Roberto Mancini has hit back at Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson by stating City are the best team in England.
City’s recent defeat in the Manchester derby would have been hard for Roberto Mancini to swallow because for the opening spell of the match the champions looked very good. However, Manchester United showed a number of qualities City don’t possess to produce a narrow and gritty 3-2 win.
His comments could just be mind games but he may also believes that City are a far better team in ever aspect than United. They certainly play a better style of football when they are on top form but this alone does not make them a better team than their local neighbours and main rivals for the title.
“Things aren’t going well but I know we will still have a great year. United have more experience but we have a much better team and play much better football. Six points is not a big difference with 24 games still to play. We need to try and win five or six games in a row to try and reduce the gap,” Mancini told sky Sports.
He also seems to be gambling on the fact that United are going to have a poor run at some point in the next couple of months which will allow City back into the title race. This seems highly unlikely considering United blew an eight point lead with only six games remaining to lose the title last season.
In a defensive sense there is no comparison between the sides as city have a far better record. They have only conceded 14 goals home and away compared to United’s 23 but United have frequently come from behind to win matches which has seen them picking up a higher ratio of wins. This isn’t just luck every single time, it’s something they have worked on.
In an attacking sense United have scored an amazing ten more goals than their opponents with 40 compared to City’s 30. If City, as Mancini suggests, play the better football then you would expect this to be the other way round. It proves United are more effective in the final third of the field.
United would happily concede they are a weaker side to City in the midfield areas because they are scoring more goals than their main rivals. Many people will forget that United only lost the title last season by a single goal and they seem to have that aspect of their team covered this season.
What do you think of Mancini’s comments?
image: © Andrew Brannan
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