The Manchester Derby Paint in Red
Manchester United won at Manchester City 2-1 and conclude a successful week beating Tottenham and their city rivals and climb to fifth place in the Premier League. United started the game strong with two goals in the first half. The visitors preserved the result and have their best win of the season.
Man Utd coach, Solskajer, on the big derby win:
We were fantastic. At the start of the game we were exceptional. We were attacking every time we got the ball and it looked like we could carve them open every time. We could have, should have been three, four, five up and that’s testament to the boys, because they played so well.
It’s so hard to play against them, and their players were coming from everywhere, every angle and the boys defended so well.
We were brilliant in the first half. There was some great, quick attacking football, and we kept the ball well at times as well. It wasn’t just a direct ball or a long ball. It was on the floor, quick transitions and I’m so pleased for the boys. They deserve it.
When you’ve got 24 hours less recovery, both before the Tottenham game and today, it’s hard, and we got tired. We became tired towards the end, but they dug in. The mentality is strong.”
Manchester City Struggle
For Manchester City this is the 4th loss of the season in just 16 games and the most significant one against their city rivals. With the loss, City fall by 14 points behind Liverpool.
The Citizens will not retain their title and for the first time manager Guardiola does not seem to find answers. In his post game analysis, the coach already refers to next season as if he knows Liverpool are unstoppable.
“We conceded a few chances on the counter. In general we did what we like to do. We arrived in the final third many times.
We have to try and improve the amount of counter-attacks we conceded, or the way we play, press, push…teams defend deep and make a counter-attack.
In the first half we struggled a little, but it can happen. If we do things wrong we will improve. But we cannot deny United’s quality. We try to learn for the future.
If we are not able to catch Liverpool, then we want to try next season. Sometimes you don’t win, the others are better, and you lose. The normal thing is not winning all the leagues and trophies.
Sometimes you lose. The important thing is to not give up.In all the games we have played this season, we have played how I want us to play. When we struggle – OK – but it’s part of the process, maybe next season we will be better.”
