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Key events
88 min De Bruyne swerves away from Kambwala on the left and hammers a cross that is turned behind by Varane. The corner leads to another, which eventually leads to an excellent clearance in his own six-yard box by Varane.
86 min City are keeping the ball with an unashamed superiority. It’s been a pretty humbling experience for United – they’ve played well in parts, and have given City some nervous moments, yet they have still been totally outclassed.
84 min “I know that in the modern game it’s normal for a match between big clubs to take place mostly in front of one team’s 18-yard line,” says Kári Tulinius. “But when Barcelona v Chelsea played out that way in 2012, it felt shocking. Roberto Di Matteo may be the most influential manager of the last decade.”
Are you saying John Terry invented modern football by kneeing Alexis Sanchez up the arse?
82 min Foden suddenly finds himself on consecutive derby hat-tricks at the Etihad.
81 min: Double substitution for Man Utd Omari Forson and Sofyan Amrabat replace Alejandro Garnacho, who was quite, and Kobbie Mainoo, who played well in exceptionally difficult circumstances.
City trusted the goal would come if they kept doing the right things, and they were right. The move started when De Bruyne, on the left, played a square ball to Foden. He pushed it down the line to Alvarez, ran onto the return pass and drove a crisp low shot into the far corner. Onana got a hand on it but couldn’t keep it out.
GOAL! Man City 2-1 Man Utd (Foden 80)
Phil Foden has surely won the derby for City!
78 min Mainoo puts Garnacho through on goal with a neat if slightly heavy pass. Ederson comes out feet first, even though he’s in the penalty area, wins the ball cleanly and then trips Garnacho with his follow through. United want a penalty; the referee Andy Madley and the VAR team disagree. It looked a good, if risky challenge.
77 min City are showing the first signs of frustration. For all their dominance, all their big chances were in the first half.
75 min: Man Utd substitution Antony replaces Marcus Rashford, who scored a stonking early goal and struggled thereafter.
74 min City continue to do the same things, trusting that this game of Tetris will eventually become too much for the United defence. The mental demands must be extraordinary.
73 min With United in a fairly promising position, Rashford struggles to change direction to collect a pass from Fernandes. That’s happened to him two or three times today – I don’t know whether it’s the pitch, his footwear or neither.
72 min Man Utd have rejigged their defence: Kambwala right-back, Varane and Lindelof in the centre, Dalot on the left.
71 min A long-range sizzler from Walker is patted down by Onana and claimed at the second attempt. Onana has been very assured today, and if that leads to a late howler or two, Fabien Barthez at Highbury-style, then I apologise.
71 min Evans didn’t look injured, by the way, but he’s played only 45 minutes in the last six weeks so I guess he had emptied the tank.
70 min De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are over the free-kick… and De Bruyne slaps it into the wall.
69 min: Man Utd substitution The teenage defender Willy Kambwala replaces Jonny Evans at centre-back. Godspeed young man.
68 min Haaland turns Evans cleverly, then bulldozes past Varane on the edge of the D and is cynically fouled. Yellow card for Varane and a free-kick to City…
66 min Onana is fine to continue. Who knew?
66 min “You can’t say City haven’t deserved to equalise as they been all over United like a rash,” says Rick Harris, “but from the replays I think United were hard done by as Rashford was clearly fouled by Walker.”
What did I miss? It didn’t look like a foul at all to me, though you sometimes miss these things when you’re MBMing because you spend half the time looking at the wrong screen.
65 min Onana slides out to collect a through ball and then signals to the bench that he’s tweaked something. Gary Neville speculates that he might be timewasting – United have been at it all day – but the referee has no choice but to allow the physio on.
64 min Bernardo Silva’s header back across goal is just too high for Haaland. It’s coming…
63 min “As a Liverpool fan I am hoping United hang on for at least a point, knowing that my 1990s self will never speak to me again,” says Tim Woods. “It’s a very weird feeling. Sometimes the days of Dirk Kuyt and battling for sixth seem so much simpler.”
62 min De Bruyne’s cross is punched behind for a corner by Onana. It’s headed away by Dalot, but the pressure that City are applying is relentless; I don’t know how you resist it. We’ve seen this storyline played out so many times before.
