Things we learned, conclusions and talking points from Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United.
1. This was a perfect game for City’s current problems
City are clearly not playing with the same confidence they had at the start of the season. Normally at home against 10 men Manuel Pellegrini would have made offensive changes but the Chilean introduced Fernandinho for Sergio Aguero to settle for a narrow win. It was a clear indication of the dip in his side’s confidence levels.
The Citizens needed this game mainly because their ultra-offensive approach in games relies on the notion that they are better than their opponents offensively. That requires confidence and a big derby win against United will go a long way towards restoring that.
2. Chris Smalling’s sending off shows the defender’s lack of progress
Smalling misread the danger when he got booked for blocking a Joe Hart punt. The centre-back picked up another booking nine minutes later for a late tackle on James Milner when he could have guided the City midfielder into a corner.
In both cases, he over-estimated the danger and ended up in trouble. These mistakes are expected from a promising young defender who lacks experience, not from a player with Smalling’s experience at the top level.
3. Vincent Kompany proved how to successfully deal with physically imposing opponents
There is currently a raging debate on players grappling opponents in the box and how referees should contain such situations. After Ryan Shawcross conceded a penalty against Swansea City for grappling Wilfried Bony, Mark Hughes was understandably frustrated by the fact that his player was penalised for a foul that a lot of players are getting away with in the league.
While it is true that a lot of defenders are employing such risky tactics to contain opponents, Kompany is an exception. City’s captain had the unenviable task of picking Marouane Fellaini when defending United’s set pieces but the Belgian defender never grappled his countryman.
Kompany perfectly timed his jumps in most cases. Since Fellaini is taller, Kompany simply used his body to affect the accuracy of Fellaini’s headers when the City defender could not reach the ball.
4. Louis Van Gaal’s heavy training methods almost paid off
The United boss has recently been pushing his squad hard with double training sessions. There are some experts who attribute the increased number of injuries United are picking during training to this rigorous training regime.
In this game though, there is no doubt that United were impressively fit. They were a man light for more than half of the game but they worked hard to quickly drop back to a deep and compact defensive formation then push high up in search of an equaliser.
5. Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic’s poor form threatens Manuel Pellegrini’s usual approach in games
Pellegrini will undoubtedly be concerned by the dip in Dzeko and Jovetic’s form. Dzeko was disappointing in Manchester City’s last two games against West Ham and Newcastle so Pellegrini replaced him in his starting XI with Jovetic.
The Montenegro international also failed to impact this game as he is struggling for form as well. Since Alvaro Negredo left that leaves Sergio Aguero as the only striker in good form for City. Pellegrini has a problem as he firmly believes in a starting with two strikers.
