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The Manchester derby took place amid much fanfare on Sunday and the home crowd were treated to a brilliant display by their side as Manchester City beat Manchester United 3-1. Goals from David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan were enough to see the blue team from the city defeat their red counterparts.
Although Anthony Martial did pull one back for the visitors through a penalty, it didn't quite kick his team into a level of intensity that their opponents played at throughout the game. The gulf between City and United was apparent and there was no way that the latter could have brought the Premier League leaders down to earth.
We take a look at some of the mistakes that Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho committed which eventually led his team to lose the tie.
#1 Selecting Jesse Lingard over Juan Mata
Juan Mata's stunning free-kick brought about United's revival against Juventus in Turin midweek but strangely he was relegated to the bench on Sunday in favor of an out-of-form Jesse Lingard. Mata, along with Anthony Martial, is one of United's best-attacking options at the moment and not starting him in the first XI was a grave mistake that Jose Mourinho made.
Jesse Lingard does not really favour the right-winger's position but he was made to play there in place of Mata who was high both in confidence and form. Although the Spaniard was brought on later, it was too late by then.
#2 Playing three holding midfielders
Jose Mourinho went into ultra-defensive mode after henchman Paul Pogba's late withdrawal and played three holding midfielders- Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini on Sunday. In comparison, City played only one- Fernandinho. Their midfielders possessed a lot of goal threat and apart from Fellaini, none of United's central midfielders have been amongst the goals lately.
Nemanja Matic, with the horrendous run of form he is in, should have been dropped and Fred should have started instead. The latter played last weekend against Bournemouth and was extremely impressive in the way he was able to cut through defences and set up through balls for the attackers.
This mentality of Jose Mourinho's did not serve him well and all the central midfielders went on to have an ordinary game. Matic and Herrera, in particular, were extremely unimpressive.
#3 Not pressing high when not in possession
Manchester City made a staggering 643 passes on Sunday as opposed to United's 319. That was possible simply because United did not press high when not in possession and let City dictate the game to them. They were waiting to get the ball back in case of a missed pass or fumble but made no attempt to get the ball back themselves.
City, on the other hand, pressed very high and got the ball back from United whenever they lost it. They did not give United's players any time on the ball nor did they let them play within their comfort zone.
United need to learn how to press high because no top opposition is going to give the ball away easily and certainly not Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Jose Mourinho needs to instill this in his team and make it clear that having possession does make a lot of difference to a game.
