Premier League Preview: Can Substance over Style Win Derby for Man United?

A lifetime ago, on a balmy spring night back in March 2014, David Moyes wore the discombobulated look of a man whose wife had just left him. The occasion was a Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

A 3-0 defeat for Manchester United said as much about the disparity between Moyes and his predecessor as it did the gulf between the two teams. And everyone knew it. The fans knew it, the board knew it, Sir Alex Ferguson knew it, and most devastatingly of all, Moyes knew it.

Beleaguered managers most often counterpunch wearing gloves marked as defiance and delusion, but Moyes’ hollow eyes were extinguished of any fire that night. He looked weary and apologetic.

Three games later, a line was struck through and drawn under the anointed one’s name. Manchester City finished the season as title winners for the second time in three seasons, in what was United’s worst-ever Premier League campaign.

The only time it’s possible to even imagine United’s current incumbent looking weary and apologetic would be if he were caught in another man’s bed, but even then he’d just as likely break into a "Louis van Gaal's army" chant, while punching his fist into his palm.

Ahead of the 170th Manchester derby on Sunday, the first was in 1881 between West Gorton and Newton Heath, United could potentially go top with a victory. Such is Van Gaal’s irrefragable faith in his philosophy and processes, reaching the Premier League summit would garner the same reaction from the Dutchman as Ernest Shackleton scaling a molehill, yet many of United’s supporters fail to match his cocksure conviction.

Or if they do, it’s without much gusto. To pragmatists—who accept any Manchester United manager is in effect perennially caught between a rock and a hard place, expected to revere the past yet engineer the future on their own terms—Van Gaal is an ideal fit. For romantics, and there are many in a city that gave us Tony Wilson and Ken Barlow, he’s just Moyes with bigger minerals.

Across the cobbles, City have plundered 11 goals in their last two league games. In the absence of gilded attacking duo David Silva and Sergio Aguero last weekend against Bournemouth, Raheem Sterling cut a dash through the middle en route to a hat-trick. The shallow depths City once plummeted to in the absence of key men is no longer a concern. 

Meanwhile, who’d have thought Sevilla-slayer Kevin De Bruyne would look a snip at £54 million? Probably the same people who have spent the last five years saving carrier bags. Prescience is power. 

De Bruyne scored his Champions League winner in midweek from centre-forward, with his weaker left foot, after Wilfried Bony's toils had seen him replaced. Although it's not a position the Belgian is overly familiar with, he insists he would be happy to fulfil the same role in Sunday's derby.

"I don’t have a lot of experience there, but if I am asked to do it I will," he said, as per the Guardian's Paul Wilson. "It doesn’t matter where I play. I have played everywhere in my career, and I always try and do my best for the team."

The notion that United will double up on him, regardless of where he plays, is not one that worries the 24-year-old. For a man accused of being mentally too demanding to make the grade at Chelsea, he speaks with an assurance these days that won't have gone unnoticed by Jose Mourinho.

“If they put maybe two people on me, then that means someone else has more space,” he added, as relayed by the Independent's Ian Herbert. "I think we have such a great team that on these levels it is very difficult to put two people on one guy in the very big games. If they do that someone else will be free and have more chances to do something for us."

The 16 goals and 27 assists in all competitions for Wolfsburg last season that saw him crowned Bundesliga Player of the Year looked a tall order to repeat on arrival in England. Five goals, four assists and 33 chances created in nine games is a fair start, though. It was centrally, albeit as a No. 10, that De Bruyne did most of his best work last term for club and country.

How De Bruyne fares in comparison to United's own mega-money buy, Anthony Martial, could go a long way to deciding a fixture that last failed to have an outright winner 13 games—five years—ago. Martial impressed on the left against Everton, but in Moscow, despite his goal, he too often looked like a horse wearing blinkers.

His chances of playing centrally on Sunday appear slim to none, with Van Gaal almost certain to stick with Wayne Rooney as his No. 9 despite a lack of form of late ("of late" being one of those phrases very much open to interpretation in terms of the length of time it indicates).

In case you haven't heard, or are marooned on a desert island with only intermittent Wi-Fi, United's captain turns 30 on Saturday. If only someone had mentioned it, we'd have baked him a cake.

