Manchester City finished the last season with a record 100 points and the way their current campaign is going, it seems like they might actually break their own record. Considering how United’s start to the campaign has been, many fans didn’t expect much from this fixture but a series of impressive comeback wins, particularly the away win in Turin in the Champions League, gave a glimmer of hope to the United faithful. Whatever hope the United fans had before the Manchester Derby quickly evaporated as Paul Pogba was deemed injured and wasn’t included in the lineup.
City took an early lead from David Silva but United held on for the half. A second-half goal from Aguero felt like a mountain too steep to climb but Martial’s penalty did bring back the memories of that historic 3-2 comeback win in April of this year. In the end, Gundogan scored to make it 3-1 and wrap up the 3 points for the Cityzens.
Starting XI
De Gea, Young, Smalling, Shaw, Fellaini, Matic, Herrera, Martial, Rashford, Lingard
Player Ratings
David De Gea(GK): 5/10
I never ever thought DDG would be rated so low in his United career but when the whole team is under-performing, it can have the ripple effect on the world’s best goalkeeper too. He could have done nothing for Silva and Gundogan’s goals but should have definitely kept out Aguero’s shot at the near post.
Ashley Young(RB): 4/10
Poor in defending against Sterling and hardly provided anything going forward.
Chris Smalling(CB): 6/10
Defended with courage and repelled most of the balls into the box. Could have done better with Silva’s marking for the first goal.
Victor Lindelof(CB): 5/10
Lindelof, in the past month or so, has started to look like a 35 million defender and has been one of the best United players but the City attackers were a bit too much for him. He should have cleared Sterling’s ball into the box which later found its way to Bernardo Silva and later David Silva who finished from close range.
Luke Shaw(LB): 4/10
United’s player of the month for August and September probably had his worst game of the season at Etihad. He was sloppy for Bernardo’s marking for the first goal and caught out by the Portuguese on several occasions during the entire game. He also was booked, for the fifth time this season, which means he will miss the next match against Palace.
Marouane Fellaini(LCM): 7/10
Fellaini was one of United’s best players on the pitch who cleared every aerial threat that came United’s way and did a good job in the midfield. But he is no Paul Pogba and United missed their star Frenchman badly.
Nemanja Matic(CDM): 4/10
Matic has consistently been United’s worst player for the past few months and the form continued on Sunday. He was able to hold of the City midfield to an extent in the first half but he was outplayed and out-thought by his City counterparts in the second period. He fell asleep on Gundogan’s run and virtually gifted the German a free goal.
Ander Herrera(RCM): 3/10
Herrera is a kind of player who is born to play in these big matches where he usually raises his game to another level. But like most of his teammates, he was lackluster and unimpressive. He lost the ball several times in the first half and on any other day, those mistakes could have costed United dearly.
Anthony Martial(LW): 7/10
Martial was isolated for the most part of the game as he was clearly the biggest victim of the Pogba absence. Still, he looked the most threatening of all United attackers. It was his clever through ball to Lukaku which resulted in the penalty and Martial stepped up from the spot to roll the ball away from Ederson and into the net to make it 2-1.
Jesse Lingard(RW): 5/10
Lingard is an energetic player who with his constant running and pressure puts off the opposition defenses but this was one of his off days. Even his link-up play with Rashford and Martial was off the radar and the 25-year-old was substituted for Romelu Lukaku around the hour mark.
Marcus Rashford(ST): 3/10
Mourinho opted with Rashford ahead of Sanchez for the striker’s role and the Manchester-born 21-year-old flopped yet again. Nothing came off for the youngster as he was bullied by City’s defenders for the large part of the game. Even when he was able to get into good positions, his poor decision making let him down.
