The groans could probably be heard two hundred miles away, in the studio where the two balls had just been plucked out of the proverbial hat. In the third round of theFA Cup, both Manchester teams had not been afforded a nice easy introduction to the season’s competition. No, the Cup holders would be playing the League Champions. Again.
I’ve no doubt plenty of fans would have been overjoyed at the news, or at least bullish, defiant, confident even. Bravado was much in evidence on the social media and message board streams. Bring it on, and all that. For United, a chance for revenge, the 6-1 home league humiliation and cup defeat of last season still fresh in the mind. For City, a chance to turn the screw further, to make up more ground after decades of lagging behind with a cigarette in hand, out of breath, the kid at the back of the cross-country run.
Or as Franny Lee rather optimistcally tweeted, a chance to end United’s season in early January.
Plenty like me however, are anything but overjoyed. Many United fans would like nothing more than to avoid a meeting with City right now, for obvious reasons. But on the other hand, City will still have plenty to fear too. This will hardly be another walk in the park for City, it will almost certainly be close, where any team could win. And as I have commented before, I hate derby days with a passion. I would be perfectly happy to never play United more than twice a season, even if in some hypothetical world they became utter dross whilst City ruled the world. I’d still hate it. Football is supposed to be about days like these, the nerves, the tension, the passion, and the upside of victory is greater than against any other side. But to be honest, it just makes me ill and ruins my appetite.
But that’s not the main reason – it’s not about me and my delicate stomach. There is of course the possibility that the tie could go to a replay. And the last thing City needed was having to put out their strongest team for the third round of the FA Cup once, never mind twice. In the period around the match, City must play Liverpool three times. This is coming just after the ever-busy Christmas programme. Then there’s the small matter of a game against Spurs, and the inconvenience of the Toure brothers jetting off to the African Cup of Nations for up to two months (ok, the inconvenience of Yaya Toure jetting off to the African Cup of Nations). City might have strength in depth, but their squad is the same size as everyone else’s and they are only a couple of injuries away from having plenty of problems.