A sad Manchester derby, Manchester United
the back line
Like a group of insiders, they launched a series of attacks on their own goal, while the midfielders were as clueless as a fly in the ointment. Not a single goal was scored and very few shots on goal were deserved.
Goalkeeper De Gea had the most mixed feelings, not only because his teammates gave him the udon goal, but also because many of his brilliant saves were based on his teammates' "assists". If it wasn't for De Gea's speedy reaction, United would have conceded more goals in this game. After the match, he wrote "I am hurt" on Twitter, just a few words but it is heartbreaking.
The manager once again went with a 3-5-2 formation for this game in an attempt to replicate the glory of the win over Tottenham, with van de Beek and Sancho continuing to come on as substitutes, while Varane, who is suspended due to injury, was replaced by Lindelof and Pogba was suspended due to a red card.
Goalkeeper: De Gea (1)
Defenders: Maguire (2), Lindelof (3), Bailly (3)
Wingbacks: Luke Shaw (23), Wan-Bisaka (29)
Midfielders: Fred (17), McTominay (39), Bruno Fernandes (18)
Forwards: Greenwood (11), Cristiano Ronaldo (7)
Pep Guardiola's City have always struggled to live up to expectations against Sochi's United, and with their starters out of form and Laporte suspended for a red card, Guardiola opted to play conservatively, pressing the attacking arrows on the bench in an attempt to completely overwhelm United.
Goalies: Ederson (31)
Defenders: Walker (2), Stones (5), Dias (3), Cancelo (27)
Midfielders: De Bruyne (17), Rodri (16), Gündogan (8)
Forwards: Gabriel Jesus (9), Bernardo Silva (20), Foden (47)
2020/21 EPL 11th round Both sides lineups
The game started off rather dramatically, a common scenario in United's recent games. United were always the first to attack but were quick to concede points. In the opening 5 minutes, Crowe secured a free kick which was headed on by Luke Shaw, Maguire took the opportunity to head the ball but it was deflected wide of the goal, one of the few threatening attacks by United.
In the 6th minute, United were slow to get the ball out of their half against a tight City press and Walker's threatening cross came close to assisting Gündogan's score, which was cleared by a thrilling Lindelof clearance before City retained possession and the ball was moved to the feet of Cancelo on the left, ready for the second wave of attacks.
In the face of City's second wave of attack, United made two mistakes to give away points, the first one was Bruno Fernandes, when the ball was transferred to the left, he obviously had the intention to follow Cancelo, Wan-Bisaka saw that Bruno Fernandes was going to follow him, and then he turned back to make sure that Foden's position was correct, and at the same time, Bruno At the same time, Bruno Fernandes slowed down a little, and as soon as Wan-Bisaka turned his head back, Cancelo looked up, accelerated, and sent the ball into the penalty area.
Wan-Bisaka looks backward as Bruno Fernandes slows down at the same time
Then came Bailly's error of judgment, perhaps not realizing the ball was going to be passed in the first place, reacting half a beat slower and hastily non-shoveling in the heat of the moment; or perhaps misjudging where the ball was going to land and sweeping it to the lower edge of the ball, in any case, resulting in a hard-to-react-to oopsie that saw De Gea's CLEAN SHEET leave the ground once again, with the score at 1:0.
After taking the lead, the horror of Manchester City's formation came out, began to control the entire field, facing the United half-barrel press, City was able to easily break through, unable to break the ball is also difficult to play into an effective counter-attack, coupled with the fact that Manchester City is not in a hurry to attack, in the midfield to maintain a distance between the case of a long pass to break the defense, and do not have to be afraid of being broken by the ball after the fast counter-attack, because the midfielder also did not press too far forward.
Forced into a positional battle, United had almost no outlet, Bruno Fernandes felt tired and weak, and his passing was much worse than De Bruyne's (still in De Bruyne's bad condition), and he couldn't count on Fred, McTominay to deliver the ball forward or break through, which turned into a dilemma of not being able to control the ball and not being able to pass it to the front.
