Andy Cole has suggested that the Manchester United team from 1999 would be able to compete with the current Manchester City side.
The previous season saw City do what United did back at the end of the 1998/99 season by winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
Now though, one figure who played a big role in United’s successes back in the late nineties has shared his thoughts on how the two Treble winners compare.
Cole says 1999 United would be confident against Guardiola’s City
Speaking in a recent interview shared on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Cole had this to say when asked if he would liked to have played against this current City team and how the United side from 1999 would have approached a match against them.
He said: “Yeah 100%. Same way we approached every game, we approached every game exactly the same, we never feared any team. We always believed we could beat any team. I think we were a team that could work things out.
“So when you talk about 4-4-2, it wasn’t strictly 4-4-2 because if you look at my time playing with Eric [Cantona], Eric never used to stand up the pitch next to me, neither did Dwight [Yorke]. They always used to drop in the space and do what they had to do, they had the intelligence that if any team had an extra man in midfield, they would drop back in the midfield area to help out the midfield so it’s all about working things out.
“I look at the Manchester United team that I was in and people talk about but how would you compare them against this Manchester City team? I think we would compare very well. It wouldn’t be something I’d worry about, put it that way.”
Looking back over the 1998/99 Premier League season, the Red Devils won 22 of their 38 games, drawing 13 and losing three, scoring 80 goals and conceding 37.
In comparison, City won 28 of their league games last season, drawing five and losing five, scoring 94 goals and conceding 33.
While Cole will undoubtedly be biased towards his United side, it seems unlikely that any City supporter would feel that Pep Guardiola’s side wouldn’t beat their rivals if the two sides were to play each other.
