoths pour over the horizon, an empire crumbling in real time. If it can perish, as Saint Jerome wrote then, what can ever be sure? City will, at some point, start winning again, but the damage is done and the aura may never return.
Their immediate schedule normally doesn’t seem too demanding: Villa away, Everton at home, Leicester away, West Ham at home. But Villa, as out of shape as they come in recent times, dominated City in the equivalent match last season – a match which could, in time, be seen as an early indication that the days of Guardiola’s hegemony were numbered – and besides, City currently look capable of losing to anyone.
Could Guardiola go? It’s an absurd thought given how much he’s won and how much the City project is focused on him, but managers tend not to recover from runs like this – Jürgen Klopp with three wins in 14 league matches in 2020-21, the Covid season, is perhaps the only comparable counter-example. Guardiola appeared baffled afterwards. Everything, as he has taken to reciting recently, will pass. Including the imperial phase of his Manchester City.
There may even be no real reason for this; just that football has decreed that it must be so.
That day
As chaotic as things have been for Manchester United over the last decade, they are not as bad as December 16, 1972, when they produced probably their worst performance since the Second World War when, third in the First Division, they lost 5 points. -0 to Crystal Palace, who were last. The decline after the 1968 European Cup victory was brutal. Matt Busby had retired in 1969 but remained managing director, undermining first Wilf McGuinness and then Frank O’Farrell.
The year 1972-73 started badly then, in November, George Best, whose behavior was deteriorating, was accused of having slapped a woman in a club – he was subsequently convicted. O’Farrell fined him £200 and suspended him. Best traveled to London, failed to appear at a meeting with administrators to discuss his conduct and was transferred. But then Busby gave him a second chance. The players, tired of his antics, were appalled and, as Reg Drury wrote in the News of the World, “surrendered as meekly as their managers had done during the confrontation with George Best”. The following week, O’Farrell and Best were sacked – although there would be further reprieves for Best.
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This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly Guardian US look at soccer in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. A question for Jonathan? Email [email protected] and he will respond as best he can in a future edition.