Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United: Joyless evening for Ruben Amorim as Red Devils lack quality and fight
In a match both sides went into amid heavy scrutiny and criticism, it was Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City who showed that some of that judgement might be premature, while Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United failed to show up, descending once more into a slough of malperformance.
City didn’t start very well, conceding a few half chances to a United side that started with some semblance of rhythm, and ultimately finishing with 44 per cent possession. But somewhere after the opening ten minutes in which United were unable to create anything out of the verve in which they started the game, City took over.
The opener came from a familiar source. Phil Foden, returning to the City squad after injury, ran unmarked into the United box to meet Jeremy Doku’s short cross and head beyond Altay Bayindir for his seventh Manchester derby goal.
Celebrating riotously with the home support, it was evident the goal meant so much to him, having been criticised recently as perhaps an underwhelming talent who has failed to reach the heights he could have at the club, or follow in the footsteps of greats such as David Silva or Kevin de Bruyne.
The half ended with just the goal difference, with City having raised their performance after the goal while United struggled to find their footing. The second goal came eight minutes in the second period, as United, guilty of negligence, allowed Nico O’Reilly, Foden and Doku to dispatch them far too easily on the left hand side, Leny Yoro not doing enough to dispossess Doku as the winger passes to Erling Haaland, who dinked the ball over the onrushing Bayindir.
The vultures began to circle, United flustered, disorganised and unable to build up any sort of structured attacking play, their midfield weaknesses glaring. Bejamin Sesko, making his full debut in the Premier League, was isolated up front, as though he were playing a different game, as though he has been training individually and not been part of group sessions.
United tried to move the ball around as best they could – which is not very much – but there seemed to be no plan to get their 6ft 5in striker into the action. Their best chance came just after the hour, when Bryan Mbeumo waited ages for a cross, and when it finally arrived, unleashed a perfectly hit volley that seemed to be going nowhere but the far net, but then City’s new goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma extended himself in an incredible, elastic dive to his right to tip it beyond the post for a corner kick.
If Amorim’s side had managed to halve the lead then, it could have set up a much more competitive final half hour. But moments after that City got their third. Haaland was in his half in the centre circle, and so not offside, when Bernardo Silva spotted his run and sent him into space. The Norwegian raced into United’s penalty area, only Harry Maguire near him, the bulky Englishman incomparable in speed.
What followed was inevitable. Haaland came one-on-one with Altay Bayindir and anybody would put all their money on the Norwegian in such a situation.
City had other chances to make it 4-0. United tried to rally but over the next 20 minutes it was hard to see them mustering up, strangely, the quality or even the will to put any decency to the scoreline.
