David Beckham isn’t known for making brash, spicy statements. In fact, Becks is usually the play-it-safe master politician. As a matter of policy, Beckham goes out of his way to play both sides of just about every fence, so for him to publicly call out Manchester City was the footballing equivalent of a neutron bomb.
“They are never going to be Manchester United”, said Beckham last Thursday.
Ordinarily I would’ve thought that this was just idle rhetoric and perhaps a punt at selling tickets ahead of the exhibition match against his LA Galaxy, but upon reflection, I think Becks is a little worried about the noisy neighbors. It could be affecting his memory.
“Players have been bought and that does a lot for the club and the team. But United have that history and it’s not all about paying fortunes for players”, Becks added. What?
Looking at the United squad for this coming season, it’s possibly the most expensively assembled group of players in the history of world football. Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov cost $48 million each. One named wonders, Nani and Anderson were purchased for a combined $84 million while a collection of unproven (David de Gea), under-rated (Michael Carrick), and injury jinxed (Antonio Valencia) were a mere snip at $54 million. Throw in Wayne Rooney, who now seems like a $32 million bargain as a teenager, and you’ve not got a lot of change from $266 million.
Obviously, over the last two decades, the Red Devils have justified this spending by winning everything in sight. The onus now will be on City to prove that their massive expenditure is going to recreate the victorious formula experienced by the club from Salford.
One of the first orders of business will be to sort out the Carlos Tevez situation. For the club captain to be treating the organization so shabbily is quite the disgrace when you consider they’re paying him the best part of $300,000 a week. Either Tevez is getting poor advice or he really is the kind of mercenary that makes you think football is heading for some sort of Armageddon.
It does seem bizarre though when you consider Tevez and his effort out on the pitch. He never seems to give less than 100%, which makes me think he loves football but quite possibly hates living in England.
The other pressing issue is for the manager, Roberto Mancini. The Italian has to figure out what to do with his problem child, Mario Balotelli. His latest act of immaturity was a stunning piece of indulgent play when all he had to do was side foot a simple chance into the back of the net. Instead of doing the sensible thing, Balotelli decided to showboat with a back heel and missed his opportunity. Mancini’s sideline reaction was priceless.
He called for James Milner to warm-up immediately and at the first dead ball, up came Balotelli’s number. The 20-year-old strolled over to the centerline and appeared to question the wisdom of substituting him with just 30 minutes on the clock. Mancini thought about getting into a war of words, but Balotelli decided to take refuge 20 yards away at the furthest point of the bench.
Needless to say, Balotelli was unavailable for post-match comment; however, Mancini said the incident was done and dusted and they would move on, but that doesn’t solve the problem.
Balotelli has all the tools to be one of the best strikers in the world, except mentality. Without that precious gift, he could rip this team apart. Mancini must develop that strong team spirit that we’ve witnessed from United over the last 20 years if they’re to conquer Manchester. Having been up close and personal with the team over the last few days, I can attest to the fact that this eclectic group of players is coming together.
There has been camaraderie, bonding and plenty of good natured banter, but watching the reaction to Balotelli’s antics at the HDC you can tell that patience is wearing thin. This is where Mancini must step in and even use Beckham as an example of what is expected of a professional player.
If Mancini can smoothly overcome these two pressing issues, I have no doubt that this is a City team that will push United harder than at any time in the last 20 years of their rivalry.
Remember way back in 1991, no one (including former-United assistant, Brian Kidd) realized that the red half of Manchester was going to dominate English football so completely; however, Kidd has learnt the lessons well. He told me after the LA Galaxy match that his boss, Roberto Mancini, was implementing the principles taught to him by Sir Alex Ferguson in similar fashion.
We’ll see exactly where these two teams stand when they meet in a few weeks time at Wembley in the Community Shield, and whether the lessons are sinking in.
