Three Wins Three Ways

It was a big week for Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City, the first proper taste of playing every three days, and the team found a way through each one. Porto displayed the quality of the first team, limiting the opposition and creating several big chances. United required character to suffer off the ball and wait for their moment. In the League Cup, it was time for the depth players to step up and show the improvement the squad has made in the last transfer window.

There are a lot of stats here; I’ll apologize in advance, but it goes to show the impact the new signings have made, that Haaland continues to Haaland, and how impressive the win at Old Trafford was in that style.

Notable Stats:

• In the last three seasons, no midfielder has more assists in major European competitions (Champions League, Europa League, Conference League) than Enzo Fernández (9).

• Erling Haaland has scored 42 goals in 39 appearances in the group stage/league phase of the UEFA Champions League, the most of any player since his first season in the competition in 2019-20.

• Erling Haaland scored his 36th UEFA Champions League goal for Manchester City, equalling Sergio Agüero as joint-most for the Citizens in the competition.

• Iliman Ndiaye is the first Manchester City substitute on record (since 2003/04) to attempt 5+ dribbles and win 5+ fouls in a Premier League game.

• 50 teams have received a red card as the visiting team at Old Trafford in the Premier League. Still, only two have won: Everton in November 2025 and Manchester City today, with Iliman Ndiaye on the winning side both times.

• 2.6 - only Lukás Hornícek (2.9) has prevented more goals in the Premier League this season than Gianluigi Donnarumma, according to Opta's Expected Goals on Target model.

• Manchester City are the first visiting team to win 10 times at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

• Erling Haaland is now the top scorer in Premier League games between Manchester City and Manchester United.

Against United, Manchester City conceded 0.15xG via fast breaks across three shots. Two were blocked, and one missed. Last season, they conceded 0.69xG across four fast-break shots, with one being a goal.

Manchester City's first PL win at Old Trafford since the 29th of October, 2023.

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. 👇

Porto 0-2 Man City

The opening CL match for Enzo Maresca, and we got to see Matheus Nunes back in the starting eleven, providing the width on the right side, and Foden moved inside. Bouaddi as the pivot in front of the back three of Gvardiol, Dias, and Guehi. Fernandez pushing up to join Cherki between the lines.

The other knock-on of Nunes returning is that he can be used well in the press to support Foden, as he jumps to the CB and the team goes M2M. Usually, the times on his jumps are better and arrive quicker than Gvardiol has done on the left side in earlier games. Porto then, most of the time, funnelled into playing long, or trying to exploit these jumps of Foden and Nunes. With Haaland curving his run, Costa rarely looked to play over to his right side.

Porto have been known to press well under Farioli, and you saw that intensity in the opening minutes; it took the team some time to adapt and find their routes forward. Once they did, Porto could be played through and pinned back. Gvardiol had a tough first half with Gomes, but in the end, they didn’t have a single shot. City had six, and three were Haaland in the middle of the box, requiring big saves from Diogo Costa. Other than finding the net, the team played an excellent first half.

Haaland 47' (0-1)
Shortly after the break, City find their opener. Fernandez overlapping, Cherki underlapping for Semenyo. He picks out the latter, who manages to flick it back to Enzo. Haaland holds his line in the initial phase, makes the run to the back post when Cherki is put through, and then readjusts to find space for the cross.

Fernandez finds him. Cushioned header off the near post and in, giving Manchester City the lead. Encouraging to see the number of players attacking the box. Nunes at the back post. Foden to the near post inside the 6-yard box.

Immediately following the goal, Khusanov came on for Gvardiol (48’), who had a yellow card. Smart call by Maresca whilst adding playing that can compete in the duels with more aggression. Later it was Anderson (62’) and Kovacic (75’) as the team maintained control in the midfield and of the game to see it out. Bouaddi did impress with his composure in the centre circle; perhaps another midfielder would have been caught out by the pressure Porto put on him, but routinely he’d wriggled through it.

Still, they were kept to no shots on target, three outside the box, Pepe dragged his wide, and Fofana had one blocked at the near-post. One header flashed across the 6-yard box with no one to meet it. In previous seasons in the CL, away from home, Villarreal and Monaco had chances despite a good performance. That was the most impressive takeaway from this one, and hopefully it continues; they’ll need it to go far in the competition.

Haaland 90+1' (0-2)
The three points get wrapped up in injury time. Kovacic through to Ait-Nouri down the flank. Drives into the box and cuts it back to Haaland as the defender comes across between his legs. First-time finish slotted into the far bottom corner. As mentioned with the first goal. Encouraging to see the number of players attacking the box. That will pay dividends across the season.

For Porto (A), Enzo Fernandez (11.9km) led the team in distance covered and total sprints (19). It wasn’t easy against a team that was unbeaten since 2025 at their home stadium, but Manchester City found a way. The draw with Monaco and defeat to Bodo/Glimt last season were wasted points away from home in the CL. This was the type of professional performance in the competition we’ve needed to see from the team for a while now, at a tough ground, where the expectation is on you to win. Give away little and be clinical when you get the chances.  

