Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United Review

Premier League GW4

Manchester is blue. This was the result that the team and fans needed to pick up some momentum moving into this season. To reassure some doubts and show a team fighting for the win, despite the improvements to be made, and being early in its formation. This is not the final version of a rebuilt team, or the best version of the team for this season, but after not winning a derby last season, the team gave you reasons to be optimistic.

MOTM: ERLING HAALAND

Other standout performances include: Phil Foden & Jeremy Doku

Notable Stats:

• Phil Foden had 11 ball recoveries against Manchester United (H). His best total in a single match during the 24/25 season was 5. During his entire City career, the best single match total he's made previously has been 9 (Everton H 19/20, Newcastle H 23/24, Bournemouth A 23/24).

• Erling Haaland has scored his 50th goal in his 50th home Premier League game for Manchester City. In the competition's history, only Alan Shearer required fewer home appearances to hit 50 goals (47).

• Erling Haaland has been directly involved in more PL goals vs. Manchester United than any other Man City player (11) and equalled Sergio Aguero for the most goals (8). 

Game Stats:

Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United

• xG: 2.63 - 1.51

• xThreat: 1.09 - 1.79

• Possession: 45.4% - 54.6%

• Field Tilt: 32.3% - 67.7%

• Penalty Box Shots: 12 - 7

• Deep Entries: 11 - 17

• PPDA: 18.2 - 9.0

• High Turnovers: 6 - 4

Phil Foden completed a full 90' for the first time since February 22nd (Liverpool).

Abdukodir Khusanov starts back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since 29th March.

Nico O'Reilly, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Josko Gvardiol also completed their first full 90' of the 25/26 season. Manchester City had 45.4% possession against Manchester United, their lowest total since Spurs (A) last season. They also had an 81.8% buildup completion percentage, which is the lowest total since the 23/24 season.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Manchester City in possession were set up in a 3-1-3-3 of sorts, but with several roles/relationships across the pitch that made it work. Foden and Reijnders were always trying to time their movements so that when one player drops, the other is attacking the space behind that opens up. The relationship from Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku on the left side so that one is always holding the width whilst the other is roaming inside to find pockets of space, drag a United defender with them, and pull open some space for players like Foden and Reijnders to run into.

The role of Bernardo Silva was to hold the width on the right side, pull Dorgu towards him, be reliable and secure on the ball in support of Khusanov as the right-back. The aim wasn’t to use Bernardo and Khusanov as a consistent way to progress the ball and to attack the box.

When pressing high, the United midfield duo were looking to have Fernandes jump onto the Rodri, Ugarte covers Reijnders, and a defender needs to jump onto Foden, ideally. So, in the buildup, trying to progress the ball into the middle third, Manchester City could use that as it forces a United CB to jump onto Foden or Reijnders, leaving space for another City player to attack. If the defender doesn’t go, you’ve got a free player to pass to.

The overload of three midfielders was already causing problems. Then you add to that Jeremy Doku and O’Reilly moving inside at different times, you had players (Reijnders) free to pin the opposition central defender so that the free player (Doku) wasn’t picked up.

Something that American Cityzen pointed out was that Manchester City would build down their left side in this match with Josko Gvardiol, similar to when they had Laporte. Both are exceptional passers. Rather than on the right side with Dias and Khusanov. Another part of the Donnarumma equation, finding ways around his deficiency in the buildup. 45% of the City attack went down the left side, with the previous three PL matches all being below 37%.

Phil Foden 18'
All of those movements in possession we mentioned, combined for the opening goal. Playing through the United press to find Foden in the midfield, on the left side, he switches out to Bernardo. A key part of his role at RW was to always hold the width, always be available for the switch, and not lose the ball in the tight space along the touchline. He feeds it back to Rodri, he’s then waiting for Doku to drift inside, and Reijnders to pin the CB before passing between the lines.

Jeremy Doku drifts over to the right side, finds space between the lines, and doesn't allow himself to be drawn towards the ball. Giving him this freedom, like we saw in the CWC, you wouldn't get if he's the starting RW in this match.

Reijnders pins the CB, which has been an ongoing issue for United under Amorim. Rodri plays the pass through to Doku, who can now turn and dribble at the United backline. Beating Shaw and getting into the box.

On a more general point. Finding Doku in the half-space, able to take on the opposition defender, will give him more success (angles), more threat (directly moving into the middle of the box), and stop the opposition from doubling up on him wide along the touchline.

First cutback to Foden is blocked, the chipped cross is not, and Foden scores the opening goal. You'll notice throughout this sequence the movement of Foden, initially behind Fernandes, before drifting further left, to be patient and give himself the space to attack.

