Manchester United vs Manchester City: Key Talking Points

#9 Pep's Man City are more fun to watch than Pep's Barcelona

Manchester City celebrate their second goal of the night

Lay down your weapons. Stop your frothing. Hear me out.

Pep Guardiola's team controlled, and used the ball in a way that no football team has ever done - that holy trinity in midfield and Lionel Messi passing the ball around with an ease that bordered on the absurd. Mostly, though, this passing was sideways, as much of a choke-hold as "parking the bus", controlling possession to ensure defensive stability - after all no opposition team can score if they don't even touch the ball.

This City side sacrifices a lot of this control for more incisive movement in between the lines - Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva at the heart of it as they run in and out of the opposition third - and use Sane and Sterling effectively on the flanks. This prevents most neutrals from dozing off even when City are playing a defensive-minded team, but also makes them far more vulnerable than the great Barcelona team that Guardiola managed... which segues neatly into my next point.