There was much anticipation heading into Saturday's Manchester Derby at Old Trafford, with a United win good enough for them to draw level on points with City. For the first time in 20 long months, fans were back in attendance for the Derby. It was crucial for both sides to enter the international break on the front foot, with neither team enduring the greatest of spells of late. For City it has been a blip, but for the red side of the city it has been reaching the stage of a crisis.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's future remained in the balance heading into this one, with the manager opting to maintain the use of the 3412 system deployed against Spurs and Atalanta. Victor Lindelof was deemed fit to feature despite some question marks, providing a like-for-like swap for the sidelined Raphael Varane in between Eric Bailly and Harry Maguire. Scott McTominay and Fred were reunited between the back line and Bruno Fernandes, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw again tasked with ruling the flanks. Edinson Cavani's injury meant there was an opportunity for Mason Greenwood to start alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, with Marcus Rashford only on the bench having been absent from training on Thursday and Friday through a flu-like illness.
There has been plenty of talk about City's lack of a distinct striker, but it was that fact that caused United some early trouble. The visiting midfielders reaped havoc for United with their interchangeability into the centre forward area, with the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne and Bernado Silva all drifting with fluidity around the final third. It was City who held almost all of the ball in the opening exchanges, testing the United structure with the relentless pressure applied on their defence. From the home side's standpoint, City were allowed far too much time to manoeuvre the ball with ease.
United really struggled to get on the ball at all early on in proceedings, failing to move it fast enough with sufficient quality on the rare occasions where they found themselves in possession. It was remarkably disjointed. Ronaldo managed to win a freekick wide on the left hand side on one early instance, with Shaw's subsequent pinpoint delivery onto Maguire's head almost resulting in a surprising opener after the United captain evaded Ruben Dias. It was a fantastic chance squandered against the run of play.
Aside from the one set-piece opportunity, United managed to engineer absolutely nothing. The common theme of misplaced passes was prolonged, with errors scattered everywhere from the hosts. United found it really difficult to operate against City's military-level organsation when pressing, with Wan-Bissaka boxed into his corner and forced to cede possession with a lacklustre pass on one occasion. In subsequence to that loss of possession, each of McTominay, Fred and Greenwood were timid in their attempts to win the ball back. City were in full flow. Gabriel Jesus was able to spread the ball wide to Kyle Walker on his completely open right hand side, with the right back allowed to delivery a very troubling cross. At the far post, Gundogan's effort on the slide was put across the face of goal and cleared by Lindelof to deny the oncoming Silva.
That move wasn't over, though.
Rodri was able to pick up the pieces after no United men met Lindelof's clearance, with the opposite fullback Joao Cancelo to receive possession in an abundance of space similar to that found by Walker moments earlier. The Portuguese left back was allowed a big touch to find himself in a crossing position, with the cross allowed with minimal pressure applied again. The delivery should have been easily dealt with by Bailly but - in trying to intervene - the Ivorian calamitously turned the ball into his own net on the stretch. The attempted clearance was simply rash.
Roy Keane was brutal in his assessment of the centre back, "I wasn't shocked when Eric Bailly sliced that into his own net. He's got that in his locker - he's erratic."
The lead was undoubtedly deserved, with United again finding themselves having to respond. April was the last time United kept a clean sheet at Old Trafford. No clean sheets in 14.
Continually, too much space and time was allowed for City to retain and effectively utilise the ball against very little exertion by way of a press. United's use of the ball remained consistently poor, but the deployment of a back five was so negative that they continued to see very little possession anyway. The system had failed. United were far too passive, with the extent of the defensive emphasis meaning attacking numbers were extremely minimal. The reds were stuck in a rut of having masses of men pinned behind the ball, with Fernandes' situation so deep that United's creativity was severely hindered. There was no way such approach could allow any sort of retaliation.
Attacking numbers may have been minimal, but they may as well have been non-existent. United were getting absolutely nowhere going forward, with those in attack so isolated that they were essentially out of the game. The wingbacks were wholly unable to push forward as their duty suggests, with Shaw seemingly revoked of his license to attack even though his role was more progressive than that which he excelled in at the Etihad last term. Chances were few and far between, with United's first attempt on target coming in the 25th minute.
The buildup towards that effort was actually one of patience and intricacy started by a Bailly surge out from defence, with Fernandes at the heart of a move which resulted in a low delivery from Shaw. Funnily enough, the opportunity came from the one distinct time that the left wingback was able to break out from the five-man back line. Ronaldo's eventual volley was denied by Ederson, with Greenwood unable to react from close proximity.
Old Trafford rose a few more decibels, but the home side continued to lack urgency.
That attack proved very rare for United, with a City bombardment following. Even though they attempted to remain compact behind the ball, the United midfield was still too easily bypassed by a collection of passing and dribbling moves from their opposition. The visitors were in control having hardly broken a sweat, yet remained deadly in buildup - or so United made it that easy for them that it looked such way.