Manchester United 0-1 Man City

It was a cagey start from both teams in the derby, with this game being analysed around the red card. The opening twenty saw Manchester City close down any route for United to play out from the back, but then with the likes of Rashford and Cunha between the lines, United posed questions playing long.

When an attacker is not tight to Dias, he’s asking a question of how far you will go to mark me, and that bit of hesitation on going M2M or maintaining the +1 in the backline gave an opening to United a couple of times. The trouble was once they got up the pitch going long and flicking it onto another attacker, no United player was attacking the box, so you had Cunha and Rashford shooting from far out.

Then you have the red card: a poor decision by Foden to react, and another by the referee to immediately send him off rather than wait and manage the situation better, not seeing the kicks by Fernandes that should have led to both being given a yellow and the game moving on.

Both Carrick and the players did not approach the red card situation well enough to break down Manchester City. Until half-time, they only managed a shot from Maguire outside the box and a Rashford free-kick hitting the post. No changes until after the goal. Some attempts to overload on the left side before abandoning that in the second half. Sesko (67’) coming on for Fernandes only moved him deeper and into a less effective role, as he’s not able to dictate breaking down an opposition block from deep.

Managing the game was ultimately the key for Manchester City; we saw that post-st record in the first half, to survive to half-time limiting the opposition. After what was a stalemate in the opening twenty minutes. Then Maresca made a change with Ndiaye on for Cherki (45’). Shifting the team to a 4-4-1 block.

This gave them his work rate and intelligence defending wide, coordinating with Nunes to track any runs and overload attempts. Along with Semenyo, it limited United when trying to play around the City block. It also allowed them to attack in the right moments. Whether that’s to be alive and win second balls, or to dribble through the pressure and drag the team up the pitch.

It’s one of those qualities that leads to the winning goal. In the second half, City made use of Donnarumma playing long into Erling Haaland. United still wanted to press high; being down to ten man, don’t play into their hands, go over the press instead. That’s where you can find an advantage. Haaland beating Martinez for the aerial duel, knocking it down for Ndiaye to beat Dorgu to it and drive into the box. Eventually getting the ball to Semenyo.

Haaland 60' (0-1)
Semenyo does well in this sequence to hold off the United defender, look for an option, and once Gvardiol arrives on the overlap, play him through. I mentioned against Porto for the second goal: the willingness of the players to get into the box. It paid off late there, and it's paid off again whilst being down to ten men. Ndiaye, Anderson, and Fernandez all join Haaland. Touch it out from his feet and then cross to the back post. Haaland made an initial run, got back onside, and made the second run for the goal.

Cleared onside, played by the foot of Dorgu. Haaland arrives to score the winner after VAR confirmed the involvement of Fernandez in an offside position didn't impact the keeper. As has been made clear post-match in the audio released, the process was poor by the officials in not ruling out the impact Fernandez had on this sequence. Not that City haven’t been on the wrong end of these calls in each of the last few visits to Old Trafford in the Premier League.

I should add that Haaland did an excellent job in holding up the ball, putting pressure on the United players, and being an outlet. 3/4 aerial duels won, and 4/6 ground duels won. He was alive and up for the fight, leading from the front, and that carried through to the rest of the team.

As you can see with this graphic from Mark Stats, possession and field tilt took an extreme tilt towards United after the red card, but Manchester City still kept slightly ahead with xG. After scoring, the team sacrificed more possession. If they don’t score, the team will continue to push, not take the ball to the corner, and look to buy fouls to waste time.

Fernandez had a shot saved (69’); Haaland should have done better off a Fernandez free-kick (76’); despite the goal being an error by the officials, the sequence by Manchester City was not in the lead-up to it. Neither was their intent in this match. No doubt they looked the more likely team to win it.

Final mention to the save by Donnarumma (90+5’) on the Mbeumo shot. That’s a goalkeeper reading the attacker perfectly. Great hand to it and ensuring the three points. At both ends, Haaland and Donnarumma did the business for Manchester City to win this game.

The manner of this victory, down to ten men at your rivals’ ground in a derby, for nearly seventy minutes. You brush off the setback of a red card and find a way to win. That’s something Enzo Fernandez will know very well from the Argentine National team over the last few years. It’ll bring more belief to the camp around Maresca, and across the season, they are unlikely to face a more difficult situation mentally.

Man City 5-0 Norwich City

Fun is the word I’d use to describe this one. Maybe not in the opening ten minutes, as you saw players not familiar with one another find their space in the team, with Norwich keen to press our backline. Eventually, they settled. Debut for Floyd Samba, Rulli, and Allan, with another appearance for Braithwaite and McAidoo off the bench.

