FA PREMIER LEAGUE THE TITLE RACE Manchester City 0 Manchester Utd 0: PAUL SCHOLES is a gatecrasher. He gets himself into places he has no right to enter and causes utter mischief.
On Saturday night the top of the table was full of the havoc that overflowed from his stoppage-time winner. It probably rattled Chelsea as much as the efforts of Tottenham Hotspur when the leaders were beaten a few hours later.
The implications of Manchester United’s victory caused such debate that the sheer quality of Scholes’ work was virtually overlooked. There was no great pace on the cross that Patrice Evra directed and the midfielder, 12 yards out, had to manufacture a downward header that skipped and turned its way past the straining fingers of Shay Given. The outcome had been decided by sheer craftsmanship.
Everyone knows how careful Alex Ferguson is in measuring out the diminishing impact his veterans can offer. Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville have been in the starting line-up together on only half a dozen occasions in this campaign. However, four of those outings have come in the last three weeks. Injuries, of course, have meant the trio have not always been available at the same time, but there is nothing coincidental about their re-emergence now.
It would still be nonsensical to pretend the outcome of the league is being determined by Ferguson. His team arrived for the derby fixture following a goalless draw with Blackburn. Had United won at Ewood Park and been held by City, the same total of four points would have been amassed but it would have been treated as humdrum form. However, moods matter at this stage and there will be knotted stomachs at Chelsea.
The most obvious statement made by the fixture at Eastlands was of insistent mediocrity. There is no exceptional side in the league. Arsenal would be fools to assume glory is their eventual destiny, particularly after a self-inflicted defeat yesterday, but they know they can develop since they do not count on old stagers as United and Chelsea must, even if Sol Campbell has been of great benefit to them.
We are in such an unfamiliar scene now that Chelsea could feel reinforced should Branislav Ivanovic, for instance, be the replacement centre-half for the suspended John Terry when Stoke come to Stamford Bridge next Sunday. The quirks are unceasing. It will be quite a spectacle to witness Liverpool attempting to discharge their professional duty and beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side at home on May 2nd while an aghast crowd demands the draw or loss that might stop United from breaking the English record of 18 titles that they share with the Anfield club.
City ought to be able to absorb the pain of one more stoppage-time goal from United. They should even be phlegmatic about the imbalance that saw the visitors fashion the real openings while Roberto Mancini’s team dealt in melees and a debatable penalty appeal. The club is equipped to improve further, thanks to Sheikh Mansour’s largesse, but the unavoidable redevelopment of United’s squad may have to be undertaken with a smaller budget.
City retain hopes of clinching the last of the Champions League spots, particularly since Spurs have still to visit. Nonetheless, Mancini did little for his own standing on Saturday. While the winger Adam Johnson, suffering from anonymity so soon after Fabio Capello had highlighted his England candidacy, could not be allowed to stay on the pitch, the strategy being followed subsequently was hard to decipher.
Patrick Vieira replaced Johnson in an obvious bid to bring more security to the midfield. After that, a contradictory impulse took over when the conservative and efficient Nigel de Jong was taken off so the physically slight Stephen Ireland could be introduced.
Nobody can ever prove De Jong would have stuck close to the famously elusive Scholes in stoppage time, but it is the sort of task that is in his repertoire. City got into a slight but fatal muddle.
But this is a club with the means to advance while some of those above them, including United, could be a little worse next season.
Mancini has described himself as “angry and disappointed” about the mistake by Craig Bellamy that may have caused lasting damage to City’s aspirations of reaching next season’s Champions League qualifying round. Scholes’s winning goal stemmed from Bellamy losing possession by trying a 60-yard cross-field pass in the third minute of injury time.
Mancini did not name Bellamy but the manager was dismayed by the manner in which his team contributed to their own downfall.
“In the final minutes of a game like that you must try to keep the ball and play slowly because the game is finished,” he said. “I’m angry and disappointed about this. When you play a good game like we did, you don’t deserve to lose in the last seconds.”
UNITED’S RUN-IN
Played: 35. Pts: 76
Sat, Apr 24th: v Tottenham (h)
Sat, May 1st: v Sunderland (a)
Sun, May 9th: v Stoke City (h)
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