Matchday 22 – Quick Round Up

Match Day 22 Round Up

Saturday 17th January

Manchester United 2-0 Manchester City

There are two main things I took from this game, firstly just how good Man Utd were, and how entertaining their play was, for what felt like the first time in years. Secondly, just how bad Citeh were. That was the worst performance I have seen from them in the Guardiola era. Watching Cherki just give up on pressing after having to run once was truly shocking. It was a very un-Guardiola type of performance. One thing you can always rely on his teams to give is effort. Often it can be misguided, petulant even, but this was such a half-hearted performance. They were being outplayed, by a Man United team that were playing with verve and a bit of freedom, but they just gave up, which is not what you expect of any team coached by Guardiola. Though there was a fair amount of petulance, particularly Bernardo Silva’s blatant kick on Fernandes in the box, which somehow never even resulted in a foul, let alone the red card and penalty that should have been! The real question to come from this game is about the red side of Manchester though. Is this just a bunch of players raising their game for a derby or is this them freed up of the constraints of the Amorim system and so a level we can expect of them every week? They certainly celebrated like a bunch of lads who have been shackled and suddenly given freedom, but again, that could merely be because they were so excited to beat a rival. It will be an interesting next few weeks seeing how they get on.

Starmen:
Maguire/Martinez – when a centre-back pairing manages to shut Haaland out of a game, you know they have done well.
Mainoo – needed to show that he deserved to play and he did.
Casemiro – just for his delight and celebrations. He never seemed half as happy when winning trophies at Real Madrid!
Fernandes – still one of the best attacking players in Europe and showed that when playing in a more attacking role than he had done under Amorim.
Dorgu – is this really the same lad who played at wing-back so badly? Playing further forward he suddenly remembers how to control a football.
Diallo – another impressive performance from him.
Carrick – got the selection and tactics spot on. Was this a fluke? A new manager bounce? Or is this genuinely what he is capable of as a coach?

Flops:
Haaland – offered almost nothing.
Silva – we know he was an excellent player, but he is really looking past his best this season.
Cherki – came on as a…