Apprehension Ahead of Manchester Derby for City and United Supporters

Fans of both Manchester City and Manchester United are feeling apprehensive ahead of Sunday’s derby match at Etihad Stadium, scheduled for 16:30 GMT. During the most recent broadcast of The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer, Rachel Herdson, a City supporter, and Kim Burdett, a United supporter, offered their perspectives on the upcoming contest for local supremacy. “I am having flashbacks to my childhood and games in the 80s and 90s when we last had the horrific form we are in,” said Herdson. “The only consolation at the minute is that it is a derby and form goes out of the window. It’s a great chance to stop the rot.” “It’s always a good time to play the derby and it is one of the first games I look for at the start of the season, and it’s become very crucial to our season as well. We have to stop the rot at some point.” “We have a really tough game at Aston Villa next week too so we really need to be picking up points.” Burdett shares a comparable sentiment with her City-supporting counterpart, attributing this to United head coach Ruben Amorim’s ongoing adjustment to his position at the club as a possible factor contributing to the anxiety among United fans as well. “It’s quite an unusual situation for both sets of fans to be coming into a derby and neither side being confident,” she said. “City are not in the best run of form but we’ve obviously got a new manager and we are trying to settle into a new system.” “Players are trying to learn to play differently and set up differently, so this game has probably come a little bit too soon for us. We don’t really know what team Amorim is going to put out, but it is a derby and anything is possible. We saw that in the cup final back in May.” “I don’t think even United fans expected us to win that. It’s unpredictable, so both red and blue are full of trepidation before this one.” “We can have a bit more confidence that we aren’t going to get completely hammered as we have done in previous years.” “I’d like to think that we will give them a good game.” View the complete episode immediately. Sandi Toksvig features alongside Gyles Brandreth, Lulu, Emmanuel Sonubi, and Alan Davies. Take the microphone for performances by Queen, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, and others. Ben Fogle and Kate Humble return for the celebrations at Longleat Safari Park. Topics range from microplastics in the air, soil, and waterways, to the amount of food waste during this period. Copyright 2024 BBC. The BBC bears no responsibility for material found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external links is available.