FA Cup Final Preview Manchester City Vs Manchester United: Reputational Battle

Manchester City and Manchester United will clash each other in the FA Cup final. (Photo: twitter/@EmitoresFACup)

JAKARTA - Manchester City and Manchester United will clash at Wembley Stadium, Saturday, June 3. This time the Manchester derby titled the FA Cup final.

City wants to create history in this match. On the other hand, United did not want that history to be created.

City wanted to match United's achievements by winning trebles in the English Premier League era, although City was only halfway through to reach that achievement.

United were the only English club to win trebles in the Premier League era when in 1999 under Alex Ferguson successfully won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Liverpool scored twice. In the second treble they did it in the Premier League era, but it was not accompanied by a league title. The other was accompanied by a league champion, but occurred in a time when the league was still called the First Division.

For City, winning the FA Cup will boost his enthusiasm in winning the Champions League against Internazionale Milan in the final in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 11.

To that end, defeating United is a holy duty to the extent that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola rested a number of key players in the Premier League's final match of the season against Bentford.

As a result, Bentford toppled City for a second season greeting.

Andaikan stumbled in the FA Cup, City still had the opportunity to make history if they beat Inter Milan next week because City could win the Champions League for the first time in their history.

The current focus is of course focused on the FA Cup.

If successful, then this is the seventh City FA Cup after the success of 1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011 and 2019. The number of FA Cup trophies is the same as that won by Aston Villa.

Arsenal and Manchester United are still the two most frequent teams to win the FA Cup, 14 and 12 times each. Followed by Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, each of which has won this trophy eight times, as reported by Antara, Saturday, June 3.

The Citizens' first meeting with the Red Devils in the final of this football tournament was not just a fight on the gridiron, as it also concerns reputation, prestige, and who is bigger between the two one-city teams.

After the Ferguson era ended, United were never again number one in the Premier League. Even worse, their off-field reputation has now been overtaken by Manchester Biru.

Last year the Citizen was named the world's richest club after posting revenues of 613 million pounds (Rp 11.3 trillion). United itself slipped to fourth with a revenue of 583 million pounds (Rp 10.8 trillion).

Previously, United used to top the list of the richest clubs in the world. Only Barcelona and Real Madrid can compete with them.

The success of the FA Cup will further improve City's status as a club that is getting further and further away from the shadow of Manchester United.

The success of the FA Cup, and especially plus the success of the Champions League next week, could make City's fan base even more.

It is in this area where United is still above City. The Red Devils certainly don't want their reputation to be torn apart by City.

When City qualified for the FA Cup final, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag had even pledged to prevent City from matching United's achievements in scoring trebles in the Premier League era.

Ten Hag himself was fairly successful in dealing with the club that had struggled. In his first season alone he managed to present the League Cup on February 26.

Not only that, he also managed to re-enter Manchester United in the Champions League after a season ago being absent due to poor performance during the league competition.

Now, United finished third in the league standings or three places better than last season when Ten Hag had not yet become coach of the club.

Guardiola, who once worked with Ten Hag at Bayern Munich, Germany, acknowledged Ten Hag's success in changing United's face.

"When you see a team getting better, especially in the first season of coaching in the Premier League, I see the coach is really good," Guardiola was quoted as saying by Sky News.

Ten Hag, according to Guardiola, is the person who represents the best level of the coaching profession both on and off the pitch.

One of the best ways to paint Ten Hag's ability to improve his team's game was to lead United to beat City 2-1 on January 14, 2023 after being defeated by City 3-6 on October 2, 2022.

Like Guardiola, Ten Hag is a tactician who has always learned from past mistakes.

This tactics and strategy battle will also be the sexiest part of the Manchester derby in this year's FA Cup final.

One of the factors that made United win 2-1 at Old Trafford on January 14th was tamed Erling Haaland.

No less important is the spirit of the team, which can be very vital when facing a team as perfect and as strong as Man City.

This may be stimulated by Ten Hag to be re-emerged at Wembley Stadium tonight.

Strengthening the midfield and putting up defenders who dare to fight against players who occupy the City wing sector is also an important part in countering The Citizens.

However, technically and the depth of the squad, City is clear above United.

With such perfect provisions, City players are always rampant on the pitch, from the back end to the front end, no matter who their opponents are.

They pressed non-stop, no matter how many goals they had scored against the opponent.

They control space and tempo, so that the opponent seems to focus more often on defending, by just waiting for the moment to launch a counterattack.

They have even now adapted to a counter-attack, by installing John Stones as a defensive midfielder from its original position as a centre-back.

However, City has a basic pattern read carefully by a number of smart teams like Brentford who are the only Premier League team to beat Manchester City in two league games.

Brentford's success in conquering City was to cut off the ball moves City players played from the center, before reaching the penalty box.

This is one of the tips that Ten Hag can use in dealing with Guardiola tonight.

This tip will definitely be read easily by a coach as smart as Guardiola who is indeed good at reading the direction of the game.

However, whatever is presented tonight, this season's third Manchester derby will be very attractive and very fierce, not only because of the factors on the field, but also off the field because it involves reputation, emotions and prestige.

Lebih dari itu laga ini bisa menjadi awal untuk persaingan seras antara dua Manchester, dan antara Guardiola dengan Ten Hag musim depan nanti.