59 min: Man City substitution Julian Alvarez comes on for Jeremy Doku. Alvarez will play as one of the No8 with Bernardo Silva moving to the left wing.
58 min There’s a break in play due to a flare being thrown onto the field.
57 min Erik ten Hag has been booked for complaining about the City goal. He thought Rashford was fouled by Kyle Walker in the build up. It didn’t look like a foul, not even close, although it’s odd that Rashford went down because he would have been through on goal again. Maybe he didn’t fancy a race with Kyle Walker.
Rodri gave Foden a routine pass 22 yards from goal, to the right of centre. Foden cut across Lindelof, on his left foot, and arrowed a thrilling drive that flew across Onana and into the top corner. What a goal!
GOAL! Man City 1-1 Man Utd (Foden 56)
A belting goal from Phil Foden!
55 min A dangerous United break ends with Rashford falling over after a challenge from Walker. I don’t think it was a foul. It looked like Rashford ran out of steam after… never mind that…
54 min “Rob, what are you doing to me with this nostalgia?” says Niall Mullen. “Guadalajara’86, Dumitrescu and co. from 1994? Next you’ll be talking about the glorious Czech team of 2004 to get me properly misty eyed. Has no one ever told you that ‘remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation?”
The puss on him at the start of that video!
53 min United keep the ball for a little while, with every player looking for a pass in behind. They can’t sychronise it so they keep possession or another 30 seconds or so until Dalot’s pass it cut out by Bernardo Silva.
51 min Not for the first time today, City’s fans complain about United’s timewasting. As Mark Gillespie said at half-time, United have to do more in possession – they’re just giving the ball back to City and retreating into their 4-2-4-0 shape.
49 min The diving Onana gets an important touch to divert Doku’s deflected cross-shot away from Foden at the far post. Without his intervention, Foden would have an open goal.
47 min “That was indeed a staggering miss by Haaland,” says Matt Dony. “But these happen. Because people make mistakes. A referee makes a stupid mistake, and everyone bangs on about either corruption and fixing, or absolute incompetence. Referees should be able to turn it back on the players. Andy Madley should give an interview after the game; ‘We’re supposed to be refereeing in the best league in the world. This is the top level. Misses liked that just aren’t acceptable. The players are letting us down.’”
Heh, quite. The reaction to some refereeing errors this season – and some decisions that weren’t even errors – has been so irresponsible. No matter how angry we are, no matter how grave the injustice, we should never forget that some of these referees are human beings.
46 min Peep peep! Manchester United begin the second half.
“While Utd have defended pretty well, I feel like we’ve see this game before, with Utd trying to hold them at bay but having fewer and fewer attacks, and it only ends one way,” says Mark Gillespie. “I’d be amazed if City don’t win this unless ten Hag can find a tactical answer to getting Utd up the pitch more often.”
Yeah, the second half of the first half was painfully one-sided. Another problem for United is that they don’t have many options on the bench. I’m sure Antony will come on at some stage but he’s not the quickest, and United’s tactics are dependent on runs in behind.
“For all the criticism that Onana has received this season, in the league he’s actually been pretty good,” says David Wall. “Most of his absolute shockers (and there were plenty) seemed to come in the Champions’ League. I think the memory of that overshadows how important he’s becoming for United. He’s pretty high in the list of clean sheets in the Premier League, and is making some crucial saves. Perhaps if they get some defenders who are confident accepting the ball deep then next season they might see some of the distribution that he was so noted for at Inter.”
Apparently he’s very high on the xG table for keepers as well, possibly top. I know xG isn’t gospel but that must say something. I’m still not sure about him, from what I’ve seen, though I agree he has been judged prematurely. He has been better than David de Gea was in his first season at United, and de Gea went on to become United’s best player for a five-year period.
Half-time reading
Half time: Man City 0-1 Man Utd
Pep Guardiola has a slightly weird, smiley, wild-eyed exchange with the fourth official, then Andy Madley blows his whistle to end a thrilling, slightly peculiar half.
