Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand shares their individual prediction for the Manchester Derby this weekend.
United will host their arch nemesis for one of their biggest game of this campaign on Sunday. Eric Ten Hag’s is currently in good reign of form as they won their last three fixtures across all competitions.
However, Manchester City are not at their very best currently. Guardiola’s will look to compensate for last campaign’s defeat at Old Trafford.
Speaking on the Men Sports, pundit shares their prediction for 191st Manchester Derby on Sunday. Rio Ferdinand backs Manchester City and said :-
“Unfortunately for everyone else you can’t have Rodri suspended every week.
“He’s the only indispensable player in the squad.
“You can talk about [Erling] Haaland but if he is out, [Julian] Alvarez comes in and scores. If Rodri doesn’t play they don’t look the same at the moment. Until this magician Pep finds someone else to go in and cover him. I don’t know what it is yet.”
Neville is not at all impressed with his former team
Gary Neville criticised United as he claims that they’re not playing upto the mark. He said:-
“I went to the Copenhagen game on Tuesday night, I mean United were really poor first half, they were better in the second.
“They were poor last week, you know the form’s not there – they are not playing well.
“So we are just reliant on talking about, you know it’s a derby, they’ll be up for it. I would always say for United on Sunday that if they are in the game with 20 minutes to go they’ve got a real chance just because of the crowd and the way in which the feeling will be in the stadium – that happened last season when they were 1-0 down and won 2-1.
“There’s no way United are going to come out on Sunday and blitz City in football terms because they’ve not been at that level, but City are just a bit below par as well so it will be interesting to see. United can bring the best out of City with the football that they play and last season was a surprise – we’ll see what happens. I’m more hopeful than expectant.”
Meanwhile, Jamie Carragher also criticised United as he claims that they cannot reach City’s level currently. He further said:-
“United are in an unfulfilling holding pattern, seeking to eke out results and get by before their next refresh.
“It is a measure of their faltering progress that they are preparing for another Manchester derby with trepidation rather than expectation.
“Yet again, the only means by which they can stop Manchester City this weekend is by playing ‘underdog football’ – sitting deep, counter-attacking and hoping defensive resilience yields a reward.
“Ten Hag was never going to reach City’s extraordinary level in his second season. It would be unreasonable to expect him to be able to go toe-to-toe with the champions on Sunday without risking humiliation. But 15 months on from his Old Trafford appointment, there are valid questions to be asked about where the team is going and what the manager’s footballing vision really is.”
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