Last season’s Premier League finish simply couldn’t have been closer. Phrases like ‘down to the wire’ were made for the moment that Sergio Aguero blasted home Manchester City’s title winning goal. It’s hard to imagine the collective sense of disappointment that must have emanated throughout Manchester United’s fan-base when they found out that City had managed to fight back against QPR and win earn the Premier League title for the first time in 44-years.
As for Sir Alex Ferguson, he found his own way of dealing with things: “Red wine helps”, he told the Press during a recent Manchester United conference. (Source: The Mirror). That’s as much as he’s said about his post-loss malaise, but you can bet that it burnt him up inside. Most of all, however, I imagine it filled him with a sense of resolve. We all know that he’s the kind of manager who will come back stronger next season.
But are Manchester in with a real chance of winning the title next season? Or have they opened the door to a Man City reign in the Premier League?
Bet at Home currently have Man City listed as the favourites (2,10) with Man United the runners-up (3,25).
Sir Alex seems to have realised that the impetus is on him to make the moves that will but United back in the driving seat. As a result, he’s taken the intitiative in the transfer market and made a couple of really astute signings.
Crewe’s Nick Powell is definitely one to watch, whilst Shinji Kagawa may end up being one of the singings of the summer. He’s a midfielder that’s agile, tricky and direct. Best of all, he’s known for scoring plenty of goals. And United’s spending is unlikely to stop there.
Manchester City are unlikely to sit still in the transfer market either. At the moment, however, United are inching ahead, despite what the odds suggest. City will be wanting another bite of the apple, but if United continue along this vein during the pre-season, they’re not likely to get one. They’ll also have to watch out for Chelsea who have made some smart additions, and Arsenal, should Arsene Wenger manage to keep hold of Robin Van Persie.
Of course, it’s difficult to tell who’s going to end up on top. I know where I’d put my money though. Sir Alex knows what it takes to deliver lasting Premier League success. So why bet against him?
Speaking of which, why not head here to stake your claim?
Why should you bet against Fergie?… because Man City are the better team, Mancini has proven that he can beat Fergie with his pathetic “mind games” and his reign is comig to an end. Man City will go on to dominate for years. FACT.
Is that you rafa?
fact????? hahahahahah.. are u an inbred kid? are ur parents siblings? or are u just some idiot with a low IQ??? how on earth is that a fact.. cant believe retards like urself exist.. mancgester united have won more barclays premier league titles than all english clubs combined.. FACT.. now jog on to ur remdial classes.. ur late
The question ‘who’s going to end up on top’ between Mancini and SAF is the wrong one. Mancini has a long long longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggway to go to be on top of SAF. We’re talking of the best manager ever here and if winning the Premiership title on goal difference is judgement enough to put Mancini on top, then I’d like to be a millinaire by tomorrow. When considering that United had all those injuries all season long, some of them long term, in my opinion SAF did much better than Mancini last season. True success is measured by trophies, but do not forget as well that Joey Barton did not do what he did by chance. It was all prepared from before. I wonder how much he got for it from Eastlands???
OK Ray, you want to making ladies hats by tomorrow, be my guest dong brain:-)
Although your first couple points are dripping with red bias, I’ll concede that Mancini isn’t anywhere near Ferguson in terms of success…right now.
Keep in mind that Mancini is only 47 years old. That’s 21 years younger than Ferguson. He’s already won trophies with Fiorentina, Lazio, and most notably, Inter. Add to that the silverware he’s collected at City and he’s already been fairly successful in his short time as a manager (when compared to the length of Ferguson’s career).
Now, onto your accusation that Barton was paid to do exactly what he does for free…and I’d have to say that you, sir, have shown your credibility to be non-existent.
Enjoy the taste of your salty tears as City continues to steal your glory away for years to come.
Mancini is still a kid in EPL….
Go eat yer chickens Venky!
Very true. He’s just getting started. Not bad for a young manager, eh?
only a fool would bet against man united. it is proven that they at their best when the chips are down and they can never be written off.
Give ferguson the money mancini has spent and man utd would never lose a game.
