MANCHESTER, England: Fuelled by money from the Middle East, Manchester City was supposed to have ushered in a new period of dominance in English football last season after capturing its first league title in nearly half a century.
Manchester United had other ideas.
Just like Arsenal and Chelsea previously, City has discovered to its cost that United loves nothing more than hitting back when its hegemony is challenged.
The noisy neighbors — as Alex Ferguson likes to call City — have been well and truly quietened.
To many, this isn’t a vintage United team compared to the swashbuckling treble-winning side of 1998-99 and the Cristiano Ronaldo-led line-up from 2007-08. Too many players — Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Antonio Valencia, Paul Scholes, Ashley Young among them — have struggled this season, critics say. It’s been more grit than glamor.
The statistics say otherwise.
The title-clinching 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday kept the team on course for the highest points tally in history of English topflight football, beating Chelsea’s haul of 95 from 2004-05. That will be secured if United wins its final four games.
It has also won more games (27) by this stage of the season than any other team in the 21 seasons of the Premier League.
“Nostalgia plays tricks on people’s minds,” Ferguson said after clinching a 13th Premier League title at United. “You do it yourself. You say, ‘Things were not the same when I was a boy’ but it is nostalgia.
“We have, what, 84 points? And at this stage of the season, we have never done that. That pedestal is there.”
For Ferguson, it’s always simply been about winning. Nothing more, nothing less. And for that, he has Robin van Persie — more than anyone else — to thank.
After losing the league title to City on goal difference in an extraordinary end to last season, Ferguson made signing a top-class striker a priority.
Van Persie had long been one of Ferguson’s targets, even more so after finishing the last campaign as the Premier League’s top scorer with Arsenal. Problem was, he was also on City’s radar.
Only days before the first game of the season, the Netherlands international chose red over blue after a lengthy phone call between Ferguson and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
That 24 million pounds ($36 million) couldn’t have been better spent by United. The hat trick against Villa took him to a league-high 24 goals this campaign.
“Sometimes you find the last piece of the jigsaw,” Ferguson has said, comparing Van Persie’s arrival to the impact United great Eric Cantona had on the team when the Frenchman joined in 1993.
After the title-clinching win against Villa, Ferguson added: “He has made a fantastic contribution to our season. He’s in his mature years and winning the league tonight meant the world to him.”
None of United’s rivals could live with the pace set by the leaders, although Chelsea gave it a good go in the first few months by arguably playing the best football of the season.
In the end, the sheer number of games Chelsea played in its first season as European champion was partially to blame for the end of its title bid. The firing of Roberto Di Matteo as manager in November didn’t help either.
Without Van Persie’s goals, Arsenal was never going to mount a serious challenge. So it was left to City to provide a rival for United, but a 3-2 home loss in the derby in December left Ferguson’s side six points clear. That cushion then just grew and grew as City faltered.
United has reacted to the challenge set out by Ferguson by sitting as easily the highest scorers in the league, with 78 goals after 34 games.
City, so free-scoring last season, has the best defensive record in the league but has just 59 goals so far.
“It’s been our problem this year,” Mancini said after the 3-2 loss at Tottenham on Sunday. “When we had a chance, we did not score — it is the mirror of our season.”
A City tweet Monday read: “Congratulations to Manchester United on winning the Barclays Premier League title for 2012-13.”
It could have been so different had Van Persie opted to move to the Etihad Stadium last August.
As it was, he went with his heart and the Premier League title is back in its usual place — at Old Trafford.
Manchester United win English Premier League
Manchester United win English Premier League
Bayern boss Kompany blasts Mourinho over Vinicius racism row response
- “For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake. It’s something that we should not accept,” Kompany said
- “You know what Black players had to go through in the 1960s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio (to) every away game?”
MUNICH: Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany delivered a scathing critique of Jose Mourinho’s handling of racism allegations involving Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr, calling the Benfica coach’s comments a “huge mistake” in leadership.
TV footage showed Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni covering his mouth with his shirt — a common move by players or coaches to prevent anyone reading their lips — while making a comment that Vinicius and nearby teammates interpreted as a racial slur.
Although Benfica defended their winger, European soccer body UEFA are investigating the allegations of discriminatory behavior during Tuesday’s Champions League playoff first-leg which Real won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Vinicius.
Mourinho said Vinicius had incited the crowd with his goal celebrations while adding that the club was anything but racist because the Portuguese team’s greatest player Eusebio was also Black.
“Jose Mourinho basically attacks the character of Vinicius Jr by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing. For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake. It’s something that we should not accept,” Kompany told reporters in a 12-minute response in support of Vinicius.
“On top of it, he mentions the name of Eusebio — to say that Benfica cannot be racist because the best player in the history of Benfica is Eusebio. You know what Black players had to go through in the 1960s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio (to) every away game?
“My dad is a Black person from the 1960s also who made his way. Probably at the time the only option they had is to be quiet, to say nothing, to be above it and to be 10 times better to get a little bit of credit.”
Kompany described incidents of racism during his own career, including when he was captain of the Belgian national team.
He also said he had met “a hundred people” who worked with Mourinho and did not have anything bad to say about him, but that on this occasion the Portuguese manager had made a big mistake, despite fighting to defend his club.
“So I know he’s a good person, I don’t need to judge him as a person. But I know what I’ve heard and I understand maybe what he’s done — he’s made a mistake and it’s something that hopefully in the future won’t happen like this again,” he said.