United really had to stand firm, but kept allowing space for City to exploit. There was a vast systematic mismatch, with a staggering lack of organisation from Solskjaer's men. There were a number of attacking onslaughts that United were forced to have to deal with, and the struggle continued to grow as David de Gea was called into action increasing amounts.
The first save of an incredible spell for the United goalkeeper came after a break from Foden which initially saw Shaw forced to cover and make a block. Following the denial of the first attempt on goal from City, De Gea was forced to make a reaction save against Jesus from very close proximity. The Spaniard was called into action from the resultant corner too, with Cancelo unmarked on the edge of the box and forcing a tipped save above the crossbar.
City's pressure was immense. United were under the cosh. Holding the ball was now an impossibility for the hosts, with the amount of times possession was lost beginning to verge on spectacular. There was absolutely no aim on the ball, with City a stark contrast to this fact. The blues were levels above United, with their quality substantially superior.
The away side's advantage was almost doubled amidst the phase of pressure, with De Gea forced to react at close range again; this time Lindelof almost turned the ball into his own net for a second United own goal of the afternoon, with the goalkeeper's feet coming to the rescue. The whole predicament materialised from Phil Foden tormenting Wan-Bissaka and getting the ball across into the box.
Moments later, De Gea was in action again. De Bruyne's effort was heading for the Spaniard's far corner, with this particular save forcing the ball wide on the stretch. Cancelo picked up the ball on the edge of the box again from the consequent corner, with De Gea saving once more.
It was relentless. The United goalkeeper was given absolutely no protection from his defence, ushering him into one of his top displays for the club on his 350th Premier League appearance and in his 25th Manchester Derby. Without De Gea, the game would've been far out of reach before half time was even a prospect.
The extend to which United were on the back foot was unbelievable, with the reds completely unable to play any football as the half did draw further towards a close. There was a string of clearances from United, simply followed by City getting right back on the ball. The use of possession grew so bad that even five yard passes were being misplaced, with City's discipline allowing no space for the hosts to work with. It was error, upon error, upon error.
United engineered one good attack throughout the half. One. The final third product was entirely illusive. Nonetheless, they managed to hold their own for essentially the entirety of the opening period. I say essentially, because it crumbled on the brink of the break.
The defensive output from the start of the move was woeful. Again, the goal came from an extensive passing passage which was made far too routine for City. This second goal was equally as criminal as the first, in fact likely more. Cancelo was again given time - under absolutely no pressure in masses of space - to provide an inswinging ball towards the back post from around the right edge of the area following the extended buildup phase. Somehow, none of the many United bodies in the box managed to intervene. It should, however, have been subsequently routine for Shaw to deal with at far post. No. The left back unexplainably left the ball, which allowed Silva to simply touch the ball past De Gea.
The goalkeeper was in disbelief that he was even in a situation where he may have to make a save, with Old Trafford falling to a wholesale silence - unable to fathom what had just happened. It was a real killer in the game on the brink of the break. Rightly, the United goalkeeper stormed off the pitch in an irate manner, slamming the roof of the tunnel as he exited the pitch. The Spaniard was responsible for singlehandedly preventing a wholly embarrassing scoreline at the pause. He is back to his best, but was let down by the defending of the team.
The first half was a pummeling for United, with a real need to break out from their defensive setup. Solskjaer reacted by withdrawing Bailly, with Jadon Sancho set for 45 minutes against his former club. Attacking emphasis was certainly required, with Sancho tasked with providing a creative spark within a side massively short of ideas. The winger's introduction signified a switch to a back four, with the commonplace 4231 system allowing more bodies higher up the pitch. A goal would still transform the game's dimensions.
An improvement certainly wasn't noticeable early in the half's proceedings. McTominay and Fred remained ineffective in the middle of the park, still situated far too deep and not offering much at all by way of a press (especially an efficient one). City were still allowed masses of possession, which meant United's extra attacking prominence was rather irrelevant. United did see slightly more of the ball it must be said, yet the gulf in quality compared to City's use of possession really proved the expanse of the reds' inferiority. The shape from United looked slightly better in structure, but they still hardly troubled and were marshalled effortlessly by their rivals.
There were momentary occasions where United did look sharp, but there was a disturbing sense of apprehension within their approach. With the Liverpool annihilation clearly still a psychological hindrance, there were massive signs of fear of being further punished at the opposite end. Hereby, there was a plethora of sideways and backwards passes. Wasteful is a word that comes to mind, but not even in the final third - just around the centre of the pitch. The amount of times the ball ended up back with Maguire and Lindelof became countless.