Well the chips were down for ManU all through last season so if that’s the best they can do, right on Roberto 🙂
8 point lead, Man U could not preserve and u say who can bet against Man U. Man u had such character in the past, i.e. filling an 8 point gap and win the title, winning the match at the last second, i.e. in the injury time. But, today, it is City who has snatched such character from Man Utd. I tell you City will win the title for the next 5 years. Mark my words. Man U has already handed over its power to City.
city score one goal agaisnt a ten man qpr who have given up and now they have character? that shows they dont because u still dont understand what character is. man u were 3-0 down away at chelsea last year with 20 mins left and they drew 3-3, that is character. it takes decades to build and cannot be bought as city have found
U know why Man U lost the title last season? Because of its lack of character. Becoz Man U is greedy of goals. They were winning 4-2 against Everton. Instead of playing defence to preserve the score, no. They did attack to score more goals to make it 6-2 or 8-2, just like against Arsenal. They are never happy with a difference of 2 goals. They will attack till the last second to win even by 8 goal margin.. But it is still 3 points win, whether it is 1 goal margin or 8 goal margin. Let Man U learn with Man City and Man Cini. When City win by 2 goals, Man City withdraws key players like Aguero, NAsri, etc to manage the 3 points already won. That’s how City won the title. Learn, MAn U, leran.. This is character. Fergie, u have to retire, u’re old.
Do you think that when u are down against a team like Chelsea and when you finally draw, you have character? Against team like Chelsea which was 20 points behind City last season? And u are considering yourself a great team with character? Beating the champions 6-1 is in fact character… Overcoming the champions by 8 points against the champions to win the title is character…
fergie had the money when nobody else did,very ,very,short memories these rags…..
City played the most entertaining football. Some find that Utd with his injuries played better football than City. They are right. Success is measured by trophies. But how many trophies dit Utd get last season. ZERO. How many trophies dit Utd get the season before: ONLY ONE. How many trophies did City get last season? ONE. And the season before? ONE (FA Cup). So, in the last 2 seasons, City have got more trophies than Utd. We are not speaking of the past or the 19 titles of Utd in more than 100 years. We are speaking of passing of power in modern times.
Give the trainers of Crystal Palace, Burnley or Southampton the money Man Utd have, their teams will appear above Utd in the table and may even win the title.
utd are skint mate, give anyone else their money apart from ferguson and they would get relegated. Some of what u say is right tho, any small club can win the title with money, look at man city
This means that u are a fan of Ferguson, not Man U. If tomorow Fergusson takes the charge of Southampton and he has the money, then this small club will win the title according to you (Zac). This means that if Utd is in the hands of another coach, Utd will fail and will be considered as a small team, just like Crystal Palace, Wimbledon and Brighton.. So u are a fan of Ferguson, not Man U. So, if Ferguson retires from Utd, u agree that united will be thrown in the dustbin of football history just like Nottingham forest and Leeds United. That’s why I am telling you that Man CITY is and will be the greatest team as from now on.
not a fan of either club but was glad when city won it. however no one could deny had vidic been fit manure would be champions as he is the best defender in the league but missed the whole season. ferguson did a fantastic job considering all the money city spent just to come level with manure, kagawa is a great player by the way and wouldnt be surprised to see him win POTY next season. One thing for sure is its going to be exciting as chelsea will improve and we and the arse will be up there also. Only a fool would rite manure off though to be fair and thats because of ferguson, he the best there is, simple as.
To put things in perspective, United’s points haul (89) was only three (3) points off their record Premier League points total(92 points in ’93/’94) and only six (6) off the record Premier League total (Chelsea with 95 in ’04/’05).
That’s quite an accomplishment for any team in the premier league, let alone two teams.
Would Vidic have made a difference, maybe. But possibly, he wouldn’t have, at least not in a positive way. We’ll never know.
vidic would have made a massive differnce no doubt, he is the best defender in the league. how would city have coped without kompany? he missed 3 game s and they fell apart.
I won’t disagree that Kompany is very important to City’s back line. I don’t know if I’d say that Vidic is hands down the best center half in the league, but that’s only because he wears red. I certainly rate him as a top top defender.
With Vidic in the team, they’ve never accumulated more than 90 points. In fact, as a regular starter, United’s lowest total with him in the team came last year with 80 points. They’ve averaged 86.6 points per season with him in the squad a full season (including injury). So, they actually finished above the average last year.
What I’m saying is that we can’t definitively say that they would have scored more points than they did. In fact, I’d say they performed, on average, better without him.
In my completely blue opinion, I think United punched way above their weight last season.
I know if I had to chose between Evans or Vidic, I’d chose Vidic every time…make of that what you will.
Mind games are irrelevant to Mancini. He is as hard as nails and does what is necessary. It is quite clear that Sir Alex has never encountered anyone as good as Mancini before.
really? id say mourinho is far far better manager than mancini. literally a monkey could do mancinis job. its like playing fm with the cheats on, he will always be reminded of that.