Manchester United 2 Manchester City 0 : Derby Disaster

Manchester City went into this 182nd derby match against United, buoyed by a decent run of results including an away win at Real Madrid and the securing of another trophy in the shape of the Carabao Cup.

There were some surprises from Pep Guardiola with his Manchester City line up for this match from the inclusion of Joao Cancelo at right back, the absence of Kevin de Bruyne in midfield and the chance for Phil Foden to really cement his reputation.

The real worry before kick off with the team which had been selected was the apparent lack of pace across the defence. Given United were expected to play on the counter attack, Kyle Walker not starting appeared to be a risk.

The match started briskly enough. The big surprise was that there were no real tactical surprises in how either side lined up. City sprayed passes around but there was a vulnerability on show when they lost the ball. The first couple of chances fell to United but they failed to take either.

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Two things became apparent in the opening 25 minutes. Otamendi was riding his luck and Mike Dean was never going to give City a free kick for anything.

Fernandinho went into the referee’s book after a free kick was given. It was not a free kick as Ilkay Gundogan never touched Bruno Fernandes. Fernandinho and Rodri were booked for dissent amidst the protests but United took the free kick quickly and it slipped in the near post past Ederson who should have done better.

City were lucky not to have had a penalty awarded against them. Otamendi clipped Fred but Mike Dean booked Fred for diving. There was little to cheer for City fans in the remainder of a half where we failed to exert any control or rhythm.

The second half started with a Sergio Aguero goal wrongly ruled out for offside by VAR. It has reached the point where VAR has to draw thicker and thicker lines to rule out our goals. The fact it masquerades as science is even more annoying. United then attacked and Ederson mis-controlled the ball nearly leaving an empty net for Martial to score into. Thankfully Ederson cleared it just in time.

City were focused on the injustices they were suffering and continued to look second best. There were moments of course where City did press forward. Foden had a shot tipped over from a corner, but they were the exception.

On 59 minutes Guardiola made an unaccustomed early change. Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero were both withdrawn for Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez. This was an attempt to impose some intensity into the City play and initially it seemed to work, but then City were reduced to aimlessly crossing the ball, in the belief our attackers had somehow grown taller since last time.

United took off attackers and packed their defence, buckling in for the last 10 minutes. The truth was not too much happened for City. As the rain fell, City struggled to carve out a decent opening and the few snatched chances they had, they failed to take.

In the dying seconds United added another goal. This was another Ederson error as he threw the ball to McTominay who thumped the ball into the empty net.

City have reached the point where they are being felled by new errors and it is hard to protect how we will undo ourselves each week.

The sad reality is that the loss did not matter much to City. What did matter though was that no single player excelled, easily bettered by United. That is not a good sign for the games which lie ahead.

United celebrated like they had won a trophy. They haven’t but they deserved to win this game. Hopefully this defeat hurts the players as much as it hurts the fans and will act as a reminder to spur us onto greater things. Unfortunately, it may not.