City inflicted upon Jose Mourinho his first defeat as United manager on Saturday at Old Trafford, with Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho inspiring a 2-1 win.
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Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring for Manchester City off a surprisingly un-Guardiola-esque Aleksander Kolarov long ball, headed on-by striker Kelechi Iheanacho for the Belgian to slot past Manchester United keeper David de Gea in the 15th minute. An error gave them something to take into half-time after a disappointing first half. I thought because of the characteristics of the game we could hurt them playing with some individuals with some qualities, they didn’t give what I want. It’s the best way to recover our spirit. “Claudio Bravo is a penalty and a red card – if one of my players do that in the middle of the park -if [Marouane] Fellaini or Rooney do that in the middle of the park – it’s a red card and a free-kick”, the Portuguese said. “We can start some matches with a player in front of Zlatan”. You could make an argument for him as the league’s best player right now.
In that moment, the hosts were back in the game and the first 20 minutes of the second period saw United throwing everything at the Blues. It also predicts Man City has a 20% chance of walking away with all three points, and the game has a 42% chance of ending in a draw.
“We didn’t start good”. After a summer of hype for the managerial rivalry, things went as they often have for these two. We have to study why that happened. We started the game with some players really below the normal level, in terms of their concentration, of their mental ability to play a game of this speed because you need to be sharp in the way you think, the way you play.
City, as Guardiola craves, looked to use the ball and find pockets of space in between United’s midfield and defence and finding Nolito and Raheem Sterling in behind as often as possible.
Further freakish decision making from the 33-year-old looked United’s easiest route to a draw and he prompted more last-ditch defending in stoppage time before City were able to take the local bragging rights and look down on their neighbours from the top of the table.
“I know it’s a risk”.
De Bruyne played down the importance of the win to the players, but said it meant everything to the club’s fans to win the Manchester derby. Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola were constantly at each other’s throats when they managed rival teams Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga, so expect fireworks on the touchline.
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De Bruyne was at the heart of City’s attacks and he was the provider for Iheanacho’s goal, finding space in United’s area to drift on to his left foot and shoot low against the post.
