KEVIN DE BRUYNE may have a major problem tomorrow — how to shake off a shadow.
The Belgian has been brilliant this season. He has progressed from very good to world class.
If you give him five seconds on the ball he can destroy you with a long pass, a short pass, a fierce shot at goal. He’s got the lot.
So I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone trying to man-mark him in the Manchester derby.
And it could well be Ander Herrera. The Spaniard did the job on Eden Hazard last season superbly as United beat Chelsea 2-0 at Old Trafford.
We haven’t really seen that tactic on De Bruyne as yet. What happens when someone ruffles him? Herrera could do that.
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And it would give KDB a dilemma. Does he back himself to beat Herrera in tight spaces and still cause havoc or does he vacate the danger area and sacrifice himself?
If he drifts it could cause more problems for United in that it creates gaps for David Silva and Sergio Aguero to work in. Nemanja Matic could find himself overrun.
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Hazard didn’t alter the way he plays and he couldn’t get any change out of Herrera.
Will De Bruyne do the same or will he drift and give Herrera a problem of whether to go with him or not?
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We tried the old man-marking tactic on Paul Scholes at a few of the clubs I was at,certainly at Stoke and Southampton, when we played Manchester United.
But Scholes would drift into places our centre midfielder didn’t want to go and would pick up the ball and cause havoc from out wide or deep.
He would turn the tables on us — and leave us at sixes and sevens.
It will be interesting to see which way De Bruyne goes.
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HOW THE GAME MIGHT PAN OUT
We all know how City will play. That won’t change.
But what’s interesting is that United have options.
That gives them a small advantage over City before kick-off.
I think United will go for a high press — like they did against Arsenal to such effect — to stop Pep Guardiola’s team playing out from the back and making them go long.
Then they will use a deeper press with everyone behind the ball, waiting to hit City on the counter.
In the deeper press, they will let City’s full-backs push on and try to hit them on the break using their pace and the space down the flanks.
Boss Jose Mourinho will target that area with Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia flying up to support wingers Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if, as soon as a City full-back pushes on, Romelu Lukaku goes and fills the gap it creates.
Then as soon as United win the ball, they can play long to him and let him hold it up until the quick players can get up with him.
Or they will look to get Lukaku running down the outsides of the centre-backs.
They will almost look to attack with a five (Lukaku, Rashford or Martial, Lingard, Young and Valencia) and defend with a five (the back three plus Matic and Herrera or Marouane Fellaini).
They can do this because there is more pace in the United team than at any time since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson. They are set up perfectly for the counter.
CITY VULNERABLE ON THE BALL
In the five matches in which City have had the most ball possession this season they have scored 16 goals and let in six.
In the five matches in which they have had the lowest possession they have scored 16 and let in just two.
It just shows that they are at their most vulnerable when they have control of the ball. Perversely, it is against teams who sit back that they have conceded the most goals.
And United are good at that. Against Arsenal they had 24 per cent of the ball and won 3-1.
That should be a warning to City.
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