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A The familiar trope of the classic ghost story involves an encounter with a stranger who seems completely normal until you suddenly realize that while the protagonist has left different footprints in the sand, dust, or snow, the stranger does has left no trace.
The Manchester derby on Saturday was similar. Many people will feel like they saw it, even though none of them were there. Some will even claim to have played on it. Many newspapers published the vague and slightly mind-boggling score and reports, paragraph after paragraph on nothing. And yet he comes back, examines the scene and it turns out he left no trace.
Often, those who have witnessed apparently supernatural events, feeling threatened by the skepticism of others, exaggerate, adding corroborative details to prop up their memory in the face of doubts. “In my time against Manchester City, that’s the best performance we’ve ever had,” said Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Maybe it was even true, at least from a defensive point of view.
United they were disciplined. Its two rows of four remained narrow and City rarely seemed to have the wit to break through. Only very occasionally, when they switched games quickly, did it seem like they were going to find a winner. There was a half chance for Raheem Sterling, although he was surrounded by five United players when a shot was possible, and a very good chance, created by a sumptuous pass from Kevin De Bruyne for the first time that Riyad Mahrez faltered. And that was it.
But even those occasional flashes of threat had disappeared in the second half. The city was flat, their step sloppy and, perhaps most remarkably, they were apparently happy with it. Pep Guardiola made a change throughout the game. Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva stayed on the bench. There was no attempt to change the form, no attempt to increase the pace. In part, perhaps, the problem is the personnel: if Sergio Agüero had been fit and if Leroy Sané had not been sold to Bayern, it could have been different. But there also seemed to be a change in attitude here.
It has been remarkable this season how quickly the outlook has changed. After a decade or so in which the meetings of the big groups revolved around high pressures colliding with each other, exciting adventures of attack and abandonment, in two months they have retreated to what they were 15 years ago, dominated by caution and fear of defeat. . This was the same pattern as United against Chelsea, or Chelsea against Tottenham, or the final stages of City against Liverpool.
In context, it makes sense: When 95 points or more were required to win the title, draws weren’t much better than losses. Now it seems that the league could be won with a total in the mid-80s (Tottenham, leaders, is on the way to 83), a very close point recovers part of its value. In addition, as they keep reminding us, the shortened preseason and lack of time between games makes it more difficult for those teams that prefer strong pressure to prepare.
But still, from City it is still a surprise to see them so flat and so unconcerned by the fact. They haven’t been at their best this season. They lost three times to United last season (albeit one on the return leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final by insufficient margin to reverse their lead in the first leg), each time undone against them. Guardiola, understandably, was determined that it would not happen again. His “Guys I’m sorry this is how I play” attitude has been replaced by something more pragmatic. And there is an irony in that.
For years the criticism of Guardiola was that he did not have Plan B, that he never committed himself regardless of the opposition. However, the truth is that it has often been precisely his attempts to shut down the opposition that have undone him: selecting Ilkay Gündogan instead of Sterling for the Champions League quarter-finals at Anfield in 2018, trading to three against Lyon last season. , fielding two containment midfielders against Leicester in September.
It may be that this is a necessary stage for City, something they have to go through as part of their remodel. Building a second great team isn’t easy, but if Guardiola wants to do it, it probably makes sense for him, from the start, to try to make sure he’s not as vulnerable on the counter as his first great team in key Europe demonstrated. ties.
But seeing City walk slowly on Saturday, gathering just 54% possession against a team that was quite happy to let them have the ball, even knowing this is a team in transition, was still a jolt. This is a city that is rapidly losing its aura. They don’t really look like a Guardiola team anymore. They have already lost as many points this season as they did in all of 2017-18. And yet it might not matter – they certainly aren’t out of the running for the title.
The genius of the best ghost stories often lies in the fact that almost nothing happens, that there is a sense that something is happening, somewhere, that we cannot quite perceive, that leaves no clear evidence. Every moment that passes imperceptibly increases the tension.
On Saturday they finished with City ninth in the table, but just five points off the top. These may be ghost games in a ghost championship, but the outcome could be extraordinary.
