Mark Hughes has responded to Sir Alex Ferguson’s war of words by claiming the team from Trafford are weaker than the Manchester team.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s game at Old Trafford, Hughes says United miss Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo and says they have not replaced the duo. “You can’t afford to lose players of that standard and not replace them and I don’t think they have,” claims the Welshman.
Tevez joined City in the summer and Ferguson has already claimed he is not bothered if his former striker plays or not and insists City have lost their best player in Emmanuel Adebayor. Hughes has also claimed that United’s win at Spurs was a stand-out performance, but other than that they have been below par.
The war between the two clubs was sparked following the Tevez transfer, which has also including the Argentine being shown on a poster above the caption ‘Welcome to Manchester,’ which caused Fergie to label the club ‘small minded with a small mentality’ and has been simmering ever since. Earlier in the week, Fergie claimed City had a cocky attitude and have had a softish start to the season playing some easy teams, while forgetting that United started the season against two newly promoted sides.
Sunday’s derby is one of the most anticipated in recent years and some have suggested the two clubs are almost at the same level. Fergie has also refuted suggestions that United may one day go into the derby as underdogs, to which to Scot responded with ‘not in my lifetime.’
Meanwhile, City manager Mark Hughes has revealed he almost walked away form the club before it was bought by Sheikh Mansour. “If you get to a point where it is untenable and unmanageable, then you make a decision to walk away.” Hughes says there was a focus on selling players, which made him question the club’s finances. “The reality wasn’t exactly what was described and sold to me,” explains the boss. “We were able to go into the transfer market but the focus was on selling players and I realised the resources may not be there.”
(Man) Utd v Man City – Sunday 20th September 2009 - Kick off 1330