United were overwhelmed in a forlorn first-half against their neighbours, who were utterly dominant until Claudio Bravo gifted Zlatan Ibrahimovic a goal. Probably in the next big Premier League game I will know who can accept the dimension of the game, which is important.
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Play scintillating football and threaten to blow the opposition away, don’t score enough to reflect your dominance, lose your intensity, concede, and almost end up dropping points.
Pep Guardiola’s first Manchester derby goal wasn’t the sort of free-flowing passing move we were used to seeing from his Barcelona and Bayern Munich sides.
City were excellent in the first half against Sunderland, even better against West Ham and absolutely brilliant against United but their fade has been similar in each game.
“I don’t know if he respects me, but I respect him a lot”, said the former Bayern Munich coach.
Despite the late first half goal from Manchester United, Mourinho was still an angry man when he left the pitch and he looked angrier when he walked back for the second half, muttering to himself, suggesting the players had been given a real talking-to in the dressing room. Dovetailing with fellow playmaker David Silva in central midfield, De Bruyne kept finding space to hurt United with his strong running and through balls.
The implication was obvious, although he was quick to stress that the entire team was culpable for a lumpen first-half performance that did not take much bettering in the second period.
“Mourinho has not come in to leave a legacy, he’s come in to get them winning trophies”. With United in the ascendancy, City’s manager sprung into action – replacing Iheanacho with centre midfielder Fernando early in the second half.
It had been a job well done and one very much in the image of the Spaniard’s best sides, but there was an elephant in the room to address. The visitors came close to making it 3-1, when De Bruyne broke forward to smash De Gea’s left hand post.
He later lunged at Wayne Rooney after turning into danger in his own box – an incident that prompted no action from referee Mark Clattenburg, but which United boss Jose Mourinho after the game argued merited a penalty and Bravo being sent off. “It can seem like he’s not there, he’s not there, and then he goes and scores the decisive goal”. “Instead Claudio said, “OK, it’s football, it’s happened, the situation is unlucky” and in the second half he played again, and again, and again with the ball”.
Manchester City were worthy winners in what proved to be an extremely exciting contest. They played in Venezuela and then they go to Argentina, and then from Argentina they come back to Europe.
“I try to focus on my players, that is all”.
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The 18-year-old had to make do with a place on the bench and watched as his Manchester United teammates struggled to cope with the opposition during the opening 45 minutes of the Manchester derby. We’re three matches in to the season with plenty of football yet to be played, but City’s display is a reminder to United of the quality the club faces in the fight for the title.