Erling Haaland 53' 2-0  
Nutmeg from O'Reilly through to Foden. Doku has Yoro pinned, receives the ball from Foden, and holds off the United defender as he turns to play through Haaland. Note that Dorgu is stretched picking up Silva. Haaland, in his movement, is in front of Shaw but behind de Ligt, whom he makes the run to get in front of. From there, composed chip into the far corner to double the lead.

Erling Haaland 68' 3-0 
Pressure of Bernardo, forcing the United defender back to a teammate, who is then jumped on by Haaland. Bernardo picks up the loose pass and plays the ball in behind for Haaland to deliver one of his usual left-footed finishes, curled into the bottom left corner.

Manchester United finished the game with 1.51xG, but they didn’t create any significant chances until after Manchester City were winning by three goals. Their best two chances came from Mbeumo inside the 6-yard box (0.58xG) and Casemiro from a corner (0.47xG). When the game was in the balance, they created very few opportunities.

We did see a continuation of issues with the setup out of possession; one area was the switches out to the wing-backs, especially the left side. In the first half, this came from the central defenders, but City quickly adjusted to have Jeremy Doku deeper and prepared to cover on that side with O’Reilly. From there, United started trying to bait the City press in first, then moving it to the wide areas.

One part of that is Rodri not being properly involved in either the defensive line or midfield line. He’s the spare man, not really directly involved. You lose an attacker from the first line, and then the wingers need to be more aggressive, jumping up, making it easier to find space out wide, and moments of there is not enough pressure on the ball.

The setup is very narrow, which allows easy access to wide areas, and then your midfielders have a lot of ground to cover to then lock off those sides. The principle of wanting to prevent central progression, like last season, forces the opposition into playing a poor long ball makes sense. You want to stop the fast break at the root, and it’s working so far. But tweaks are still needed to make the team more secure.

Savinho (Doku) and Nico (Rodri) came on around 76’ for two players I thought were flagging in their fitness. Gave the team some better legs to cover the ground as United had more of the ball in the second half. Good to have Savinho with minutes in his legs for the first time this season. Suspect that the two of them play against Napoli, and then you’ve got plenty of options ready to go ahead of the Arsenal match.

For the final few minutes, as well as injury time, we see Manchester City drop into a 5-4-1 as Oscar Bobb (Haaland) and Nathan Ake (Bernardo Silva) come on in the 87’. Happy to sit deeper, let United have the possession, knowing that the back five has all the runners into the box tracked, and to be better suited to defending set-pieces.

We’ve seen this (5-4-1) from Guardiola before; it’s not new, but with the defenders they have and Donnarumma in goal, we might see that approach more often in the closing minutes of games. Compared to the approach of keeping it high up the pitch towards the corner flag to kill those minutes. But, I don’t anticipate that being the intent for the entire half or game, just for killing the final minutes when you’ve got a lead. It’s all important that you’ve got the confidence in your team to defend deep in those minutes. Last season, you’d struggle to say that.

The more general second-half approach, though, is something to keep an eye on as they weren’t as intent on recovering the ball and retaining possession. If there was an opportunity to counterattack attack they took it. Which, given how we saw Arsenal approach them in the opening PL game, could be a specific approach to United, since they are poor in possession of exploiting any weaknesses in the opposition shape. The other side is that with the press/shape, OOP City wasn’t as successful at forcing United into situations to win the ball back consistently, especially once they have the early lead and dial back the intensity of the press.

Last point to mention was on Oscar Bobb not starting, which I don’t think is about him not being capable in the role Bernardo played in being an option for a switch, to hold the width and pull Dorgu wide to open up the spaces between the United backline. He’ll do all the off-ball work, but when you’re talking about the occasion, the number of games this week, and initial injury concerns heading into the International break. It’s a safe call.

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Moving Forward

If you’re expecting the right-back to be more stable in a back three, as Khusanov can do, but neither Lewis nor Nunes can, then your left-back can be given more freedom. O’Reilly, in this match, could advance further up the pitch, holding the width, and let Jeremy Doku move inside. As well as that, Doku is naturally holding the width to the left, and O’Reilly moves inside. Whilst Ait-Nouri and Marmoush are injured, the best combination is these two, who can be so fluid, and yet you can trust both to win their duels.

Jeremy Doku, being an option just inside for the buildup, holding up the ball, ready to turn a defender, gives the team another outlet. Dangerous after finding pockets of space to receive the ball and drive at the opposition backline. Too strong to knock off the ball, and a central defender will have a much tougher time reading him 1v1 when facing Doku head-on. I’d expect more to come this season.

