An Erling Haaland brace helped Manchester City beat Manchester United 3-0 in a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday, September 15. The Cityzens now have six points from their four matches, while United have four from their four.
Ruben Amorim has now won only eight out of the 32 he has overseen at Premier League. That is a pretty bad record whichever way one decides to have a look at it. His teams inability to score goals and defend properly against a quality opposition came to the fore yet again on Sunday.
Erling Haaland Brace Took His Season’s Tally to Five for Manchester City
Haaland now has five goals in four matches for the Cityzens this season. Not to mention that he scored five in a single match for Norway recently in a World Cup qualifier. The 25-year-old striker seems to be enjoying his time as Manchester City’s spearhead once again.
However, the manner in which he was fed by Jeremy Doku first and then by Bernardo Silva from a counter-attack to split open Manchester United’s defence said a lot about the latter.
Manchester United’s Issues Exposed
Luke Shaw
Luke Shaw, starting as a centre-forward yet again, had a forgettable outing and was responsible partially for two of the three goals scored by Manchester City.
The way Jeremy Doku went past Shaw before playing a cross to Phil Foden for the Cityzens’ first goal was not a pretty sight. Shaw then failed to thwart Haaland, as the latter overpowered him to score his first goal from Doku’s pass. Doku thus registered two assists and was one of the stand-out players in the match.
Bruno Fernandes in a Double Pivot
The decision to play Bruno Fernandes in a double-pivot continued to look like a bad decision. Fernandes looked lost for the majority of the time and was shifted to play as the left-sided No. 10 in the second half in United’s 3-4-2-1, with Kobbie Mainoo coming in as a substitute and replacing Noussair Mazraoui in the playing XI.
Mazraoui Substituion
The decision to take Mazraoui off came as a surprise as he and Bryan Mbeumo combined to launch a number of attacks through the right flank for the visitor. Mbeumo came close to scoring with a left-footed volley that forced a great save from Gianluigi Donnarumma in his debut match for Pep Guardiola’s team.
Manchester United Attack Had Only Two Attempts on Target
United enjoyed 56% ball-possession in the match, but were able to have only two attempts on target on the day. Amad Diallo started as the left-sided No. 10, but his tendency to move towards the right flank often made United’s attack right-heavy. The visitors missed Cunha seriously and no longer had left-wingers like Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho in their squad either.
Manchester City started with Abdukadir Khusanov on the right flank, but the visitors failed to put enough pressure on the the young Uzbek defender. Patrick Dorgu kept making overlaps frequently, but failed to deliver crosses of enough quality.
Benjamin Sesko failed to make his presence felt and was hardly noticeable in the match. United missed Matheus Cunha seriously and Bruno Fernandes failed to make any difference either after shifting to the left side after the first half.
The Cityzens, meanwhile, cut Manchester United apart with their counter-attacks in the second half after the latter tried to impose themselves with numbers in the opposition half. Amorim’s misery thus continued in the Premier League, as his team hardly showed any stomach for a fight. Manchester United play Chelsea next weekend and should not be able to go into the match with much confidence.