Let’s take a look at the Player Ratings from the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford.
Eric Baily’s own goal and a Bernardo Silva strike won Manchester City local bragging rights in the 186th Manchester derby.
Rocked by a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last time out on home soil, City proved it was nothing more than a slight blip by storming into a 2-0 lead before half-time at Old Trafford.
The Citizens brought their A-game right from the start. They dominated possession and whenever Manchester United had the ball, they quickly closed their opponents down and regained it. Had it not been for David de Gea’s sharp saves in the Red Devils goal, the game would’ve ended long before the break.
Overall, City were on another level compared to their rivals. It was always a matter of when rather than if the goals were going to come. In fact, the first one took just seven minutes.
Eric Bailly, the comeback star who impressed in United’s midweek 2-2 draw at Atalanta, inadvertently turned Joao Cancelo’s cross into the back of his own net to gift Pep Guardiola’s side the lead.
1 – Eric Bailly is the first Manchester United player to score an own goal in the Manchester derby in the Premier League. Oops. pic.twitter.com/2sDhVNj8lC
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 6, 2021
1-0 down, with that humiliating 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool still ringing in their ears, this was a major test for United’s character, and possibly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s future as manager.
The Red Devils, however, failed to step up. They only had one clear effort in the first half through Cristiano Ronaldo, only for Ederson to deny the Portuguese ace another memorable volley.
Some slack defending from Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire, as well as a rare sloppy error from De Gea, on the brink of half-time then allowed Bernardo Silva to double City’s advantage.
3 – All three of Bernardo Silva's goals against Manchester United for Manchester City have come at Old Trafford, scoring in three of his last four appearances there – he has only netted more goals against Burnley (four) in his time at Man City. Favoured. pic.twitter.com/XWo12JJk4V
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 6, 2021
Outclassed to the bitter end
In an attempt to spark a second-half comeback, Solskjaer replaced Bailly with Jadon Sancho. United reverted to a back four and tried to increase the tempo. But even then, they were powerless – the damage was already done.
City controlled the game exceptionally well and rarely ever looked in danger after taking a two-goal lead.
The way United fans cheered and gave Donny van de Beek a standing ovation when he came on for Fred was very telling. Luke Shaw getting injured on his 200th appearance capped off a sad end.
All in all, it was a miserable day at the office for United. The fact they lost by only two goals was something, as City could so easily have mauled them as Liverpool did.
Player ratings
Manchester United: De Gea (7); Lindelof (6), Bailly (4) Maguire (5); Wan-Bissaka (6), Fernandes (6), McTominay (4), Fred (4), Shaw (5); Greenwood (5), Ronaldo (6).
Bench: Rashford (5), Van de Beek (6), Sancho (6), Telles (6).
Manchester City: Ederson (7); Walker (7), Stones (6), Dias (7), Cancelo (9); Gundogan (7), Rodri (7), Silva (8); Jesus (6), De Bruyne (7), Foden (7).
Bench: N/A.
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