Manchester City vs. Manchester United, EPL Matchday 15

Probably the most feverishly anticipated game of the PL season, it was an end  to end contest decided by selection and poor performances rather than any tactical oversights. It was also the perfect chance for City to draw level with United and show that they are here to stay.

Line-ups:

There was a lot of pre match banter between the managers and it somehow seems to have bizarrely influenced Mancini to pick Balotelli over Tevez, which was a risk, to say the least. When you consider that City have won 6 of the 7 games Tevez started with Aguero,  it was an unexpected move. Toure and Barry started in midfield, supported by Nasri and Silva in an almost 4-2-2-2 (open to interpretation).

United lined up in more of a 4-2-3-1 (looking like a  4-4-1-1 at times), with Cleverley alongside Carrick as the holders and a front four of Young, Valencia, RVP and Rooney. As expected, De Gea started in goal.

It was always going to be a battle between City's possession in United's final third and United's strength on the counter and it turned out to be that way.

First Half:

City started well with retention of possession, though rarely doing anything with it. The major issue here was how high the defensive lines on either side would be. Both sides preferred a fairly higher line, the difference was that while Aguero and Balotelli are fairly quick, they were too far up the pitch to lead any counters. Nasri and Silva threatened to put balls in behind Evans and Ferdinand but they never really managed a killer ball.

Yaya Toure, generally a driving force in midfield with his barnstorming runs was nowhere close to his best and struggled to have an impact, with Wayne Rooney doing a fairly decent job on him.

City's high line was a greater risk, simply because United had the wingers to take  advantage. Kompany's substitution for Kolo Toure was again a puzzler from Mancini as Lescott sat on the bench but maybe he didn't want two left footed ones with Nastasic on as well.

The goals:

United had an out ball of their defence, Van Persie chested it to Young who rode on past his full back and put in a good ball to Rooney who miscued a shot in the corner. This goal was a perfect execution of the counter philosophy that United would have had in mind. The defence was exposed as the holders failed to get back and allowed Rooney enough time and space.

The second one was always a possibility as Carrick sought out Valencia whenever he could. Valencia and Rafael had a one two with a final ball to Rooney who strolled into the box unmarked to finish with Barry having been thrown off track by Rafael's run and showing poor positional awareness.

Second half:

City have shown in recent times that they are pretty good at comebacks too. Plus, United's defensive frailties were but, painfully obvious and the fact that City hadn't scored yet was more due to Balotelli's play and Nasri's inability to contribute anything creative. After an ambitious backheel, Mancini had enough and brought on Tevez, a decision 52 minutes late.

Tevez is primarily a busy player and his darting runs form the perfect recipe for drawing players out of position. On one of his runs, he drew both center halves, the full back and a holder and yet managed a shot which was saved. However, due to United's skewed defence, all he had to do was find Toure at the top of the box who rifled home with consummate ease.

Zabaleta made it two with a shot from a set piece, another problem United have been having this season with no one being anywhere close to Zabaleta and Toure. Wonder what impact zonal marking would have had here.

City pressed and probed with United preferring to stick to their countering philosphy. Dzeko came on and a few chances were created but City failed to capitalise.Tevez's foul on Rafael, a completely unnecessary challenge was a classic example of how forward players can cause damage when trying to defend (think Drogba giving away a penalty in Munich). Van Persie stepped up and his free kick was helped considerably by the poor, poor wall constituted by Nasri and co.

Conclusion:

The game was a sad reminder of the fact that English teams have simply neglected the art of defending. Ferguson seems to have the taken the fact that his team lost the title on goal difference as the sole reason while if his team hadn't let Everton fight back to get a 4-4 last season, they'd still be champions. While they may get away with it in the PL, Europe will be less merciful.

Nasri has stagnated and at times, looked completely bereft of creativity and looked a shadow of the player he was at Arsenal. Toure didn't have one of his big games and was passed far too easily by Cleverley and co. Balotelli was again infuriating with his ceding of possession and propensity to play passes that weren't there.

United's defence looks a problem as well. Evans and Ferdinand had some coordination problems courtesy Aguero. Carrick and Cleverley who doesn't really look like a convincing player in that place in front of the back four weren't very good at covering the City midfield and their positional awareness left a lot to be desired. Mancini's decision to start Balotelli and substitute Silva instead of Nasri could be pinpointed as one of the major reasons City slumped to a defeat, despite more attempts and possession.

Despite all this criticism, it was a fairly enjoyable game and one that lived up to its billing. United got their victory and go six points clear. Sadly, the game was marred by one of those events that form the dark, dark underbelly of derby games exposing tribalism so primitive that it was well, disgusting