Sancho's involvement was sporadic at best, even if he did appear sprightly when he got into the game in moments. This was far from his own fault, mind. There was one nice piece of linkup with Ronaldo down the left hand side, threatening with a direct drive before offloading the ball to the Portuguese to win a freekick.
Aside from patches like the aforementioned, it remained very messy from United. City were still able to dominate affairs (often having been gifted possession), again with criminal amounts of comfort for a Manchester Derby. It was like a training exercise. Literally.
There was no intensity coming from those in red, with barely any exertion of pressure applied to prevent City's prolonged and controlled phases of possession. The ball would be won occasionally, only to be given straight back to City. It was baffling to watch unfold.
Given his limited involvement on the left, combined with Greenwood's illusive presence in the game, Sancho was shifted over to his natural right side and Rashford was introduced in place of the former around the midway mark in the half. The substitute hadn't trained since Wednesday having displayed flu-like symptoms after flying back from Italy following the Atalanta encounter; he felt too weak to train on Thursday and Friday, only joining up with the team on Saturday morning prior to the match.
Shortly after the switch, United had more issues to deal with. Shaw took a nasty blow to his head in a coming together with Rodri, causing a slightly delay whilst he was assessed but nevertheless continued. However, he soon planted himself to the ground and signalled that his day was done. Dazed, the United defenders was aided down the tunnel. Thankfully for Solskjaer, it was deemed a concussion substitute so his plans for a third substitution weren't hampered. Shaw would later withdraw from the England squad in line with the FA's concussion protocols.
The left back has been somewhat a talking point so far this season, with performances scrutinised for being below the level shown both last season and in the Euros. He was regarded as player of the season by many last term, though his form seems to have been hampered by a collection of niggles so far this season; in all honestly, he hasn’t looked fully fit all season. He came back from the Euros having sustained a broken rib, whilst he has only just lost a cast on his wrist from the Europa League Final in May. During the season so far, he has struggled with some minor issues including within his shoulder and a phase of illness. Now marred by concussion, his break from action may be a blessing in disguise.
From the incident onwards, the second half flew by with very little happening by way of action. United remained a non-entity, whilst City held the ball with ease. It says pretty much everything that Ronaldo was more effective defending set-pieces than higher up the pitch, in fact his one touch in side City's area was bettered by two inside his own.
City's chance creation was limited for the majority of the second half, but they hardly had to venture out of cruise control. United were passed to death: Solskjaer’s side had played 329 passes by the final whistle, diminutive compared to City’s ultimate total of 821.
Pep Guardiola didn't even make a second half change, claiming that “the game was 2-0 and it was so comfortable”.
The loudest ovation of the day at Old Trafford came as Donny van de Beek replaced Fred with around 10 minutes of regulation time remaining. It was only the Dutchman's second Premier League outing of the season, but you'd be right to argue he has done enough to justify a run in the team. He provided a noticeable difference to an otherwise limited midfield. Where some of his midfield teammates proved passive and made numerous sideways and backwards passes, Van de Beek was instantly keen to play passes forward even if it meant he did give the ball away on occasions. His hard work was noticeable after his introduction, with one instance where he charged some distance across the pitch to apply pressure on City that had been absent for the most part. That urgency is something that was missing for a large portion of the match. He was a breath of fresh air, adding dynamacy to a very flat team.
Any will that United had left did unfortunately begin to degrade as the affair grew to a close (Van de Beek the exception), with porosity returning and City able to engineer some potential goalscoring moments once more. Shortly prior to Van de Beek's introduction, De Bruyne uncharacteristically misfired after Gundogan was able to play a ball across to him. Further chances came as Foden took advantage of a ludicrous amount of space and dragged an attempt onto De Gea's far post, before John Stones almost converted from a corner after a McTominay misjudgement. One final opportunity was squandered by Cancelo, with United again failing to deal with his extreme threat.
There was ultimately no second half concession from United, but the system was still far from effective. Neither City nor Liverpool were at their best, yet both drastically outplayed United on their home patch. If City were slightly more clinical, the the margin of victory on Saturday could have exceeded that achieved by Liverpool. Over the two matches, United have only endured 35% possession. Furthermore, they have faced 35 shots and have conceded seven times; meanwhile, United have only managed 17 shots themselves - equating to no goals (with only the single attempt on target on Saturday).
It’s the first time that United have lost eight home games in a calendar year since 1989, with their mere four points from six matches worse than bottom of the league Norwich (who also conceded two less over that period).
There are a long two weeks ahead before Watford, where Solskjaer has vowed that United have to come out "like a proper, hurt animal”.
“We need to be on the front foot more. I can’t look at myself and say this is the way I want United to play. We still don’t trust ourselves with the ball. We still don’t pass the ball as well as I know they can and we don’t find the angles.”
Roy Keane's verdict was that “United are so awful it’s unbelievable".
I'll leave it there.
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