Making the most of Manchester’s domestic dispute

All set for another Super Sunday, everyone? 

For another humdinger from the ‘greatest league in the world’? For the latest episode of that popular, long-running northern soap, as two of the most storied clubs in England go head to head for the 169th time?

Yes, indeedy, roll on the Manchester derby — one of the most meaningless big games on the world fixture list this weekend.

Oops! Did I just say what I think I said? Already, I can sense the lads from Sky gearing up to cancel my subscription.

But, soft, I exaggerate only to make a point.

Of course, tomorrow’s game is not meaningless — very few football matches, if any, at Old Trafford are. And, at least for one day or maybe even as long as one week, the result will mean everything to the city’s rival red and blue tribes, as those much-loved ‘bragging rights’ are once more brought into play.

The game and the outcome will also be meaningful for the rival managers, albeit for decidedly different reasons. Victory for United, and the sense that Louis van Gaal is firmly on the right path will gain added credence. Defeat for City and the sense that Manuel Pelligrini is on the road to nowhere will only deepen. (Not that victory for the visitors, one suspects, would do a whole lot to secure the Chilean’s future at the Etihad, given the exacting demands of his lords and masters).

And, of course, the game will be full of significance in terms of the race for a top-four finish — oh, be still my beating heart — a race which, barring a Devon Loch-style collapse by Chelsea, is having to be sold to everyone now as the very acme of achievement and excitement this Premier League season.

And there’s the rub. It’s all well and good bigging up the top-four challenge for domestic consumption but what happens after the winners have crossed the finishing line at home? Well, they proceed to the starting line abroad — and then, not a lot happens actually, recent experience telling us that the most the best of the Premier League can hope for is knife-edge survival in the group stage before the axe falls definitively in the round of 16.

All of which is to say that, contrary to its box-office billing, tomorrow’s Manchester derby is, strictly-speaking, a local affair, a game with just a marginal bearing on the destination of the 2015 Premier League title and, unless one or both clubs are transformed between now and then, only the faintest connection to the world of the top dogs in the 2016 Champions League.

I wouldn’t expect Gary Neville, a veteran of so many Mancunian battles, to neccessarily share such a baleful view but I was struck by his observation this week that, however intense the fare tomorrow, it will be as nothing to the war of the wallets which is likely to ensue in the summer, as both clubs seek to address the definiciencies which have made them also-rans in Europe in recent years.

Of course, it’s not as if the game will be so lacking in quality and star attractions as to render it unwatchable by all but the faithful. The presence of wonderful, genuinely world-class players like David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney makes it a contest the neutral is enttitled to relish and if both sides are, in the partlance of the game, “at it”, then we could be in for the kind of rip-roaring contest which gives this famous derby its good name.

On paper, Manchester City remain the more stellar of the two sides in terms of individual quality but, especially this season, that very strength has exposed an inherent weakness: too often, they have played like a collection of individuals rather than a team. When it all clicks, they can be blindingly good; when it doesn’t, they tend to run around like headless chickens. And the problem for Manuel Pellegrini is he hasn’t been able to tap into whatever it is beyond tactics and spirit — intangibles like tradition, history, the very culture of a club — which makes other great teams capable of riding out the lean times.

Somewhere along the line, City seem to have misplaced their soul in the quest to become masters of the universe.’More than a club’ is the famous Barcelona motto. ‘More than a project’, is hardly the same thing.

United might be the form team of the two going into the game but not even the most die-hard Red would argue that the current side comes anywhere close to hitting the heights which Alex Ferguson’s teams did so brilliantly and consistently over so many years. Still, credit to van Gaal who always promised that, given time, he would find the right formula to get United back on track. And the still surprising sight of the fallen giants back up there in third place is clear testament to the power of his management over the clout of the cheque-book which brought Di Maria and Falcao to Old Trafford with, thus far, less than inspiring results.

There might be more stealth than swagger to the way United have gone about their business but, with Rooney back somewhere close to his best, they’re once again a team to watch with, if not quite awe, then at least admiration.

So plenty to keep you on the edge of your seats tomorrow, fight fans. As domestic disputes go.