In the 11th round of the Premier League, Manchester United played the 186th Manchester Derby with Manchester City at Old Trafford, the game showed a one-sided situation, Manchester United centre-back Eric Baii swung himself, Bernardo Silva locked in the victory, and Manchester City won 2-0 away from home to extend the advantage over Manchester United to 6 points.
Compared to the midweek Champions League, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made three changes to the starting lineup, with Lindlof, Fred and Mason Greenwood in the main squad. De Gea scored, Lindlev returned to form a three-centre-back with Maguire and Eric Bai, with Wan Bissaka, McTomine, Fred, Bruno Fernandez and Luke Shaw in midfield, and Greenwood partnering Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cavani was sidelined due to injury before the match, while Marcus Rashford had been unwell for the past two days and could only act as a substitute. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explains: "We had a problem or two after we came back from Italy, Edinson (Cavani) was one of them, Marcus (Rashford) was only confirmed this morning, he was lucky to be on the bench and hopefully came on as a substitute if needed. Victor [Lindlev] has recovered from his injury and he's always felt like he could catch up with the game, but you can never be sure and we're happy he's back on the pitch."
Greenwood has been criticized for playing too alone this season, but the manager said: "He has been a big positive this season, he has grown and matured, and this is a good opportunity for him. It's the best game and we know the derby is difficult and have to play at the best level, but the kids have shown many times that they can do it. Regional derby, and looking at the standings, if we take all three points, we'll tie the opponent; if they win, we'll be too far behind and we won't be happy."
United started more cautiously, the wing-backs were recovered, Greenwood also withdrew, the formation was almost 5311, Bernardo Silva cut inside from the right and fired high, and Manchester City completed the first shot of the derby. United fought an eye for an eye, Luke Shaw fired a free kick from the left and Maguire flicked his head off the bar.
Seven minutes into the opening round, City broke the deadlock with a succession of crosses from the left and right flanks. Although Gundogan failed to send Kyle Walker's cross from the right, he then crossed again from the left and Baie accidentally swung himself on the edge of the penalty spot, de Gea was caught off guard, and United fell behind City 1-0.
United have conceded 14 consecutive home goals in all competitions, setting the worst defensive number in 67 years, equaling the record of 14 goals conceded from September 1954 to February 1955, second only to the 21 games in history from April 1958 to March 1959.
United's most threatening attack also came from the wing, Luke Shaw crossed from the left, Ronaldo's direct volley was saved by Edelson, and Aoki, who was not prepared enough, touched the ball out of the bottom line.
De Gea saved Manchester United again, Foden crossed from the left and De Bruyne's shot was blocked by Luke Shaw's goal line, before De Gea flew in to save Jesus' shot and bounced off the post. De Gea then lifted Upselo's long-range shot.
De Gea is not only wary of opponents, but also defends his own center-backs! Foden's cross from the left was blocked by Lindlev towards his goal, and De Gea blocked it with his foot. United's goalkeeper kept on camera, saving De Bruyne's powerful shot and Cancelo's second long-range shot in three minutes.
But de Gea alone is not enough, in the 45th minute, Manchester City in front of the box in a wide range of shifts, Cancelo left diagonal pass back point, Manchester United defense thought the ball would fly out of the field, who knows Silva behind Luke Shaw left foot catapult, De Gea failed to save the ball, the ball flew from in front of him into the goal, Manchester United 0-2 Manchester City.
This is the 49th Manchester City derby in premier league history, and the 30-year-old De Gea has played in the derby 20 times, becoming the first goalkeeper to achieve this milestone, unfortunately, although he has performed well, it is still difficult to prevent his team from falling behind by two goals in the half.
In the second half, United replaced Sancho with Bayi and switched to a four-back formation, with The £73m man still playing as left winger, with Greenwood on the right. Manchester City strategically recycled, waiting for the opportunity to find a gap behind Manchester United, neither team created too good opportunities.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Greenwood with Rashford in hopes of improving the offensive momentum. Luke Shaw fell to the ground on the field, as if his head had been hit, and Tres rushed to warm up on the field. Fat Shaw insisted on playing for a few minutes, and finally could not continue, was replaced by Tres, which is a concussion substitution, so Manchester United also has a substitution, so the coach chose to replace Fred with Van de Beek.
