Manchester derby gloom

The rise of Man City was once seen as the main reason for Man United's decline - lasting more than a decade.

Haaland (Man City) faces Maguire - Photo: REUTERS

And then from last season, fans witnessed a strange situation, that is, both teams declined.

Falling together

The Manchester derby will take place at Etihad Stadium at 10:30 p.m. on September 14 (Vietnam time), within the framework of round 4 of the Premier League. And although it is only the warm-up stage, both teams must try their best to escape from another bad season.

Manchester City and Manchester United both found themselves on the same downward path last season. For Manchester City, the Pep Guardiola era seemed to be finally coming to an end. The pressure of more than 100 allegations of financial misconduct, combined with the decline of key players, saw Manchester City eliminated from the Premier League title race for the first time in years.

There were times when experts believed that Man City had truly returned. But then consecutive failures in the Champions League (last season), in the FIFA Club World Cup (this summer), until 2 consecutive losses to Tottenham and Brighton have extinguished that belief. Finally, coach Pep Guardiola seems to have really run out of magic, and is starting to feel the pressure of the dismissal notice.

As for Man United, it's all just an old cycle. Every summer, the "red devils" make a lot of noise, promising a strong "revival" after buying a series of superstars. But then everything is still the same, with each person being worse than the last. Each manager is worse than the last, the players are more expensive, but play worse.

Can coach Amorim beat Pep? - Photo: REUTERS

The dead end of Pep and Amorim

Both Man City and Man United have had a poor start to the season. Although Man United is one point ahead of their rivals, no "Red Devils" fan can be optimistic ahead of the Manchester derby. And conversely, for the first time in 10 years, Man City fans feel that their team is not stronger than their city rivals.

In the dire straits, both teams have been hit by injury storms. The international break has cost Man City another crucial name, Omar Marmoush, bringing Man City’s injury list to nearly 10 people. In addition to Marmoush, they are also certain to lose Cherki, Kovacic and Savinho in this match, while Gvardiol, Stones, Foden and Khusanov are racing to recover in time.

Man United are not doing much better without Lisandro Martinez, Zirkzee, Mazraoui, Cunha and Mount. The absence of the Cunha - Mount duo is a real blow to coach Amorim's ambition to rise up, because these two players play a very important role in his 3-4-3 formation.

But Amorim can't complain. Man United have had a busy summer, with more than 250 million euros spent to meet the Portuguese strategist's shopping needs. That's not counting the fact that they pushed away almost all of the "favorite students" of former coach Erik Ten Hag because of conflicts with Mr. Amorim. The "Red Devils" have gone all out to meet all of the Portuguese strategist's personnel requirements, and now it's time for him to be strong to face it.

Similarly, Pep Guardiola cannot complain at all when in just the last two transfer periods, the team's leadership has spent around half a billion euros to serve all of his requests.

One of the most dismal Manchester derby in the past two decades, but still a rich derby, of stars needing to prove themselves, of coaches who are always praised...

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/derby-am-dam-cua-thanh-manchester-20250914002120738.htm