Today's pre-season Manchester derby slated for the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing has been cancelled: the latest act in United's farcical pre-season tour of China. Neither Pep Guardiola nor Jose Mourinho wanted the game to go ahead, owing to the dreadful condition of the pitch. Torrential rain and a subsequent fungus disease has left the pitch unplayable, despite the fact that City sent their groundsman to the stadium ten days ago in a bid to ensure the surface was playable.
It means that, while the tour may have been a commercial success off the pitch for United, the on the field preparations have been a disaster, particularly the Beijing leg.
United flew to Beijing on two separate planes, the second of which was forced to land in Tianjin following inclement weather. Memphis Depay tweeted a video of himself on the plane saying that "we are lost somewhere, we had to make a quick landing somewhere ... We tried to fly to Beijing but the weather is a little bit bad so we had to land somewhere else".
When the team did eventually assemble in Beijing, Mourinho's media briefing descended into farce. Over 100 journalists crammed into a cramped and sweaty press room in the Bird's Nest stadium, which United eventually deemed unsuitable, forcing Mourinho to brief the media on a running track outside, with journalists - some wearing replica jerseys - spread at his feet:
This is the scene inside the roasting hot, cramped room that saw the #MUFC press conference called off pic.twitter.com/ObqozuS5Ix
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) July 24, 2016
Farcical organisation means 100+ journalists trying to listen to Mourinho pitchside. He's as happy as he looks pic.twitter.com/ir8qeg37K7
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) July 24, 2016
Mourinho has, characteristically, not held back in his opinion of the preparations. speaking ahead of the City game, which he was worried would go ahead on an unplayable pitch, Mourinho admitted he couldn't wait to get back to Manchester:
It’s in the end, last day, last match and then we can go home and train in good conditions, conditions where the players feel good and safe and bring their concentration and intensity to higher levels again.
Just hopefully we do nothing and to wish that no problems in the match and everyone goes home without injuries. If we manage to do that, then that’s fine.
The pitch and the conditions of my players are more important than results in pre-season.
It’s not a problem for me to lose matches in pre-season. It’s a problem for me, bad conditions for my players to train and bad conditions for my players to play.
So if you ask me my objective for the match I only have one: Take the players home safe without any kind of injury.
It means that United's pre-season preparations will consist of a training game against Wigan, a hammering against Dortmund and one further game against Galatasaray before the Community Shield clash against Leicester.
Ed Woodward may have been satisfied from a commercial point of view, but he may have an awkward conversation upon his return with his manager.
At least we've been saved any pre-season Guardiola/Mourinho handshake sagas.
