Five Manchester derby day talking points
Three-way fight for Champions League
Quite how Manchester City have managed to make it a three-way tussle for the final Champions League spot is difficult to fathom.
They have arguably the best squad in the Premier League but have failed miserably against all their rivals — winning just once against every opponent from the top-nine.
And they keep fluffing the opportunity to pull away from those rivals.
Rashford is the real deal
Marcus Rashford has made a big impact since breaking into the United first team but none greater than in yesterday’s derby.
The striker broke the record to become the youngest derby goalscorer in the Premier League era at the age of 18 years and 141 days.
It was a moment of supreme quality and Rashford’s form has proven one of the few bright sparks in a bad season for United.
City defence is a mess
Vincent Kompany was always going to be a big loss for City but the derby underlined just how big.
City looked horribly disorganised without him.
It was even worse for City with Nicolas Otamendi not recovering from the dead leg picked up against Kiev.
Manuel Pellegrini drafted in Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Mangala and while Mangala had a reasonable game yesterday, the same can’t be said for Demichelis, who looked every bit of his 35 years as teenager Rashford gave him the runaround. Pellegrini was forced to give him the hook in the second half admitting he was “nervous”.
Injuries piling up for City
As well as Kompany and Otamendi, City were without Kevin de Bruyne, Fabian Delph, and Samir Nasri and it got worse. Raheem Sterling limped out with a groin strain while Joe Hart picked up a calf strain reacting to a poor back pass from Demichelis.
Van Gaal keeps holding on
As Louis van Gaal says, he has been on his way out of Old Trafford for the last four months and yet still he holds onto his job.
He described it as a ‘must-win’ and his side produced the goods. He will receive fan support going into the final eight matches. He still seems destined to be shown the door in the summer. But for now that exit can wait.
