Kelechi Iheanacho said it was “a dream come true” after his goal gave Manchester City a 2-1 victory at Manchester United in Saturday’s derby.
Advertisement
Crystal Palace got their first win of the season as they beat Middlesbrough 2-1, while Bournemouth beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 and Burnley and Hull City drew 1-1.
Mourinho handed a full debut to Henrikh Mkhitaryan and recalled Jesse Lingard to his starting line-up, but both made way at the break and the former Chelsea boss stated he made selection errors.
Bravo instigated another unsafe first-half attack by skimming a long throw between two United midfielders and to the feet of De Bruyne.
Mourinho admitted he was “disappointed” with some individual performers and felt the magnitude of the game affected certain players’ focus. And it was this: I told 20 times today never play the first station ball, never, never play because it’s where they want to press. There was plenty of censure to go around and most of it was reserved for his players who, he said, failed to carry out prematch instructions during a first half in which, until Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 42nd-minute intervention, the hosts hardly laid a glove on their opponents. Sometimes we might not agree but it’s part of the game. “It’s their fault and it’s my fault because I’m the manager”. The Chile worldwide showcased his excellent footwork and footballing brain throughout City’s 2-1 win at Old Trafford, moving outside his area to get involved in play and starting attacks with his passing and long throws.
“The first half was really good”, he stated. We have crossed a lot of balls and put them under pressure. We need to be sharp in the way we think, the way we play. Manchester United vs Manchester City. At half-time, we changed the direction of the game but we didn’t get the compensation we deserved in the second half.
Guardiola reacted by replacing Iheanacho for defensive midfielder Fernando, leaving City without an orthodox striker as the game became a frantic end-to-end encounter. “We paid for our mistakes”.
Advertisement
Tottenham’s Son scored either side of halftime after fine interplay with the impressive Christian Eriksen as Spurs rediscovered the fluid attacking football that made them such an irresistible offensive threat last season to outclass Stoke.
