The Man City flaw that Man United hope to expose in derby taking new direction | OneFootball

Just a few days before the season began, figures close to Gianluigi Donnarumma felt a deal for Manchester United was on the table, with the player keen. There was soon one obstacle that Donnarumma’s camp may not have expected. United didn’t want to go over a contract of £200,000 a week. The goalkeeper’s representatives were understood to be asking for more than double that.

Just hours before the deadline closed, then, City were willing to pay what it took. The move has surprised a lot of people in football, from the abrupt nature of the signing to the fact that Pep Guardiola has demanded ball-playing goalkeepers as an article of faith.

This did not feel very much like the City that has been England’s dominant team for a decade. Many have even remarked that it felt more like what United do… except for the possibility their refusal to commit to such a deal is the clearest sign yet of a new direction.

It might also mean a new direction for this derby, but going which way?

There is an unusual amount of unknowns, right down to how the two teams will play, and which goalkeepers they pick. The form of both has been so erratic.

All of that consequently makes this the most unpredictable Manchester derby in the modern era. It might have been difficult to predict a winner in the heightened clashes of 2009-12, but that was still predicated on the fact that both teams were exceptional. They needed wins in the derbies to win trophies. Now, not so much.

They both need the win to help solve big problems.

That isn’t new for United, but their record of canny derby victories over the last decade – especially through Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time – was still shaped around how good City were. Guardiola’s ideology was so well defined that United knew what they had to do to counter it.

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Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City rebuild hasn’t yet been successful, bringing unpredictability to the derby (AFP via Getty)

Ahead of Sunday, by contrast, Ruben Amorim’s approach is arguably easier to anticipate than City’s. There’s even the argument that these games actually suit him more than fixtures United are expected to win, since shaping your team around the opposition at least makes decisions clearer.

Except, it isn’t fully clear what City will look like, or what team will turn up. It’s been a long time since anyone has been able to say that.

This has run alongside the manner that two global super-clubs in a medium-sized city have inevitably become intertwined, to also influence each other. For good and bad.

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Ruben Amorim will be relishing the derby after a poor start to the season with Manchester United (Getty)

Much has been made of the considerable former City presence at United, principally through Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox. That was perhaps heralded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s repeated references to City’s “sensible” model in early interviews - even if he did temper that at one event by insisting “I can hardly say it”. He went on to say it a lot.

It felt an admission that matched Brian Marwood’s from his own early days as City’s director of football operations under Abu Dhabi, around 2009. He would deliberately drive past Old Trafford to remind himself what the level was. This was what City had to aim for. There was another mirror in United’s own new training facilities. At one presentation, it was flatly put to Berrada that he must have been influenced by City.

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With both clubs underperforming the Manchester derby has an unpredictable feel to it this season (Getty)

That’s quite a turn from 2009, when those at the Abu Dhabi-owned club took note of how often United figures would dismiss them as never being capable of catching up. “People remembered that,” one source says. Some of those people have since moved to the other side and have experienced City lording it over United’s long troubles.

During a recent meeting between big clubs, one prominent club figure could barely hide their astonishment at the Dan Ashworth situation, reportedly describing it as “a shambles”.

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Gianluigi Donnarumma could make his City debut on Sunday – but his signing points to a change of direction at the club (AFP via Getty)

And yet that now informs another difference. While United have discovered a new sense of purpose and something to aim for, City are just trying to find themselves again.

It’s obviously wrong to say the club is coming to the end of the Abu Dhabi era, no matter how the Premier League charges turn out, but they are clearly coming to the end of their Catalan era.

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New United goalkeeper Senne Lammens could be thrown in the deep end with a derby against City (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Guardiola has been openly talking about his eventual departure, and it’s hard not to link at least some of that to the exit of Txiki Begiristain as sporting director. It’s long been claimed that the main reason Guardiola even came to City was because he felt he owed Begiristain for giving him his chance at Barcelona back in 2008.

Now, he’s lost his former teammate and long-time friend. Begiristain has been replaced by Hugo Viana from Sporting, a move which suggests another intertwining between the clubs. Viana was very close to Amorim, with some sources even maintaining that one reason United wanted him as early as October was in case City came calling.

Begiristain’s departure was always going to bring some bumps, but there have been repeated murmurs that City’s window was nowhere near as smooth as industry figures have become accustomed to. There has been talk of internal differences of opinion over transfers, which is maybe best illustrated in how they suddenly went for Donnarumma after signing James Trafford.

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Erling Haaland has been in fine form this season and could be the difference maker with the two sides meet at the Etihad Stadium (AFP via Getty)

It just didn’t look like it fit with previous strategy, or Guardiola’s football. That has come amid a belief that the club is already being prepared for the post-Guardiola era, and that the Catalan isn’t as central to everything as he used to be.

This is probably the right course of action, since some of City’s crisis last season was directly caused by how anchored the football side of the club is to one man. That may temporarily bring more uncertainty, though. Guardiola could even find himself in a similar situation to Alex Ferguson in 2012, in wanting to go out on a big success. One observer at a rival club remarked how the 54-year-old seems to obviously be trying too hard to course-correct after a stale team had been allowed to drift. They even seem to be caught between eras, especially as new players internalise Guardiola’s complicated approach.

Some sources say that an early problem with City’s season has been that Guardiola’s teams are still conditioned for a game model weighted towards possession, but new assistant Pep Lijnders is all about the high press. Adapting to this may well explain this season’s performances, where City haven’t looked fully in tune. At Brighton, they seemed to run out of steam after an hour. Fabian Hurzeler certainly intuited this.

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How will United’s new forward line shape up against their close rivals? (Getty)

Amorim has had related issues. One of the factors in his own crisis from last season was that he was trying to implement a Sporting training approach in a much more demanding environment, and that with no free weeks. Little wonder United looked lethargic.

That’s also why it’s been so exasperating for them that this season started with the tepid early displays and the Grimsby shock.

There was a hope they had more in place, and just needed the spark.

It’s possible the derby will offer it. For once, however, City have exactly the same need.