United lead through a spectcular goal from Marcus Rashford, who had a couple of opportunities to extend their lead. But City were a threat throughout, never deviating from their gameplan, and had a few chances to equalise before Erling Haaland – the very same – missed an open goal on the stroke of half-time.
45+2 min United are hanging on desperately. De Bruyne wanders over the left, plays a give-and-go with Bernardo Silva and screws a dangerous cross that is poked just wide of the near post by Varane. City have played some gorgeous football in the last 20 minutes.
45 min Three minutes of added time.
45 min: A miss of the season contender from Erling Haaland! Rodri, 18 yards from goal, clips a languid, penetrative pass towards Foden on the other side of the area. He cushions a precious header back across to give Haaland an open goal – and he somehow volleys the ball over the bar from three yards. That’s staggering. That’s a can’t-spake job.
44 min A considered cross from Bernardo Silva just evades the stooping Haaland at the near post. Mainoo then wears a Foden shot right in the kisser and stays down, a little dazed. The City fans boo, thinking he’s timewasting, but that’s not true.
42 min City are increasingly dominant as half-time approaches. Walker’s header back across the harea is only half cleared by the stretching Casemiro. De Bruyne charges onto the bouncing ball, 25 yards from goal, but blooters it into orbit.
Another stat for you. Passes in the final third: Man City 177-22 Man Utd. United haven’t had an attack of note in almost 20 minutes now.
40 min “Speaking for myself and few (many?) other Liverpool (and probably Arsenal) supporters – that Rashford goal represents the first time I actively whooped with delight at something going well for Man Utd…” says Tony Barr. “If only he hadn’t air-kicked the other big chance. 2-0 would be quite the test of nerves for Pep & Co…”
39 min The xG score (Sky Sports version) is Man City 1.59-0.22 Man Utd. I think Erik ten Hag will be frustrated that United haven’t got in more because there is a whole lot of green grass behind that defence.
38 min Haaland, by contrast, has been very quiet so far and is unamused when the referee penalises him for a challenge just outside the United area.
37 min De Bruyne looks right on his game. He beats a man with disdainful ease on the right and shoves a pass into Foden, 12 yards out. He takes a quick touch and drives a shot that is well blocked.
36 min “I’m a bit confused about this game,” says Eagle Brosi. “I think City have played much better but I also think Rashford should have a hat-trick. It’s hard to believe the game is 0-1, it would be science fiction if it were 0-3 yet… I think it should probably be.”
I know what you mean. One of the Sky pundits said recently that Man Utd are the only team in the world who could get battered and win 6-0. They actually remind me a little bit, only a little bit, of that thrilling Romania team at the 1994 World Cup.
35 min De Bruyne drags wide with his left foot from the right side of the area. City are starting to find some eyes in the United needle.
33 min: Good save by Onana! A wicked first-time cross from De Bruyne is hooked away desperately by Varane, facing his own goal six yards out. The ball goes straight to Rodri, who cuts across a volley from 18 yards that is scrambled round the post by a diving Onana.
That was a terrific effort from Rodri because came to him quickly and at an awkward height.
32 min Doku cuts inside from the left, then slips as he tries to cross. The ball loops up and is headed back across his own area by Casemiro. Haaland gets to the ball first but heads over from 10 yards. There was no pace on the ball, and he was stationary, so it wasn’t a great chance.
31 min United kill some time in the City half for maybe the first time in the whole match. They’ve done really well so far, and there’s only an hour plus added time to go.
30 min Doku slices wide from 15 yards after a return pass from Bernardo Silva. He was slightly off balance and might have slipped as well.
We’ve finally seen a replay of the Foden chance in the 19th minute. It was a good save from Onana with his left hand; the shot wasn’t straight at his chest.
29 min “Afternoon, Rob,” says Ian Copestake. “I speak to you as I pay homage to Mexico ‘86 as I am following from behind a sofa in Guadalajara. It sounds like the only thing missing from the Rashford goal was something the locals here would rarely see, namely rain spraying off the bar when the ball went in off (of) it.”
Guadalajara you say.
27 min Yep, it’s 9-2 to City on corners. John Stones, incidentally, is spending about 90 per cent of the time in what is a very crowded midfield. Both teams effectivelly have four central midfielders.
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