Jon Mcleod
Andrew MacdougallManchester City v Manchester United review
Manchester City 0 Manchester United 1 review
The margin of the result may have been slim but on Sunday Manchester United revealed gulf in class between the two highly touted teams.
How it was won – The biggest shock at half time was that Manchester United were not further ahead. They dominated possession territory and chances and could have been three goals to the good. Despite being away from Old Trafford, United managed to grasp a stifling hold on the game thanks to the pace and lively work of their full backs in a 4-4-2 formation. Patrice Evra and Rafael da Silva constantly pushed forward into midfield and beyond. This allowed central midfielders Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher many passing options when they were on the ball. They had the choice of going square and wide with these full backs, hitting the runs of Cristiano Ronaldo and Park Ji Sung coming off their flanks high in the oppositions half and looking more directly forward to Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, one of whom would drop into a deeper role.
These options and the fast and efficient passing of United allowed them to retain possession high in City’s half despite their opponents having a three-man central midfield, negating Mark Hughes’ men’s numerical advantage. Particularly in the first half, City could not get close to United players or the ball and, subsequently, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men dominated proceedings and created many chances as they threw players forward and overwhelmed the opposition. It only garnered one goal in the first half but it could have been many more and in the second half, when United went down to 10 men after Ronaldo’s sending off, United’s superiority in passing and movement ensured City never had enough ball to win the game.
United’s domination of the game reveals the scale of work facing Mark Hughes and his Manchester City squad.
The margin of the result may have been slim but on Sunday Manchester United revealed gulf in class between the two highly touted teams.
How it was won – The biggest shock at half time was that Manchester United were not further ahead. They dominated possession territory and chances and could have been three goals to the good. Despite being away from Old Trafford, United managed to grasp a stifling hold on the game thanks to the pace and lively work of their full backs in a 4-4-2 formation. Patrice Evra and Rafael da Silva constantly pushed forward into midfield and beyond. This allowed central midfielders Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher many passing options when they were on the ball. They had the choice of going square and wide with these full backs, hitting the runs of Cristiano Ronaldo and Park Ji Sung coming off their flanks high in the oppositions half and looking more directly forward to Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, one of whom would drop into a deeper role.
These options and the fast and efficient passing of United allowed them to retain possession high in City’s half despite their opponents having a three-man central midfield, negating Mark Hughes’ men’s numerical advantage. Particularly in the first half, City could not get close to United players or the ball and, subsequently, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men dominated proceedings and created many chances as they threw players forward and overwhelmed the opposition. It only garnered one goal in the first half but it could have been many more and in the second half, when United went down to 10 men after Ronaldo’s sending off, United’s superiority in passing and movement ensured City never had enough ball to win the game.
United’s domination of the game reveals the scale of work facing Mark Hughes and his Manchester City squad.
