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The fortunes of a club can change instantly. This is just how it is in football sometimes. One day you’re the “in-form” team that everyone needs to “watch out for”, the next minute you’re “reeling” and your season is “on the ropes”.
Manchester United has been riding this up and down cycle for the majority of the season to date. It’s not something United fans have been used to dealing with during the club’s recent history. An onslaught of injuries to key personnel, inconsistent player performances and a change of leadership have all combined to hamper Manchester United’s progress.
Just a few weeks ago, United were riding the high of a six game winning streak in all competitions after having struggled through the early part of the season. Everything was beginning to look positive at the club and experts were warning Premier League rivals to “beware” of a vintage Manchester United late season push.
But then Tottenham won at Old Trafford to halt United’s progress. A few days later, Swansea City came into the Theatre of Dreams and knocked the Red Devils out of the FA Cup. Immediately after that result, United were dealt a defeat by Sunderland in the first leg of their semi-final League Cup tie.
As quickly as Manchester United had built up some momentum, it had been abruptly cut short, and now the club was “in crisis”.
United were able to reverse their fortune a few days later by beating Swansea City in the league, but they still are miles away from the title contenders (Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea) and are five points behind fourth place Liverpool for the final Champions League spot.
With seventeen games left in the Premier League season, the battle for fourth place appears to be coming down to four teams: Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester United. A single league defeat, suffered while the other combatants take maximum points, could be devastating at this time of year. If the race for fourth place were between two teams, the chasing team would gain confidence seeing the team above them drop points. But with so many teams battling it out for one spot, the possibility of each team above you losing or dropping points is slim.
None of these clubs will want to lose any more ground on a Champions League spot with so many teams gunning for the financial windfall of European football next season.
That is why four days are vital to Manchester United’s season.
Should all the clubs involved in the chase for the Premier League’s final Champions League position win this weekend, Manchester United would need a result against Chelsea on Sunday or risk falling a maximum of eight points behind Liverpool; in addition to being seven points behind Everton and six behind Tottenham Hotspur.
If that weren’t enough, United face a “win or go home” match against Sunderland on Wednesday in the return leg of their League Cup semi-final. Sunderland’s 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light has put the Red Devils in this “must win” situation.
United do enter the contest with an away goal to their advantage. But&nbsp;they have&nbsp;not been strong at home this season, while Gus Puyet’s side have been brimming with confidence recently; both in the league and the Capital One Cup. Should Sunderland score against United, the Red Devils would need to find the back of the net three times in order to win the cup tie (two goals would only push the match into extra time and/or eventually penalty kicks).
Over the span of four days, Manchester United could be out of all of their domestic cup competitions and be staring at a monumental task of catching three teams in the race for fourth place in the Premier League.
In October, Sir Alex Ferguson had this to say regarding United’s current season: “For David [Moyes], winning a trophy would be a fantastic achievement no matter what it is – the League Cup, FA Cup, European Cup or Premier League. We’ve always had priorities obviously and David is aware of that but I hope he achieves it. The key for David is to maintain – not do anything better or less – just maintain what the club has done for the last 20-odd years.”
Should United fall further behind their league competitors and be knocked out of all domestic cups, they would still have their Champions League tie against Olympiacos to point towards. The Greek club are a good, but even a weaken Manchester United should be able to navigate its way into the quarter-final of the European event. However, for United to get past the remaining members of the Champions League field would be a difficult proposition.
A trophyless season combined with missing out on Europe would be a result few could have imagined at the start of this year’s title defense. That’s why, more than ever, Manchester United need to rally the troops (the ones who are healthy) and focus on winning the rest of their matches; vital importance being placed on the next two contests.
The negative press which has followed manager David Moyes and the club this season has lit a fire under some of United’s senior players. Darren Fletcher made it known this week that there is a growing anger inside the Manchester United dressing room. The midfielder said: “It is as if some people have been waiting for it to happen and are really relishing it. We’ve got to use that as fuel to prove them wrong. We have got some great, talented young players in this squad. We have to keep reiterating to them that they believe in themselves. They will come through it without a shadow of a doubt and will be better and stronger for it.”
Nemanja Vidic has stated that the team are well aware of the challenges they face in the coming days. In an interview with ‘Inside United’, Vidic said: “We have to win regularly and in the next month we will know exactly where we are. By the end of January and start of February we will show what our position is and what our capability is in the Premier League. Then, of course, the Champions League starts up again. This is an important time for us and we all want to do well.”
The critical four day stretch kicks off on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United Are Heading Into A Vital Four Day Stretch