Rodri completed 46/53 passes against Manchester United (H)—completion percentage of 86.8%. The last PL start, where Rodri played 70+ minutes, had a lower completion percentage, was against Liverpool (10/03/2024) with 86.5%. The last PL start, where Rodri played 70+ minutes and completed fewer passes, was against Arsenal (15/02/2023) with 32.

There is no getting around the fact that on the ball, Rodri was not at his usual level and lost the ball more times than any other City player against United. Off the ball, Reijnders was far too soft in duels, slow to second balls, and not tracking players as tightly. Although he could have scored two goals, his runs ahead of the ball helped the team a lot, and he pinned Shaw in the lead-up to the opening goal. These two can become the best midfield duo in Europe, but they’ve got to improve in the coming games.

I think this is just part of Rodri returning to fitness and the level he had before the injury, but in the last two PL matches, he’s been caught between the defensive and midfield line, not as involved in the press as the game moves around him. Which could well be Guardiola reserving him as the players get up to speed with the press before he tweaks it.

In this match, we got a great look at why Donnarumma was bought in the summer, pulling off an incredible save to deny Mbeumo, constantly in communication with the backline, and punching clear crosses into the box. Although judged to be handball, you saw in the chance Sesko had through on goal the different approach he has to 1v1s compared to Ederson.

On the other hand, we got to see the work to do in his distribution and how the team will adjust to him. The open midfielder dropping into space to be found through the opposition press, he avoided. What looked like more rehearsed goal-kicks to go long along the touchline to force a throw-in, a central defender inside the 6-yard box to initiate it.

If you want more content on Donnarumma, check out the article linked below. 👇

The first of a few early stats to talk about, which I’ve mentioned are from a small sample size, is the shift in percentage of touches by pitch third this season. Over the last couple of seasons, we’ve seen an increase in the percentage of total touches in the final third as Manchester City looked to squeeze teams high up the pitch and control the territory. The flipside of that is needing to defend the increasing space behind which we saw the downside of last season. Although it’s only a few games, it looks like we are seeing the beginning of that adjustment to play deeper, albeit not the final finished version right now.

It's only a tiny sample size, but, interestingly, the average shot distance for Haaland this season (10.1 yards) is closer to the goal from his career average at the club (12.2 yards). Other per 90 metrics that are up from his average at the club include shots on target from 1.78 to 2.11 and npxG from 0.76 to 1.50.

Another few stats, which I'll continue saying are a small sample size, are the % of high turnovers leading to a shot. Last season, Manchester City and Bournemouth led the PL for high turnovers (357), yet 13.2% of those turnovers resulted in a shot for City compared to 20.2% for Bournemouth. Across the opening four PL games, Manchester City has had 25 high turnovers with 28.0% of those ending in a shot.

None of their high turnovers have resulted in a goal yet this season, but with 7 of those ending in a shot, you can see the urgency with which they look to play the ball forward in these moments. With the likes of Erling Haaland, Omar Marmoush, and Phil Foden on the pitch, that intent should pay off over the course of the season.

Apologies to long-time readers for not putting out a review for the match against Brighton. I only had time to put together a newsletter on the match or on signing Donnarumma, and went for the latter. Below, I’ve linked to a thread on the match. Essentially, they’ll need to make improvements in the OOP setup, which I’ve mentioned there are issues in the United match. Reijnders, we've seen this season not yet up to speed. If Matheus Nunes is giving away soft penalties, and Rico Lewis is jumping at the wrong time to press, then neither option will find themselves consistently in the team. You also saw in the Brighton match the same issue with Rodri not involved in either the defensive or midfield line.

Next up for Manchester City is their opening Champions League fixture against Napoli (H) on September 18th at 20:00 (UK). Leaving a tight turn around ahead of the Arsenal (A) fixture next weekend.

Last season, we had a good reminder of how important winning your home matches in the new league phase of the CL is. Despite the losses, the two draws to Inter Milan and Feyenoord would have taken the team into the seeded group for the KO play-offs and avoided the likes of Madrid, Milan, Bayern Munich, and Milan.

Napoli have won all three Serie A games this season and sit top of the table on goal difference. Conte is setting up with a back four, McTominay starting as a LW that is allowed to drift inside as the LB advances, and giving De Bruyne the freedom to be involved across the pitch.

The transfer window has been significant for Conte. De Bruyne, as we all know, joined on a free transfer—Beukeme (CB), Lang (LW), and Gutierrez (LB) are all new signings. Rasmus Hojlund (CF) on loan. Milinkovic-Savic (GK) on loan. Romelu Lukaku will miss the game with a hamstring injury.