Pep Guardiola also emerged victorious from his first Premier League battle with old adversary Jose Mourinho as Manchester City secured a fully deserved win in a frantic Old Trafford derby.
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It was bad enough for Jose Mourinho that his first Manchester derby ended in defeat.
“That is what we came to Old Trafford to do on Saturday”. He continued playing after a hard first half.
In the 56th minute, Bravo got away with a crunching tackle on Wayne Rooney after another moment of carelessness.
De Bruyne gave City reward for a dominant start by breaking the deadlock in the 15th minute, beating Daley Blind to Iheanacho’s flick-on and coolly finding the bottom-left corner.
But he was subbed at half-time, after Mourinho watched the visiting Blues race into a 2-0 lead on their way to three points.
De Gea then saved in quick succession from Fernandinho, Nicolas Otamendi and Fernando, before Sane teed up De Bruyne for a shot that hit the right-hand post and rolled across the goal.
United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled one back just before the break but despite a lively second-half they couldn’t find an equaliser. Always available with a tireless work-rate he nearly set up three or four more and then struck the inside of the post in the second-half. City have been impressive so far in the first three games especially dispatching West Ham United in the last game before the worldwide break.
The wisecracks nearly rang true just minutes into the second half, though.
Plenty of fans called for a penalty for Bravo’s lunge, but referee Mark Clattenburg was unmoved. Rashford’s shot found its way into the back of Bravo’s net, but the ball had been clipped by an offside Ibrahimovic on the way through. We had counter-attacks and we didn’t finish. United played to get the ball forward with haste, looking for direct passes.
While Mourinho bemoaned those players who struggled to cope with the unique demands of the Manchester derby, he had no such complaints about Marcus Rashford.
City have matches against AFC Bournemouth and Swansea City to come later in the month.
Kevin de Bruyne was also a key figure, scoring one goal and being involved in the other.
United started somewhat the brighter, but the visitors quickly earned control of the game and De Bruyne handed them the lead after a quarter of an hour. Both teams showed their quality.
And when Guardiola studies the statistics, an 81.8% passing success rate will please even this perfectionist, who expressed his satisfaction with this two-dimensional City display – glorious, clinical football in the first half and solid resilience in the second.
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Dele Alli bagged Tottenham’s third and Harry Kane sealed the rout with his first goal of the season in the 70th minute. The fans will celebrate tonight. “We are not happy with these decisions”. We have to be balanced in our analysis. We needed to be sharp. We have crossed a lot of balls and put them under pressure. The attitude and spirit in the second half was fantastic. Luke Shaw is another who will have to assessed ahead of the game after feeling an ache in his leg which meant he left the England squad. Marouane Fellaini, who picked up an injury against Hull, has recovered and is set to start the game once again.
