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This Sunday afternoon, Manchester City and Manchester United will go toe-to-toe at the Etihad Stadium in the Manchester Derby. Both teams are coming off impressive wins in the Champions League. Manchester City tramped over Shakhtar Donetsk with a 6-0 win. Manchester United fought hard at Turin but came out on top somehow in the end.
Despite Ronaldo’s stunning goal that Juve the lead, Manchester waited for their opportunity and pounced at the right time. It was an impressive showing by United opposed to what many think it was. The last derby took place at the same venue. Manchester City got a 2-0 lead at half-time before Jose Mourinho’s United came back to win 3-2 at full-time. We look at 5 factors which will be key in the derby.
#5 City’s possession game
Manchester City under Pep Guardiola likes having possession of the ball. They move with purpose with each pass being a meaningful one. But City doesn’t really have the players who could bypass a good press. At Barcelona, Pep had Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets who would not be under pressure no matter how you press them.
However, in the current City midfield, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho all are not very good at playing through the press. Manchester City fell under Lyon’s press and ended up conceding Nabil Fekir’s goal.
It is evident from City’s previous fixtures that if they have possession of the ball, they will have no problem in moving and scoring. But when they don’t have much possession, like it was against Liverpool and Tottenham, City don’t dominate proceedings. Their pass percentage lowers a lot when they don’t keep possession and thus their build-up and attacks are not much lethal.
If City is allowed to dominate possession, in case they are trailing, Manchester United need to have a rock-solid defence. But United are not very good at defending and tend to choke in the nick of time.
They didn’t hold against Juventus and against Chelsea as well. Manchester United also allow their oppositions to hold possession. It was a mistake they made against Chelsea and also against Juventus. This tactic could backfire heavily against City.
If Manchester United don’t sit back and try to play end to end, they could be successful. The Special One has a big headache to stop this possession game, either by pressing hard or by playing a fluid way of football that forces City to be alert on the defensive end as well. Both of which is not how Mourinho likes to play.
#4 Manchester United’s lack of defensive solidity
Manchester City has a good solid defense. When defending in tough situations, City’s defensive line holds tight. They have no woes as such in the back end of the pitch. Lobbed balls over the midfield are the only real problem that occurs for them.
However, United’s case is different. In each of their last six games, they have failed to keep clean sheets. It can be excused that they conceded against Juventus and Chelsea. But they have conceded against Derby County, West Ham United, Bournemouth, and Newcastle as well.
Not only that, they were first to concede against West Ham, Bournemouth, and Newcastle. They tried to close the game out against Chelsea and failed. They tried to keep Juventus quiet on two separate occasions and failed.
Manchester United’s defense has Chris Smalling at its heart and an inexperienced Victor Lindelof, while Ashley Young and Luke Shaw are at the full-back positions. City’s young and pacey forwards Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane, and Raheem Sterling can cause all sorts of problems just with their pace.
United’s defence has shown several signs of cracking under pressure. City also completes an immaculate amount of passes in the final third, which should be watched out for.
United have to be very wary of a similar lob from which Ronaldo scored against them. David Silva is more than capable of penetrating the lines, provided he has space. All three of the lead forwards from City can outrun the Manchester United defence.
Liverpool was at the receiving end of a lot of potential threats from these young kids. Lovren was tight at the back winning aerial duels and making crucial tackles. Manchester United need a top drawer defensive performance like Liverpool's from the young Lindelof and the experienced Smalling.
#3 Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez or Marcus Rashford: Who will play?
Romelu Lukaku missed the wins against Bournemouth and Juventus following a hamstring injury. Alexis Sanchez picked up a fresh injury against Juventus and is facing concerns over a thigh strain. However, Jose Mourinho updated that Romelu Lukaku was with the first team for Friday’s morning’s training session.
Now the problem is, who will start? Alexis wasn’t at his best during Lukaku’s absence and hasn’t provided much to cement his place in the starting line-up. Romelu Lukaku himself is not in the best run of form and has scored only 4 times in 10 appearances in the Premier League. With the return from injury, Mourinho also shouldn’t be looking to force the return of his star forward.
Given both Alexis and Lukaku are struggling with injuries, Marcus Rashford is the best option to start as the centre-forward. Rashford has made 8 appearances in Premier League with 2 goals and an assist, however, he has only played a total of over 400 minutes, which is nearly four full games.
Starting with Rashford makes sense, as he is young, energetic, fresh and more importantly he is the only one fully fit. But his start also adds a bit of inexperience in the final third, with Lingard and Martial alongside.
If Lukaku is fit, he is capable of causing problems for the relatively less experienced City defence. Lukaku can win balls against tall defenders like Laporte and John Stones.
The Special One is the one who makes the decisions. But he should take into consideration the fact that Rashford scored against City last season at Old Trafford and was one of the best players wearing the red that night.
#2 The Silva and Silva Connection
Bernardo Silva and David Silva have been at the top of their games with both of them being in terrific form. Last season Pep rotated between both of them but he has given more minutes to Bernardo this season. He has grasped his opportunity with both hands.
As a midfielder, Bernardo has scored three goals in the Prem, 2 in UEFA Champions League in a total of 15 appearances. He has been at the top of his passing game completing about 85% of his passes in EPL and 90% in the Champions League. Still only 24, he is currently in the debate of the best young midfielders available.
David Silva, on the other hand, has always been an underrated player. Silva has been among the scorers, scoring thrice in The Premier League as well as Champions League in thirteen total appearances, while getting two assists. He is a great passer, completing around 88% of his passes. He sways from midfield slowly into the attacking midfield position and is a huge threat up front.
Both these players are lethal players and can run into attacking areas, catch the defence off-guard with through passes and don’t mind having a go at goal.
This Sunday, Manchester United’s midfield with Pogba and possibly Herrera or Fred will have their work cut out. Manchester City has one of the more stable midfield partnerships in England currently and the Silva duo are capable of deciding the outcome of a game on their own.
#1 Can De Gea be the wall between the sticks?
De Gea is the perhaps Manchester United’s best player currently. Although a few people term him as an overrated keeper, it is largely due to the fact that he flopped at the World Cup. De Gea was a crucial part of United’s team last year. United’s defensive woes are acts as a burden on the Manchester United #1.
Last season against Arsenal, Manchester relied on De Gea alone to win the game. This season against Newcastle, although he conceded two goals, he kept his team in the hunt with a couple of stunning saves. When Juventus visited the Old Trafford, only one goal went past him. He was terrific on the night making save after save.
A team like United that likes to defend their way to victory after taking the lead has put its complete trust on their #1. De Gea has been up to the task many times but Sunday is a very tough day to come. Manchester City are coming off a 6 goal barrage against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Their forwards caused a lot of problems for Alisson in the Liverpool game, even though they faced a strong defensive line. With all due respect, Manchester United doesn’t have as good a defence as Liverpool and De Gea’s should be in for a long night.
De Gea might not lead the clean sheet charts. But he has made a lot of saves. He has made saves that went on to decide the outcome of the game. He can't do everything alone and the Reds have to give as much support as the can. Manchester City has players who are good on set pieces like Mahrez and Silva.
They have players who can head the ball in Laporte and Stones. They also are a team who can turn the counter-attacks into goals. De Gea should hope his defence helps him enough but he should avoid making errors to go with it,
This Sunday is a chance for the Red Devils to show that they deserve to have De Gea play for them.
