City and United lacked the strikers to win the Manchester derbyBY MIGUEL DELANEY
MANCHESTER, England -- The question eventually had to come, and it provoked more tension than the majority of a largely dull 0-0 Manchester derby. Louis van Gaal was asked about Wayne Rooney. He wasn't happy about it. "Sir, I have to talk every week about Rooney," the Manchester United manager so formally responded before posing a question himself. "Why?" There's a rather obvious reason why, even if the United manager seems to be one of the few who can't see it. Rooney is a ￡300,000-a-week striker and has recently been lauded as one of the finest players in the history of club and country due to his goal records, but, despite notionally hitting his prime at the age of 30, he isn't living up to any of that. He again looked so badly off the pace, and that in itself raises questions about the ongoing arms race between these two clubs. Much was made before this game of the collective cost of the starting XI, with that estimated at well over ￡500 million. It's all the more remarkable, then, what both teams are reduced to doing with the most prized position of all: the No. 9. United persist with a player who, at best, needs more rest; at worst, may well be past it. City meanwhile must tactically improvise without Sergio Aguero and attempt to accommodate an option in Wilfried Bony, who is useful but probably not good enough to be starting regularly for such a team. In the end, one of the most relevant numbers to do with this match was not the money spent, it was the amount of passes wasted by the two primary strikers. According to WhoScored research, both Rooney and Bony had possession rates of 55 percent. These were by far the lowest on the pitch and were a large part of why we didn't see a shot on target until the 82nd minute, why Manuel Pellegrini admitted he had to go more defensive because his team couldn't keep the ball and why this game ended goalless. Both teams just looked toothless. For all that, there was a flicker -- and a significant reminder -- of something else in the 70th minute. That was the moment when the effervescent, young Jesse Lingard fed Rooney into the area with an angled ball. It was the type of play that used to be perfect for Rooney, and it was hard not to imagine his 2009-10 self immediately wrapping himself around the ball and whacking a high, first-time shot that at the very least tested Joe Hart. The eventual action did not recall 2009-10, though. It instead reminded everyone that Rooney had just turned 30 on Saturday. Rather than even get a shot off, the England captain strained to just stop the ball going out of play before playing a feeble pass across the area. It was just so meek and tentative, and it was remarkable to think that this was the player who first made his name on breaking through at 16 precisely because of his physical power. He was then explosive. He's now a damp squib. There are two deeper questions out of this. The first is how it got to this, to a player who now looks so laboured and limp. It is possible that this is all an inevitable consequence of the fact he did first break through at 16, considering he has played so much since such a young age. The exact same has happened to similar power- or pace-based players who started early like Michael Owen and Fernando Torres. Ryan Giggs is an exception to that, but that's because he so conspicuously changed his game to something more measured. Rooney has not yet changed his game, other than becoming so much more ineffective. The second question is how he keeps getting so much football, despite his only goals in the league this season coming after United had already scored in two separate 3-0 wins, against Sunderland and then Everton. It is all the more surprising because the excellent Anthony Martial offers such an obvious replacement at No. 9. He offers all the spark that Rooney used to, so thrillingly running between the lines and then filling the rest with flashes of brilliance like the lofted ball from which Lingard hit the crossbar late on. Here, it seemed so clear that Martial should go up front with Memphis Depay, then taking the Frenchman's place on the wing. It never happened, although Rooney was left on to offer his best moment of the match. That typically came in his own area rather than the opposition's, as he headed away a late corner. It still lead to more questions. "I don't give any more answers about Wayne Rooney," Van Gaal responded. "I am sick of them." Those questions are going to come if the goals don't. There should be questions in this regard for City, too, though. Bony is a good player and a useful tactical alternative to be able to deploy, but there is a huge chasm between his quality and that of Aguero. It's somewhat inevitable that any team is going to be someway dependable on a player as good as the Argentine if they have him, but for a team willing to spend the money, it just seems so odd that City don't have a superior alternative. Given the inevitability that Aguero will spend a certain amount of time out injured every season, too, it seems poor planning to only have Bony, a striker who probably needs another striker running off him. As such, Pellegrini was forced to improvise Sunday, trying to get Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling offering pace on either side of the Ivorian. It didn't work and instead stunted their recent good form. Sterling was barely in the game, offering only one deflected shot and an entanglement with Ander Herrera that might have brought a penalty. De Bruyne just kept giving the ball away. It all meant City had to give territory and possession away, too. Pellegrini admitted he went against his own principles and played more defensive in the second half for fear of losing the match. On this occasion, neither side had the striker -- or the quality -- to go and win the match.
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发表于 26-10-2015 12:21 AM
全部人都可以换就是不可以换他真的是够了.gif)
最好他受伤或者吵着要加薪送他走尼玛.gif)
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