In one of my pre-season posts, I mentioned that Manchester will need the British army to stage the Manchester derby. The game arrived relatively early at OT this season, so there was not much build up to it. Even so, that 4-3 thriller was not devoid of a few punches here and there (read Bellamy).
The FA did a good job of drawing the two sides together in the Carling Cup semi so that they could get two and not one derby for the same price (their profit).
After a first leg defeat at Wastelands last week---a game that itself needed the full force of the police to go by, United must now beat their rivals at home to stop them from lifting a trophy for the first time since 1976. The FA and Greater Manchester Police are now discussing means of having the game played on Wednesday without a scene of violence...don't hold your breath!
A lot can be written about this game. Gary Neville vs Carlos Tevez, Sir Alex v Mancini, 34 years and Counting, City 'closing the gap', the anti Glazer revolution...name it....
They say that pictures tell a thousand words. It's why I have tired to explain the many sub-plots for Wednesday night's game using pictures that have been doing the rounds in the world media this past week. You might want to take another long hard look at each one of them!