City nearly extended their advantage when De Bruyne's diagonal cross from the left and Foden's left-footed low shot into the far corner deflected off the outside of the post. Stones took a corner kick and turned to shoot, slightly offside. Tres knocked down Jesus inside the penalty area, but thanks to his first touch, Michael Oliver missed the penalty. But this has no impact on the outcome of the game, Manchester United lost 0-2, losing the Manchester City derby.
Manchester United ended their last four unbeaten run against City in 3 wins and 1 draw, failing to move closer to the six unbeaten games from 2008 to 2011. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won 4 of his previous 8 games against Guardiola, with a 50% win rate, the highest winning percentage among coaches who have faced Guardiola at least 5 times, but this defeat has turned his match record with the other side into a balance of 4 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses.
Manchester City won their eighth Premier League game at Old Trafford, surpassing Liverpool to leapfrog the league the most. Manchester United have already lost 8 times at home in all competitions in 2021, surpassing 7 in 2001, and the last time Manchester United suffered more home losses was 8 in 1989.
After this match, Manchester City has never been kept clean in a 12:30 kick-off match local time, and has scored 24 early games so far in the 2016/17 season. Manchester United are also the only team in the Premier League that have not yet scored a set-piece goal from outside the penalty, while Manchester City are the only two teams that have not been scored by a set-piece, alongside Wolves.
In a word, the reason for the loss of manchester city derby manchester united in this game is that the players are inferior to people, and the manager's tactics are completely defeated. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer beat Tottenham Hotspur in a three-centre-back system in the last premier league round because the opponent was too poor, not because the Red Devils successfully found the ideal tactic. After studying footage of the last two Manchester United games, Guardiola has completely cracked the three-centre-back tactic of so-and-so.
Manchester City grasped the biggest weakness of Manchester United's 352 system, that is, only defense on the right side without assists, Guardiola arranged for youth training genius Foden and the hot Portuguese full-back Cancelo to attack the right side of the Town of Wan Bissaka. When Foden involved Wan Bissaka, Canselo on the back row swam into the sea and had a huge offensive space. Silva and Walker on the right have a similar routine.
In contrast, the United defence that lost Varane was still scattered, with the first goal conceded by Bay's oolong and the second by Maguire and Luke Shaw. While De Gea may have been able to handle the second goal better, United could no longer blame his goalkeeper, de Gea was the only hero of the United game, and if he had not been highly resistant, the Manchester Derby could have turned into another 0-5 defeat.
Everyone knows that Ronaldo must get a cross in the box so that he can play his best, but United simply can't do it. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tactical plan a and plan b are the same, completely ineffective. Gary Neville, the no. 1 supporter of Sorjah's Tianzi, also admitted in sky sports commentary: "It's a sad story, but it's quite reasonable."
In the final moments of the game, the entire Manchester United team almost gave up hope, allowing Manchester City to play on the spot, only Ronaldo kicked a flying shovel foul in stoppage time, allowing people to see the Red Devils' bloodiness that was not willing to accept the loss. Too light-hearted, Guardiola didn't even make a substitution.
It was a technical and tactical derby for Manchester City to beat Manchester United. City had 68 per cent possession and 821 passes, 92 per cent success, while United had just 389 passes, a success rate of just over 80 per cent. Not only that, but Manchester City's players other than the goalkeeper have touched the ball more than any other player in Manchester United, with Maguire and Lindlev having the most 67 touches in the team, while Manchester City have only touched the ball 26 times except goalkeeper Edelsen, and the fewest of the rest of the players, Gundogan, also has 69 times!
Another statistic shows that United only had 1 of Ronaldo's 5 shots on goal, not even as many times as his own defender shot de Gea's goal (2).
Although the score was only 0-2, it is not an exaggeration to say that Manchester City won a big victory. Is there such a big gap in the ability of the players on the two teams? The answer is no, Manchester United also has a squad that can compete for the title, so the only reason may be that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's coaching ability is different from Guardiola's.