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Rob Dawson, reporter
MANCHESTER, England – By the end, the 192nd Manchester derby gave a good idea of the location of the city’s two biggest clubs.
Manchester City, who dominated most of the afternoon at the Etihad Stadium, won 3-1 to remain in the hunt for a fourth successive Premier League title. Meanwhile, Manchester United coach Erik Ten Hag decided that the only way his team could keep up with their neighbors was to defend tenaciously and hope for the best, but they still lost comfortably.
Pep Guardiola’s team, who fell behind early Marcus Rashford A brilliant strike, finally showing just how good they are while showing United exactly how much ground they need to make up. United’s new investor, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, says he wants to knock City “off the ground” but on this evidence, that won’t happen anytime soon. City are one point behind leaders Liverpool and have a trip to Anfield next, which there is every chance of returning in May.
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Ten Hag insisted afterwards that the game was closer than it looked, but even the most devoted United fan would have struggled to digest his assessment after another derby disappointment.
“No, I don’t think so [the result shows a big gap between the teams]“Absolutely not,” Ten Hag said after the match. “You can see that we have a lot of injury problems and we still have a chance [to win].
“Really small margins. We could have scored the second goal in a controversial moment. It’s not that big [of a gap] When we have everyone, we can be competitive. I also think we showed in the cup final against them [last season] When the result was very close, but City, at this moment, are the best team in the world. Don’t forget this.”
Ten Hag was referring to a long list of injuries that includes Rasmus Hoglund, Lisandro Martinez And Luke Shaw As the main reason why he had to align with him Bruno Fernandes And Scott McTominay They masquerade as strikers, but even against a team determined to close gaps and go fast, City were ahead.
They trailed at half-time 1-0 thanks to a Rashford missile that blasted off the underside of the crossbar, but City’s 203 passes in the final third compared to United’s 17 provided a better reflection of how the first 45 minutes played out. gold. City had to wait for two goals in the last ten minutes to secure victory, but it was telling that they finished the match with 27 shots on goal. United managed to achieve three goals.
“Football is not just about possession,” Ten Hag said afterwards. “We scored a great goal but also then in the first 20 minutes we had more chances. I think we defended brilliantly off the ball and the decisive moments were not on our side. We were really close to getting the win or at least a goal.” Draw here.”
However, to almost everyone on the field, there seemed to be a gulf between the two teams. Despite this, City have not had it their own way this season and, for the 12th time in the Premier League, needed to respond after conceding the first goal. Only Liverpool recovered more than 21 points from their losing positions.
There was a moment when Guardiola became so frustrated that he made a point of telling the ball boy near the benches that he needed to win the ball back more quickly, but amid all the chaos and tension of the derby, his side remained patient and paid the price. on.
Foden, the best player on the field, scored a goal in the 56th minute and again in the 80th minute. Erling Haalandwho missed a golden opportunity from close range in the first half, settled the points in stoppage time after the substitute. Sufyan Amrabat He had given the ball away to Rhodri. The result was not satisfactory for City, leaving Guardiola believing his team should have scored more.
City have now won three consecutive home derbies in the league, their longest run since 1955, winning all three games by an aggregate score of 13-5, and after a hat-trick in the game last season, Foden scored five of them.
“He is now one of the best players this season [in the Premier League]”I always had the feeling he would score goals. Now he’s winning games. To be a world-class player you have to win games. He has an amazing work ethic, he lives to play football, and now he’s winning games,” Guardiola said.
For City, it was the perfect way to start a tough run of fixtures, with games against title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal to be played before the end of March. After their Champions League round of 16 second leg against FC Copenhagen on Wednesday, they head to Anfield next week, although Guardiola immediately rejected the idea that the match was an early title decider.
“There are still a lot of points to play for and different places all three or four contenders must go to win the Premier League,” he said.
City are searching for another title while United are once again searching for answers on how to close the gap.
