by Manchester City, brilliant but extremely vulnerable; Manchester United, a mess but with the odd spark. In the end, it was a Manchester derby that confirmed what we already knew. And the title race will lead to Anfield on Sunday and, after four straight league wins, a potentially seismic clash between City and Liverpool.
By that point, Arsenal will have played Brentford at the Emirates next Saturday. As there are two things to say: firstly after next weekend there will be 10 games left and three goals at the top has not been so tight at this point since 2010 (when after 28 games, Chelsea led United at point with Arsenal two more goals). And secondly, if this is going to be a classic event, the top teams need to drop unexpected points, so that there are twists and turns, rather than the kind of victory parade that characterizes the major rivals. they are 2018-. 19.
United, meanwhile, are six points adrift of fifth place and, although they may have led at half-time, the gulf between them and City is huge. Given their injuries, it may not be entirely fair to judge them on this one game, but it is reasonable to ask more generally why, having had more time than Unai Emery at Aston Villa or Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham and spent a lot more money. , Erik ten Hag has succeeded so well in creating a side with structure and a coherent identity. Recruiting has been historically poor and he sympathizes with that but, equally, he is the one who looked at Antony and saw a £90m footballer.
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Ten Hag’s set-up was a return to Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s days of a midfield diamond with split strikers, which meant: the Norwegian’s record against City, against all big sides, was fairly good; it was building attacks against teams that sat deep against United where he struggled. The way United could get past any team in the Premier League other than Crystal Palace is probably by deploying the pace of Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho against a City defensive line that unleashed more goals on quick counter-attacks. this season than any Premier League side other than Crystal Palace.
To the extent that he got the opening goal – a majestic long pass from André Onana, Bruno Fernandes playing the role of target man with unexpected delight and Rashford darting a shot into the top corner – it worked. But after that Rashford was awful although United’s lack of experience in the form was evident in his hesitation. Gradually they were forced deeper and deeper, they couldn’t get out, they couldn’t put up the kind of counterattack that could threaten a second or turn the tide of the City .
City might not have equalized until the 56th minute or gone ahead until the 80th but there was no sense of United getting away with it.
It was two minutes of brilliance from Phil Foden that decided the game but with him in exceptional form, along with Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, the impression is always there, as well as being a relentless machine that overwhelms sides with their pressure and possession control, the City has the individuals who can turn games.
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In that sense they are, in spirit at least, a bit more like Pep Guardiola’s early Barcelona than some of City’s title-winning sides. There is also the feeling that, due to the growing tendency to play directly to Haaland, which adds a fresh dimension to their attack, they may not be as well controlled in earlier iterations. Guardiola once spoke of his side needing 15 passes after regaining possession so they could set themselves up to defend on the counter; that layer of defense seems to have been lost as they became more threatening during the transition, making them vulnerable to fast breaks.
And perhaps that explains the feeling in the last few months, even with City winning 15 of their last 16 games, that they are not at their best, that they are not as intimidating and remorseless as in previous seasons. It was also recognized that the list of costumes was very fine. Sunday was the first time since they lost to Villa three months ago that they played a side that started the day in the top eight in the Premier Division.
The derby was supposed to be the start of a hard month to define their season. Maybe so, but United are no match for City at the moment. Liverpool, Arsenal and Villa will be much tougher tests over the next four weeks.
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This is an excerpt from Jonathan Wilson’s Soccer, the Guardian US’s weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Do you have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition
