Manchester United 1 Manchester City 3

Manchester City travelled to Manchester United in the Carabao Cup First Leg of the Semi Final having never won there before in a cup competition.

There is a belief amongst a number of Manchester City fans that Pep Guardiola sometimes has a tendency to over think the selection and tactics of certain big games, undermining our team’s ability to perform at their highest level. Upon scrutinising the City team sheet there were some audible deep breaths and much head scratching as we wondered if this was genius or folly?

It appeared as though in this biggest game of the season so far, that Guardiola had probably gone for a formation which shifted from 4-3-3 in defensive phases to 3-4-3 in attack. The big surprise was the failure to play any recognised striker, instead going with Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva and leaving both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus to smart on the bench.

The opening exchanges were like two heavyweight boxers trading blows, there was a stalemate to the proceedings which was thanks in part to Fernandinho who had bailed City out on 3 occasions in the first 10 minutes alone. Manchester United appeared to be carving the clearer opportunities with City probing without any penetration.

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However things changed on 16 minutes as Bernardo Silva cut in from the right and curled a delightful long range effort past the outstretched arms of De Gea. Not quite against the run of play, but City had nevertheless landed the first blow.

Despite having a goal advantage the game still sat on a knife edge. The pace of United caused problems every attack and there was an air of panic in the City defence even if they were warming up on their own.

City gradually began to feel more comfortable and in the 32nd minute doubled their lead thanks to some more good work from Bernardo who slid a De Bruyne-sk pass through to Riyad Mahrez, who rounded De Gea and tapped in.

A 3rd goal was added shortly after following a quick break. United collapsed at the back and De Bruyne raced through firing low and hard at De Gea who parried the shot at a defender who tapped in for an own goal.

The surprise by the half time whistle was that somehow City had failed to add another. Sterling was wasteful in front of goal, spurning the chances he had done so well to be on the end of.

The second half saw Youtuber Jessie Lingard replaced by Matic in the hope that the big spaces between the United defence could be plugged. Yet it was our lack of precision that was limiting our attack rather than an improved defensive display. Mahrez and Sterling were both guilty of missing well worked chances.

United clawed a goal back in the 69th minute thanks to some poor midfield passing between Sterling, De Bruyne and Rodrigo leaving Rashford with a counter attacking opportunity. It would have been much better all round if one of the midfielders had actually made an effort to track back.

Instead, at the insistence of the crowd the United team pushed forward in the belief and hope that the result could be overturned. City began to visibly tire and all of a sudden the remaining 15 minutes seemed like a lifetime.

De Bruyne took a heavy challenge which knocked the wind out of his sails and was replaced by Gabriel Jesus in the last 10 minutes. City played keep ball to try and run the clock down which was frustrating at times as United were really there for the taking.

Instead the City fans are left thinking – is it too soon to book travel and hotels for Wembley? A blistering first half performance won this game allowing City to claim a first cup victory at Old Trafford.

Next. City 4 Port Vale 1 Ratings and MOTM. dark

It is three weeks until the return fixture, and there are other competitions to play for first. Until then we can bask in the glory of a deserved victory on enemy territory.

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