At 3pm on Sunday Manchester City fans must have thought their superb five-star display away at Tottenham would have guaranteed the headlines for the Monday morning newspapers but by 6pm Manchester United had blown away Arsenaland as a result had once again up-staged their City rivals by dislodging them from the top of the Premier League.
This isn’t the first time that City have been upstaged by their local rivals and the day City ended their 35-year wait for a trophy at Wembley in May was the same day that United clinched their record 19th title. While in 1968 even when City pipped their neighbours to league title they still managed to upstage them two weeks later when Man United became the first English team to win the European Cup.
Throughout history they have been struggling to get out of United’s shadow and I think this trend is likely to continue into this season despite all the money City’s owners have thrown at it.
The United performance was an emphatic message from Ferguson and United to their neighbours that going to hand over their crown to the oil rich City club. Scoring eight goals against a side that has finished in the top four for the last 14 seasons is hugely impressive despite Arsenal’s problems and they definitely stole City’s thunder once again.
City look an quality side this season and many people were taken aback by their mauling of Tottenham who will be aiming to challenge for a top four spot at the end of the season. Sheikh Mansour’s investment looks to be reaping the rewards at the start of the new season which has been enhanced by the purchase of world class players in Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri during the recent transfer window.
It promises to be a fantastic title race between the two Manchester clubs if they can sustain their bright starts to the season and I for one cannot wait until the first Manchester derby of the season on 23 October which will certainly be worth waiting for.
During the huge success and stockpiling of trophies at Old Trafford their neighbours have had to suffer the humiliation of being relegated to the third tier of English football and had won nothing for 35 years until last season’s FA Cup.
The club has come a long way since they were fighting relegation from the Premier League every year and not always successfully. After qualifying for the Champions League group stages they are now genuine contenders for the Premier League. There is a chance that the tide is finally turning to the blue side of Manchester but there is no doubt that United will not let their reign go without a fight.
Now City are so close to completing their ascent to the highest echelons of the English game but I think until they join the elite club of teams who have won the Premier League they will forever be living in the shadow of the men from Old Trafford.
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Written by Aidan McCartney for FootballanCast.om
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Or have a look at the ten strikers that we think will lead the race for the Golden Boot next season
Throughout history? When did that start then? 1990?
What complete and utter tosh.
Aidan McCartney you are United Sycophant and I claim my £10 spotters fee.
Slaughtering an u-18 Arsenal side is quite the achievement indeed. /Sarcasm
leeyiankun, face facts city are gonna be lookin for a new manager this time next season, the only club at uniteds level is barca, and as for youre u-18 arsenal comment united didnt have there 1st team from last season on the pitch either
U-18 pish… Both Arsenal and Man Utd fielded teams with an average age of 23 years!
‘until they win the Premier League they will be in united’s shadow’…. that’ll be this season then
Oh, and it’s always better to go for like-for-like when looking at comparisons. Viz….
Anything United do, City do better….
United 3 Spurs 0
Spurs 1 City 5
“Anything City do United do better”
True in some areas, not in others.
Both teams “did” this years FA Cup semi-final. City did it better. Utd won on the sour-grapes, don’t like it up ’em captain Mainwaring, lets have a fight because we lost front. “Hothead” Balotelli won on the “walk away from trouble, arms behind back and eyes on the floor” front.
Utd are better at taking money out of Manchester, and using it to sustain failing US shopping malls.
City are better at bringing money from abroad, and regenerating failing parts of Manchester.
Utd do serial cheating on wives, ref-mobbing, massive debt, touchline bans and superinjunctions better than any other team in history.
Utd’s owners are better at borrowing from banks.
City’s owner is better at lending to banks and bailing out Barclays.
Utd don’t even have their own airforce, let alone a modern, well-equipped one.
When the price of a barrel of oil increases by a dollar, the Glazers finances are unaffected. City’s owner makes an extra $500M dollars a day.
Apologies for only beating our bogey team, Spurs, 5-1 away from home.
Both games were the freak result of north london teams, knackered from midweek european games, with managers distracted by desperate last-minute transfer activity.
City are better at having long-suffering, non-glory hunting fans who are exstatic all day, every day, about everything to do with their club.
Nice try, Aiden McCartney, if that is your real name. Top of the morning to you.
Did you get your ‘facts’ from the daily mail?
You are the epitome of BERTIE MAGOO THE BITTER BLUE FROM STOCKPORT
lol city are a bunch of overpaid divas. the only city player that would make the united squad is silva. mancini has put himself under alot of pressure by spendin so much money on players if he doesnt win anything this season he will be sacked. dzecko is a stockin tevez is a waste of time nasri is a waster who just wants money. balloteli is a child with the brains of a 2yr old. city have too many egos in the squad. you cant buy the league chelsea tried and look at them now.
With respect, beating a full strength Spurs away is a far superior feat to hammering a grossly depleted Arsenal team in decline at home.
Didn’t we save them by letting them play in our stadium … ‘history’ is for longer than you can personally remember. Gimme a break … bluemoon rising.
United are better than city this is not the first time of proving that,if city are good enough they should feed average team of 23 age. United all the way.
Manchester United – 19 league titles
3 European cups
Manchester City – 2 league titles
0 European cups
Its going to take at least another £50 billion for man city to get anywhere near the status United is held in world football.
Even if city win the next 5 leagues in a row they still will be decades off United.
City are a big club with loyal support, but so are Everton and Spurs.
The bitterness of their fans force them into punching above their weight.
This is the best team city have ever had in their history by far, but their fans are unable to enjoy that fact because their to busy trying to compare themselves to United.
My advice to City fans is you should appreciate the the team you have now, because you don’t know how long it will last.
If you feel that you cant until you overtake United, then you never will.
Absolutely agree with you there. City are a team capable of just about anything right now, but whenever they do anything significant some of there fans try to rub United’s face in it. I’m not even sure that is possible to do given United’s glittering past. City should concentrate on providing there loyal support with a good future rather than trying to make us lavished United fans jealous.
Good read – hit a nerve aswell looking at some of the bitters reactions! City, a small club seeking acceptance…