The battle of Manchester-Manchester United vs Manchester City| Post-Match Analysis

Manchester United faced Manchester City in the 188th Manchester Derby. It was Erik Ten Hag’s second derby experience. His first Derby didn’t go according to plan as he suffered a 6–3 defeat, in which Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored three goals each. He was looking for revenge.

After the World Cup, Manchester United are on a run, winning eight matches in a row, while Manchester City got knocked out by Southampton in the Carabao Cup. Marcus Rashford seemed to have found his red-hot form once again, and Erling Haaland would be looking to take his tally even further. It was the battle of Rashford vs. Haaland.

The Red Devils went with a 4–2–3–1 formation with Anthony Martial leading the lineup, and Antony was benched. Erik made the tactical decision of starting Luke Shaw in the center-back role and Malacia in the left-back position and putting Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire on the bench. Because Diego Dalot was injured, Aaron Wan-Bissaka took his place.

In the City line-up, Haaland, Foden, and Mahrez spearheaded the line-up, and Rodri and Bernando Silva were in the midfield, in place of Kalvin Phillips. Pep Guardiola went with a 4–3–3 formation.

Manchester United edged the game 2–1 courtesy of goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford in the space of four minutes after Jack Grealish had given the visitors the lead.

The derbies are usually a cagey affair, as they usually change the momentum at the top of the table. The first half was tense, with City dominating possession, but their build-up play was frequently stifled by United’s front-foot approach.

United quickly got the ball into Marcus Rashford’s feet, and in 34 minutes he had completely rounded Ederson, but his effort was cleared off the line by Manuel Akanji. Later, the Englishman was eye to eye with the Brazilian, and he couldn’t squeeze it past him.

Fred had done a good job of marking the threat in the form of Kevin De Bruyne, but eventually, the slick Belgian escaped the Brazilian clutches. With Riyad Mahrez and Kyle Walker distracting Fred and Malacia, De Bruyne made his run unchecked into the box.

Jack Grealish, three minutes after being bought on from the bench, headed in De Bruyne’s cross, giving Manchester City the lead, and also registering their first shot on target.

United, who had hardly offered any attacking threat into the second half before Grealish’s goal, seem to have come alive. In the 78th minute, the city’s backline switched off as Rashford moved towards Casemiro’s pass from an offside position, didn’t touch the ball, and let the ball fall into Bruno’s feet, who thrashed the ball past Ederson, bringing United level.

Despite City players protesting, the VAR had a look and deemed that Rashford hadn’t interfered, awarding the equalizer.

Four minutes later, with United caught scattered in transition, Alejanadro Garnacho, who was bought in for Christian Eriksen, made an assist to an unmarked Marcus Rashford inside the six-yard box to tuck in his ninth consecutive goal at Old Trafford.

The town of Manchester was painted in red as the Red Devils continued their perfect start to the season after the World Cup, which takes them one place behind the noisy neighbors.

We can see both the team’s actions and its heatmap by looking at its heatmap. United had most of its actions in the middle third and the defensive third, while City had actions in the defensive third, middle third, and attacking third. De Bruyne was a threat down the wings, but the United defence was led by Varane and makeshift centre-back Luke Shaw, who put in a stellar performance to keep these two at bay.

We will analyse individual players.

Casemiro

Casemiro put in a stellar performance. Since his arrival from Real Madrid, he has put a foot wrong. In the match against City, he was at the top of his game. He provided one assist, which helped United level the match. Casemiro made a total of 63 passes, out of which he completed 25. He had a 66% pass rate.

Not only did Casemiro provide stellar passes, he also contributed defensively. Casemiro made six ground duels, out of which he won three. He had one interception and four goal-line clearances.

Marcus Rashford

Erik Ten Hag brought Rashford back to life. He scored in his ninth consecutive appearance at Old Trafford. He was vital in Manchester United’s triumph over Manchester City.

He made a total of 32 passes, out of which he completed 14 of them. He had a passing accuracy of 78%. Rashford completed 83.3% of his short passes.

Rashford had taken three shots out of which he converted one of them. He had an xG of 1.20

Bruno Fernandes

Bruno, who was captaining the side, stepped up when his team needed him to. Bruno made a total of 43 passes, out of which he completed 21. He had a 71% pass rate. He made 13 long passes, out of which he completed six of them. He had an 85.7% long pass percentage.

Bruno Fernandes equalized Manchester United’s scoreline, which helped United pick up the tempo and search for the winner. He had taken two shots, out of which he scored one goal.

Manchester City

Jack Grealish

Jack made an impact in the second half for the underperforming Phil Foden. He made a total of 24 passes, out of which he completed 11 of them. He had a 91% pass accuracy rate. He had a perfect record in short and medium passes, making 8 of each.

Jack gave the Cityzens the lead in the 60th minute, after Kevin De Bruyne evaded Fred, who had been marking him, and sent a cross to Grealish, who headed to give the visitors the lead. It was their first shot on target.

Kevin de Bruyne

De Bruyne is the central cog of Manchester City’s midfield. Erik Ten Hag had assigned Fred to Man Mark the Belgian, and he had succeeded. He gave Fred the slip until the 60th minute when he whipped in a cross-assist for Grealish to prod in for a goal.

De Bruyne made a total of 86 passes, of which he completed 35. He had a passing accuracy of 68.6%. He completed one long ball and had a long ball pass completion rate of 100%. Kevin completed 22 accurate medium passes for a pass percentage of 84.2%.

Manuel Akanji

Akanji, bought from Borussia Dortmund, started his second derby alongside Nathan Ake. Akanji made a total of 211 passes, of which he completed 101. He had a pass accuracy of 91.8%. He completed 40 short passes with a 95.2% accuracy.

Akanji was slotted in the right center-back position. He made defensive contributions in the form of three blocks, out of which he made two blocks that could have been shot and caused serious damage, and he blocked one pass that could turn into something dangerous. He also made two interceptions.

So Manchester United won this derby, which puts them in third place behind Manchester City. One point separates them. Man Utd face Crystal Palace before they face Arsenal, who are at the top of the table. It’s too early to say whether United can compete for the title, and with so many games coming up, all of its players must be in peak condition and injury-free. Watch this space.