Key events
GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Man City (Mbeumo 65)
Bryan Mbeumo gives United a deserved lead!
64 min Maguire is limping, and has a slight cut on his right knee, after an accidental tangle of legs with Haaland. He’s going to continue for now.
63 min: Another good save by Inspector Gadget! Fernandes’s deep cross bounces up awkwardly at Mbeuno, who reacts superbly to redirect it towards goal from eight yards. Donnarumma changes direction and pushes it away to his left.
61 min The pace of this game is terrific. As a neutral it has been a lot of fun to watch.
Brilliant double save by Donnarumma!
58 min This goalkeeper is something else. Dorgu hammers a crossfield pass out to Amad, who cuts inside O’Reilly with ease and blasts a shot that is beaten away to his right by the diving Donnarumma.
Casemiro collects the loose ball in front of goal, stays on his feet despite possibly being fouled, notices Donnarumma is basically horizontal and tries to flip the ball slowly, borderline erotically, over him and into the net. Donnarumma thrusts up a telescopic right leg to make an improbable block.
Casemiro bites his shirt in frustration, knowing that few goalkeepers in world football would have made that save.
57 min Casemiro takes a quick free-kick to put Fernandes through on goal. He’s offside and miscontrols the ball anyway.
56 min “You know the 115 charges?” asks Paul Griffin. “Did they do away? Or is it like the movie Yesterday, except only person in the world remembers The Court of Arbitration for Sport, rather than John, Paul, George and Ringo? (I don’t see how the protagonist gets the girl on this plot.) Or did I miss the news one day? Oh boy.”
Well I just had to laugh.
55 min City know that a draw is of little value and they’ve upped the pace since half-time. Haaland has another shot blocked, this time at source by Maguire, after a pass from Cherki.
54 min: Fine defending by Martinez! A horrible pass from Dalot goes straight to Semenyo 25 yards from goal. He screws a first-time pass into the area for Haaland, whose shot on the run is brilliantly blocked by the sliding Martinez. The ball deflects over the bar and the resulting corner is claimed with authority by Lammens.
52 min “I made a mistake: Man Ciry haven’t bought on Ait Nouri,” begins Zafar Sobhan. “Oh really? No. O’Reilly.”
51 min City are starting to settle back into their passing rhythm, with United trying to pick their moment to win the ball back and then counter. The clash of styles is fascinating to watch.
48 min O’Reilly (not Ait-Nouri, my mistake) dawdles on the ball and is dispossed by Amad. O’Reilly pulls him back and is booked.
47 min “Manchester United are looking like a serious football team again,” writes Gary Naylor. “Is it too soon to declare that the Emperor Reuben did indeed have no clothes?”
Far too soon, Gary, and you’re better than that.
46 min A double change for City at half-time: Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly are on for Max Alleyne and Phil Foden. That means Nathan Ake will move to centre-back.
United pour forward from the kick off and Dalot angles a dangerous low cross that just evades three red shirts at the far post.
“City are playing the long game here,” writes Edan Tal. “Let United get on top and win this one. Make sure Carrick gets a four-year contract. Keep the United misery spiral churning for a few more years.”
So that’s why they kept losing to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
We’ve just seen a few replays of the Dalot challenge on Doku in the 11th minute. The more you see it, the worse it gets, and the consensus is that VAR should have sent Anthony Taylor to the monitor. It wasn’t malicious – Dalot was going for, and won, a bouncing ball – but he could have done serious damage to Doku’s knee.
“I’m no expert on red cards,” deadpans Roy Keane in the Sky studio, “but I think it’s a red.”
Half-time reading
Half time: Man Utd 0-0 Man City
The last action of the first half is a United free-kick, at which Shaw is penalised for blocking Haaland off the ball. Haaland stays down for a bit and needs treatment, but seems okay as he walks off. City will hope United have poked the beast because they were pretty toothless in the first half, despite having 72 per cent possession.
United came closest to scoring when Harry Maguire headed against the bar from close range in the third minute. Gianluigi Donnarumma made an excellent save from Patrick Dorgu and United had two goals ruled out for offside. At the other end, Senne Lammens made a good save to keep out Max Alleyne’s header.
45+2 min Rodri, who looks short of a gallop by his stratospheric standards, is booked for a foul on Dorgu.
45 min Two minutes of added time. Michael Carrick will be pretty pleased with how things have gone; there’s no doubt that, for all City’s possession, United have been the more dangerous team.
44 min The pattern of the game is fairly similar to Man Utd’s last home derby victory three years ago, when City dominated possession but were stung by some deadly counter-attacks. United scored an offside goal as well, although on that occasion it was allowed to stand.
42 min: No goal It was really tight, about a quarter of Fernandes’s foot, but he was offside and the goal is ruled out. George Graham’s offside trap is working a treat.
41 min: Another disallowed goal for United! Bruno Fernandes runs onto a superb long pass by Martinez and goes round Donnarumma. He almost overruns the ball and has to cut back inside, away from the sliding Ake, before slapping the ball into the net with industrial quantities of glee.
This time the offside looks a lot tighter.
39 min After an extended spell of City pressure, Semenyo whips a left-foot shot towards goal from the edge of the area. He doesn’t get enough curl on it and it drifts wide of the far post.
36 min: Chance for City Lammens gives away a cheap corner by fingerbrushing an overhit cross from Doku that was going wide anyway. It almost leads to a City goal: Foden curls it deep, it’s headed back across and then nodded towards goal from 10 yards by Alleyne. It’s kept out by a combination of the diving Lammens and Dalot on the line.
34 min: No goal The decision is confirmed and the match remains goalless, for now.
33 min: Disallowed goal for Man Utd! Fernandes slips a simple ball through to Amad, who swaggers past Donnarumma to score. And then the flag goes up.
It’ll be checked but it looks offside to the naked eye. Goal or no goal, Man Utd are causing City a lot of problems in transition.
32 min Rodri plays a blind pass straight to Fernandes on the edge of the area. He tries to find Mbeumo and Khusanov makes a vital interception.
I think Mbeumo was flagged offside, but replays suggest he was on. Fernandes needed to put a bit more weight on the pass.
31 min Doku slips Casemiro on the edge of the area and lashes a shot that is blocked by Mainoo.
Still not many clear chances but it’s been a fast-paced and reasonably exciting game.
30 min Excellent defensive work from Doku, who intercepts crucially when Amad jinks past Ake in the area.
Source From: Premier League | The Guardian
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