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News
- 24 minutes ago
Winners and Losers of the Manchester Derby as Haaland and Donnarumma dominate
Analysis
Man City have dominated and destroyed Man Utd
The 197th Manchester Derby ended up being a one-sided affair that saw Pep Guardiola's men win comfortably to leapfrog their local rivals in the Premier League table.
Ruben Amorim's men were a solid match for City in the first-half but were losing 1-0. The second period, however, saw Man City turn on the style and completely dominate the Red Devils to win 3-0.
Current ETV
Erling Haaland
F (C)
Man City
Erling Haaland
F (C)
Man City
ETV Range
€168.1M - €205.4M
Who were the winners and losers? FootballTransfers has the answers...
Winner: Erling Haaland
After a relatively even first-half, Man City held a slender 1-0 lead but couldn't say they had been the better side.
Man Utd then came out in the second-half with genuine intensity, really pushing Man City back into their box as they hunted an equaliser.
Via a combination of corners and crosses, United sent 4 dangerous balls into the box. But each time they did, the gigantic figure of Erling Haaland appeared to thunder the ball away with headed clearances to preserve City's lead (he ended the match with 6 clearances, a joint match-high)
Then with their first real attack of the second period, Haaland made a beautiful run in behind and lifted a gorgeous finish over Altay Bayindir.
Later he added a third, punishing a horrible defensive error from United. He capped his afternoon with a lovely through-ball for Tijjani Reijnders that should have made it 4-0.
Dominant in both boxes, Erling Haaland was at his match-winning best in the derby.
Loser: Luke Shaw
Luke Shaw has been through injury hell so, in a sense, any minutes he manages to play are a triumph.
In a more real sense, however, Luke Shaw was absolutely terrible for Man Utd. He's been poor with the ball all season, nowhere near the level of even Ayden Heaven nevermind Lisandro Martinez, but he has at least been a solid defender.
Not today.
Jeremy Doku cooked him for the opening goal, his effort to cover and put Erling Haaland off for the second goal was just pathetic, and he made a hideous pass to put Harry Maguire in trouble for the third goal.
"Luke Shaw's been getting away with murder for years," said Roy Keane after the match. Exclaiming "He looks like he doesn't want to tackle people!"
Shaw's fingerprints were all over this United defeat and Ruben Amorim will be wondering when Lisandro Martinez is going to fit again?
Winner: Gianluigi Donnarumma
While Haaland did end up being the match winner and was awarded player of the match. the City player that had an equally huge role was new goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The Italian international was signed on deadline day and was making his debut in a game that could have been tricky, but the Italian made light work of the Red Devils.
Current ETV
Gianluigi Donnarumma
GK
Man City
Gianluigi Donnarumma
GK
Man City
ETV Range
€21.4M - €26.2M
United actually created a 1-v-1 opportunity for Benjamin Sesko but Donnarumma was easily off his line to smother that. He also left his line to punch clear a few crosses and lift the pressure off his defence in a way that Man City goalkeepers haven't done for a while.
Then later in the second-half, when City were 2-0 up and United were looking for a route back into the game, Bryan Mbeumo ripped off a gorgeous low volley that was heading into the bottom corner of the net... only for Donnarumma to move with a superhuman speed for a man his size and palm the ball wide.
All in all, Donnarumma was dominant and proved exactly why Man City were right to take a risk on him. He's not great with his feet but he is beyond great at the basics of being a goalkeeper, which will make a huge difference for a side like City.
Loser: Bruno Fernandes
While the second-half was a one-sided disaster, the first-half was a relatively even affair. However Cty could go into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead. Why?
Well, obviously Luke Shaw got cooked by Jeremy Doku. And Doku got lucky that his original cross rebounded right to him. But why was Phil Foden unmarked to head the ball beyond the reach of Altay Bayindir?
Because Bruno Fernandes, rather than marking Foden who was his man, was instead standing around doing nothing.
STATS
Bruno Fernandes
AM, M (C)
Man Utd
Bruno Fernandes
AM, M (C)
Man Utd
A lot has been made of Bruno Fernandes' ability to play in this central midfield role. And while the Portuguese certainly works hard enough to play deeper, he doesn't really have any of the defensive nous required for the role.
Players have "been doing that for years," according to Roy Keane post-match. And while at no. 10 it's something you can cover for, when he's playing deeper it's a massive issue. This is what makes it so odd that Man Utd didn't try and capitalise on Bruno's immense reputation by selling him to Al-Nassr this summer and use those funds to sign a genuine defensive midfielder like Carlos Baleba.
Winner: Phil Foden
Everyone woke up Sunday morning to the tragic news that legendary boxer and rabid Man City fan Ricky Hatton had passed away at the age of 46.
It felt especially poignant then, that boyhood City lad and fellow Mancunian started for Man City in the Manchester derby later that afternoon.
Current ETV
Phil Foden
M (CR)
Man City
Phil Foden
M (CR)
Man City
ETV Range
€81.7M - €99.9M
Even more poignant that he scored the opening goal of the game, his first of the season, and proceeded to play well in an emphatic Man City win.
"It was all for him," said Phil Foden after the game. And the decisive win over their local rivals was a delightful tribute to Ricky Hatton.
Loser: Ruben Amorim
Benjamin Sesko was, along with Bryan Mbeumo, the only Man Utd player who looked halfway decent. The only thing they lacked was chemistry with each other.
This, of course, begs the question as to why on earth Benjamin Sesko has been used so sparingly? Despite a full pre-season (with RB Leipzig) today's derby was Sesko's first Premier League start and that remains so confusing.
With more game-time under his belt, Sesko may have looked sharper today and been better-placed to open the scoring.
And that's just one of the reasons Man Utd fans will be justified in questioning Ruben Amorim. Holding Senne Lammens back and keeping the obviously ineffective Altay Bayindir in net.
His continued selection of Luke Shaw and Leny Yoro in wide centre-back roles despite their obvious unsuitability for the ball-playing demands of that position in Amorim's system.
His insistence that Bruno Fernandes can play defensive midfield (he can't!) his refusal to realise that Amad isn't physically imposing enough to play as a 10. The subs which almost never make things better as well.
Managers should always be given time, but goodness gracious, Ruben Amorim must surely be running out of chances at this rate?
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