Some of the football played by United this season has been so laboured a midwife has been called before the ball has reached the opposition’s half. An obsession with possession has rankled many but, in fairness, things have improved of late.

Last weekend's win at Everton was the fifth time in eight games that United have scored three goals. Just don't mention the Arsenal game and everyone will get on just fine. 

Defensively, they have been sound all term. At Old Trafford, they have been breached just once to date, with their home record in terms of goals conceded the best throughout English football's top four leagues. Five clean sheets in the Premier League is a joint-high, too.

Chris Smalling's metamorphosis from accident waiting to happen to, arguably, the league's best centre-half saw Van Gaal earmark him as a potential Manchester United captain. 

That's the paradox that cuts through the heart of United at the minute. They may be handily placed both domestically and in Europe, but the only person who seems truly happy is the manager. A Manchester United side that lacks the dash and elan of its forefathers will always leave the red side of the city cold.

The end justifying the means just doesn’t cut it for supporters reared on the Busby Babes, beguiled by George Best and the Holy Trinity, and frankly spoiled to the point of ruination under Sir Alex Ferguson.

United fans are greedy. They want their side to be sophisticated and sexy. Think Diane in Cheers. 

In an age when bonds between clubs and supporters have perhaps never been more strained, United’s brethren are at least well represented in the media.

Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and in particular Paul Scholes are never shy to voice misgivings when the current crop slip below the exacting standards they set. A cartel of curmudgeons, then, who never once presumably under Ferguson went away in Europe to grind out a result.

Speaking on BT Sport (h/t the Manchester Evening News' James Robson), Scholes gave a withered verdict of United’s draw at CSKA Moscow:

"

You look at the United team, there is no quality, no movement. People are not running.

Is it the way they are told to play?

It’s all safety playing across the pitch. I can’t remember a pass in to Wayne Rooney. There is no movement.

You’ve got midfield players who can run—Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingaard, Anthony Martial—stick the ball in to Rooney and run, but there’s not one of them even thinking of running.

"

Ferdinand's comments on BT Sport were equally as damning (via Nicholas Godden of the Daily Mail): "The exact word is pedestrian. I feel like a broken record. I have said it nearly every time I have watched Manchester United.

"When the ball gets wide, in the midfield and the forward areas, there are no options. It is just not Manchester United."

Giggs, on the bench next to Van Gaal, still manages to nod in the right places, but he often has the vacant look of a man who’s secretly pondering whether he’s remembered to take the meat out of the freezer to defrost.

A clash of United then and now that divides the terraces, brought to life on the touchline, he'd almost certainly rather be watching Salford City with his mates.

"

Would YOU have Giggs as our next manager? RT Yes FAV No We're LIVE! Have YOUR say now http://t.co/eVsm5ruYtS #MUFC pic.twitter.com/x7ebytmi3A

— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) October 12, 2015"

It all feels a little like when 26-year-old American model Anna Nicole Smith wed 89-year-old oil Tycoon J. Howard Marshall. More than a few United supporters will be relieved when Giggs lays claim to his inheritance.

This may not be vintage Manchester United at present, but Van Gaal's substance-over-style mantra may yet deliver the required results to quiet even his staunchest critics. A win on Sunday would do, for starters. 

Can Newcastle United end Wear-Tyne derby hoodoo?

Scott Heppell/Associated Press/Associated Press

"I have developed a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time." Charlie Brown.

Sunderland supporters must be the only group en masse to think of Charlie Brown as an optimist. To consider life beyond hour-and-a-half segments would be too heavy a cross to bear for those predisposed to spend time at the Stadium of Light. 

The Black Cats have been too bad for too long to consider what has passed this season to be a crisis, it's more a perpetual malaise, but as they search for a maiden Premier League victory of the campaign, they can draw comfort from a remarkable record in the derby.

Sam Allardyce takes charge of his first home game as Sunderland manager, after his bow at West Bromwich Albion ended in defeat, in the knowledge he's chasing a record-breaking sixth successive derby win. Sunderland are unbeaten in seven against the old enemy down the other end of the A19.

"I’ve got to keep the record going, there’s no doubt about that," he said, as reported by the Sunderland Echo's Chris Young. “The feeling in the north-east runs very passionately, we all know that.