Manchester United Are Heading Into A Vital Four Day Stretch - World Soccer Talk

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There’s a first time for everything. The Football League in England was founded in 1888, and since its inception there has never been a matchup in the top flight between two clubs from Wales. There are nine Welsh clubs competing in the English football league system and only two have ever won a major honor in England: Cardiff City (1927 FA Cup) and Swansea City (2013 League Cup). It just so happens that both those clubs are from South Wales and have one of the nastiest rivalries in the sport.
There are many derbies of varying intensity throughout the world of football: El Clasico in Spain, Superclasico in South America, Liverpool-Manchester United in England, Derby della Madonnina (the Milan Derby) in Italy, The Kitalar Arasi Derbi (between Fenerbache and Galatasary) in Turkey and The Old Firm in Scotland, to name a few of the more volatile matchups. Most derbies are a result of extreme geographical, political, and/or religious differences. For American sports fans, the power of these derbies can’t be explained by saying “It’s like the Red Sox versus the Yankees or North Carolina versus Duke” because they simply don’t compare when it comes to the air of menace and the level of hatred involved with these derbies.
The South Wales Derby is a footballing war that (for the most part) has gone largely unseen by anyone outside of Wales. Now, with the global reach of the Premier League, this derby will take center stage on Sunday in front of a potential worldwide audience of over 700 million people across 212 territories.
The first match between the two took place 101 years ago. For the better part of fifty years, there appeared to be no tribalism between supporters of the clubs. But that may have changed starting in 1955 when Cardiff was selected as the capital city of Wales. What provoked the citizens of Swansea was not so much that Cardiff had been named ‘capital,’ &nbsp;it had more to do with the feeling that the Welsh&nbsp; government had begun to finance the city of Cardiff, while ignoring Swansea which was only 30 miles down the coast. Many citizens of Swansea still feel that they are ignored by the Welsh government as new monies are continually sent to Cardiff.
Things between the clubs seemed to escalate during a quarter-final matchup in the 1960 Welsh Cup when tension between the club directors spilled out on to the pitch. Those who recall the match described it as “brawl more than a football match”.
Much like some English derbies, the South Wales Derby turned its ugliest during the 70’s and 80’s when ‘football hooliganism’ was at its peak.
Swansea supporters continue to celebrate their most “famous” off the field victory over Cardiff by singing ‘Swim Away’ in honor of one particular clash. The ‘Swim Away’ chant (accompanied by breast stroke actions) derives from a 1988 encounter. Following a defeat to the Bluebirds, the Swansea fans hunted down some of Cardiff’s fans and chased them towards the beach until the Cardiff fans attempted to escape the Jack Army by diving into the bay. By attempting to swim away from the Swansea fans, those Bluebird supporters brought a new emphasis to the Jack’s rendition of ‘Swim Away’. Since then, the ‘Swim Away’ chant regularly resonates from the Jack Army in a taunt at Cardiff fans.
‘The Battle of Ninian Park” took place in 1993 and made headlines across Europe. A comparatively quiet match buildup was marred by crowd violence after the arrival of 1,000 Swansea fans caused the kick-off to be delayed. Hooligans made their way on to the pitch from the grandstand and seats were torn out and hurled at rival supporters shortly after Cardiff scored to take the lead. Many feel that this match brought a tremendous amount of shame to Welsh football.
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This kind of fan violence is now a small element of the South Wales Derby. It is really only reserved for a minority of die-hard supporters on each side. But players from both sides have been known to get involved in the taunting of opposing supporters.
In 2006, during Swansea’s LDV Vans Trophy final victory over Carlisle at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, Swansea’s Lee Trundle and Alan Tate displayed a Welsh flag they retrieved from the crowd which had the words “F**k off Cardiff” written across it.
The players should be leery of getting involved with antics such as this. This week, the Daily Mirror relayed the story of Andy Legg who played for both Welsh clubs. Legg described receiving numerous death threats in the mail and also recounted a story of one his teammates, Winston Faerber, who had accidentally opened some of his mail:
<blockquote>‘Winston opened one of my envelopes and there was half a razor blade fitted into it,’ Legg said. ‘I’d had some death threats before, but this was pretty nasty.
‘It sliced right into his finger when he opened it. I got a lot of abuse in that initial time after joining, some from Swansea fans unhappy that I left and some from Cardiff unhappy that I was a Jack.
“Frank Burrows, our manager at Cardiff, always used to say, ‘If you can’t take the abuse you shouldn’t be in football.’ I agree with that, but it’s a pretty big rivalry, that one [South Wales Derby]. Oh my God, it’s a big one.”</blockquote>
As both clubs moved into new stadiums and police presence increased, the number of violent incidents has greatly decreased. What remains is the passionate banter between the two supporters groups that will make for an intense atmosphere come kick-off time in Cardiff.
Annis Abraham is a reformed hooligan who was part of Cardiff’s notorious Soul Crew firm in the 1980s. Recently, the Guardian newspaper quoted this Cardiff season ticket holder of 41 years: “We haven’t walked the streets of each other’s ground for 15 years. People say the police are ruining it; they’re not. I don’t stick up for the police usually but they’re preventing a bloodbath. As much as I detest the way they’re brought in at Cardiff and we’re brought in at Swansea, it is needed.”
It could be argued that for the first time going into a derby since 1998, Swansea is playing to retain bragging rights as Wales’ top club. The Swans are competing in Europe (the Europa League), coming off a Capital One Cup victory (2013), and has been in the Premier League since 2011.
Cardiff has won the Welsh Cup twenty-two times and finished runners-up an additional six times. While Swansea has taken home the silverware ten times and been named runners-up eight times.
Cardiff holds the lead in 105 competitive head-to-head matches. The Bluebirds have beaten the Swans 43 times, drawn 27, and lost 35. The last match between the two clubs was held at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea and was decided in the dying minutes on a goal by Welsh legend Craig Bellamy, who gave Cardiff a narrow 1-0 win.
According to the former Bluebird and Jack, Andy Legg:
<blockquote>“It’s the fixture that guarantees goals – only three goalless draws in the past 50 league games – and noise so loud ‘it can shake your body.”</blockquote>
The South Wales Derby will not be up against any other Premier League match this weekend, so the Welsh clubs are taking center stage on ‘Super Sunday’. What viewers are about to witness has never taken place before in the top flight of English football. This is a derby that has been referred to as “the most-fierce rivalry in British football”. For the first time in history, the spotlight of the footballing world will be focused on South Wales.
Strap yourselves in.

Cardiff City vs Swansea: The South Wales Derby Takes the Premier League’s Center Stage

Cardiff City vs Swansea: The South Wales Derby Takes the Premier League’s Center Stage - World Soccer Talk

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