In possession, Manchester City moved into a 3-1-3-3 that became a 2-2-6 by the time they progressed into the final third. O’Reilly pushed out to the left side, Ait-Nouri moved inside with Cherki and Lewis between the lines. Allan stretched the width on the right, and Samba occupied the CBs of Norwich.

Bouaddi would drop into the space of the LCB, with Kovacic looking to move between the 1st line of Norwich. They swapped roles across the game, initialy the team kept going around the block to Allan, but once they settled in, it became very easy for the two of them to break through the lines time and time again.

Once the team does get moving, it’s Samba (29’) on his debut scoring the opening goal. Kovacic, as I mentioned, smartly positioned himself between the lines, received by Bouaddi, and immediately played into O’Reilly behind the defensive line. Allan, unmarked, arriving at the back post, collects the missed cross. Samba resets and is picked out for a lovely header guided back across the keeper. For a young midfielder on his first-team debut, that’s the instinct of a number nine in the box.

It’s another line-breaker from Bouaddi for the second goal by Cherki (32’). After the team recovers the ball outside their box. Into Samba, holding off the defender, and laying off for Bouaddi to run onto. Then picking out the run of Cherki in behind, who slots it past the keeper at the near post. That’s two-thirds of the pitch the Frenchman ran to make the goal, getting behind Norwich and in space. Not the fastest, but he is the first to spot the space. That’s the difference.

The second debut goal is Allan (48’), who had swapped over to the left side and got a much better dynamic to combine with in Ait-Nouri. Picking out his underlapping run in the second minute, now it’s Allan behind and 1v1 with a defender. Driving across the top of the box, faking the shot to cut back onto his left foot and finishing across the keeper to the far post.

The high press of City recovers the ball from Norwich playing out from the back, and Samba (54’) gets his second of the night. They’re not able to make the first pass across the box with Ait-Nouri, but eventually Samba picks it up inside the box and fancies curling one just inside the far post. Capping off a big night for the young player.

Kovacic with the line-breaking pass to O’Reilly, behind the defensive line, who crosses across to Lewis arriving at the top of the box. He leaves it, with McAidoo (90’) coming onto the ball, unmarked from the right side. Firing past the keeper to the far post and making it five. His injury was unfortunate in preseason, but McAidoo will be knocking on the door after the international break. Ipswich (PL), Brighton (LC), and AEK (CL) coming up.

I’ve got to give a mention to Kovacic, who played a role in most of the goals scored and, in a more limited role, looks fresh. Starting the Cup games and coming off the bench, his experience is going to be very useful across the season.

Haaland, Dias, and Gvardiol were all left out of the squad for this game, fully rested ahead of Sunderland (H). That’s huge for the depth of this squad and to keep those three fresh. You look at the bench, and it was two academy players coming on. Guehi, Nunes, Anderson, Fernandes, Semenyo, and Nidaye were all ready but remained on the sidelines.

Last season there were a few different reasons why the team stumbled in the final stretch. One big factor was the depth. Oscar Bobb has started to show some good signs at Fulham, but he didn’t hit the ground running. You look at Marmoush and Savinho at Spurs in the opening games. John Stones is injured for a few weeks at Inter Milan. Reijnders has moved to Saudi. There are more, and it slowly drained the starters, not having enough impact off the bench or the opportunities to rest.

Last point. I did want to mention Allan’s performance against Norwich. I'd like to see how he combines in the future with a better runner on the right side. Lewis didn't have the power to drive ahead of his marker and attack the space an aggressive opposition LB frequently left open. As I mentioned with the LB, he's tight to Allan as soon as the pass was coming from Khusanov. We saw McAidoo struggle in the same way to beat him 1v1.

The immediate difference for Allan on the left side wasn't that he's a LW; it's the partner he had in Ait-Nouri. Within a few minutes, there is the powerful underlapping run to be picked out. Then shortly after, it's Allan picked out by RAN to attack the defender 1v1.

As Viana mentioned in a recent interview, Allan is here for the time to develop. For the highs or the lows, it’s important to see his progression over several games, rather than dwell on the first in a team that wouldn’t have played together ever. The early signs with his work off the ball, attacking the right spaces at the back-post, and picking out runners ahead of him are welcome.

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Moving Forward

Next up for Manchester City is Sunderland (H) in the Premier League later today. After Arsenal lost to Brighton, they’ve already moved into 1st place on goal difference; now it’s time to take the opportunity and go three points clear. Several key players have been rested where Sunderland could not in their opening Europa League match. Beating AZ at home.

It’s favourable for City with the starters fresh, but as Maresca mentioned, Sunderland will make this a very tough game, not easy to break down, and there cannot be any unserious performance from the players. Arsenal did not have it easy last weekend against them. Porto was a professional win; the same is needed later today, and if they do it, the team is in a great position heading into the international break.