“It’s such a fantastic record for Sunderland, based on the trouble they’ve been in over the last four years, because they’ve been fighting in the relegation zone."

In what is a remarkable quirk of fate and a pub-quiz question that will likely stand the test of time, Paolo Di Canio, Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat all recorded victories over their bitter rivals in their second game in charge.

Allardyce would love to add his name to that list with a win against the club that sacked him in 2008 after just eight months in charge. With the proceeds of his pay-off, Allardyce bought a holiday home in Spain. He named it "Casa St James." If Big Sam wins on Sunday, it may just be unbearable. 

Newcastle boss Steve McClaren was quick to play down the significance of Sunday's derby in his pre-match press conference, per Sky Sports, insisting, "it's just another game."

A thrilling 6-2 win over Norwich City last weekend that saw midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum notch a remarkable four-goal haul was the first time a north-east club has recorded a three-point haul in 18 attempts this season. 

If McClaren appears emboldened as a result, his open letter to the club's supporters was somewhat less laissez-faire in its attitude.

An extract is published below from the full transcript reported by the Shields Gazette's Ross Gregory.

"

It’s derby day on Sunday and the importance of this match is not lost on me or any of our players. Quite simply it is one of the most important days of the season. 

[...]

I don’t need reminding that we have lost the last five derbies and for everyone associated with the club that is simply unbearable. It wasn’t so long ago that we won five in row and we are desperately keen and hugely motivated to turn the tide and bring the points back to Tyneside. The atmosphere is always incredible and I think unique to the North East and we have to go there, stand up and be counted.

"

McClaren will be aware that any goodwill generated by victory against Norwich will not so much be tempered, but eviscerated by defeat on Wearside. 

Will Mourinho be weak and naive in addressing the press? 

Sergei Chuzavkov/Associated Press

It's a measure of how Chelsea have played this season that, for the neutral, their best performer has invariably been the man placed in front of the cameras after the shrill of the referee's whistle signalling full-time. 

Watching the champions lose used to be a box-office event, but after four defeats in nine Premier League games, its lustre is starting to fade. Not so Mourinho, who continues to unravel live on screen. It's unedifying for all concerned, yet endlessly fascinating.

Who among us, with at least a scintilla of devilment in our fibre, has not enjoyed Mourinho's Shakespearean performances? Chelsea as a tragicomedy have been uproariously amusing all season. 

His latest finger in the eye to his bete noir, the Football Association, is a widely reported plan to refer to any refereeing display he is not happy with as being "weak and naive," in what is a pointed dig at a perceived injustice about the way in which he has been treated in comparison to Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager escaped sanction for using the phrase in describing Mike Dean’s performance in his side's defeat at Stamford Bridge last month. Mourinho meanwhile was handed a £50,000 fine and a suspended one-match stadium ban for claiming referees are "afraid" of giving his side decisions.

Mourinho's behaviour is baiting and petty in equal measures, but only the truly sanctimonious won't find it wryly amusing.

Saturday's opposition manager, West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic, is no such prig. According to the Guardian, the Hammers manager said:

"

He is not boring. He is everything but boring. For the media as well, he is like a magnet. He is a top, top man.

[...]

The most successful people, the most charismatic people, the No. 1s, they are always polarising people. You love them or hate them. I am not trying to campaign to become a president or prime minister of England.

[...]

I am not talking about why the people love him or hate him. But there’s no chance that you don’t respect him and all that he has done. His CV is unbelievable.

"

Ahead of Saturday's capital derby, West Ham's record against Chelsea makes for grim reading material for Hammers fans. They have failed to score against their west London visitors in the past five meetings between the two clubs, while they have won just once in their last 19 matches against Mourinho's side. 

History is precisely that, though. And having scored at least two goals in each of their last seven matches in the Premier League, when coupled with the fact Chelsea have conceded at least two goals in their last five away games, Bilic will hardly be cowered at facing one of his managerial heroes. 

He'd be naive and weak to even entertain the prospect. 

Leicester v Crystal Palace, Saturday at 3 p.m. BST

Arsenal v Everton, Saturday at 5.30 p.m. BST

Liverpool v Southampton, Sunday at 4.15 p.m. BST

And repeat on a loop...