Dream start for Carrick as United roar to Manchester derby victory over City
Manchester United's Bryan Mbeumo scores their side's first goal. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
With so little room for manoeuvre as his team chase down Arsenal, Pep Guardiola could not afford this.
For his City side, the short trip to Old Trafford could not have come at a worse time.
With a new head coach in place – albeit not the man Roy Keane would have chosen – Manchester United looked a team reborn. To say they are a club reborn would be stretching it: Michael Carrick can only do so much.
But such a stirring performance from the hosts, roared on to victory in a white-hot atmosphere, raised the question: Where have this United team been?
The answer, in part, is: At the Africa Cup of Nations. Cameroon’s Bryan Mbeumo and Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo were much missed during the final days of Ruben Amorim’s reign, and the brief caretaker stint of Darren Fletcher.
Back from Morocco, they were restored to the United line-up straight away, to telling effect.
Mbeumo produced the calm finish that gave United a 65th-minute lead their performance deserved, while Amad was a threat on the right throughout, and would have had a goal for himself but for a hairline offside decision.
The winger, played through by the outstanding Bruno Fernandes, had made his run a fraction too early before rounding goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to score just after the half-hour mark.
Fernandes would have a goal of his own ruled out in an identical manner before half-time. Both decisions were correct, but United must have wondered if fine margins might count against them as a first-half superiority brought nothing better than a 0-0 score at the break.
The tone had been set early. Harry Maguire, making his Premier League return after two months out with a hamstring injury, had headed against the bar in the first three minutes from a Fernandes corner. The man he beat to the ball was Erling Haaland.
City’s giant Norwegian has been a prolific scorer against United in the past. Here, he was pretty much a spectator. Only once did he threaten – a shot early in the second half, well blocked by Lisandro Martinez – and he was substituted in the final 10 minutes to loud United jeers.
And yet it might have been different. Diogo Dalot received only a yellow card for putting his studs into Jeremy Doku’s knee in the 11th minute – a VAR check ruling the challenge was not made with excessive force – while Bernardo Silva ought to have done better than nod over a first-half cross from the relatively quiet Antoine Semenyo, and Max Alleyne had a header saved.
But it was United making the racket as their one-time noisy neighbours were silenced. At 0-0 early in the second half, City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made an outstanding double save from Amad and Casemiro, then another stop from Mbeumo.
It only delayed the inevitable. First Mbeumo scored, then the excellent Patrick Dorgu swept in a cross from Matheus Cunha as City’s defence dawdled.
Cunha, dropped to the bench in favour of Mbeumo and with a point to prove, looked to have earned another assist late on, crossing low for fellow substitute Mason Mount to tap in, but it was ruled out by VAR.
Lammens 7; Dalot 7, Maguire 7, Martinez 8, Shaw 7 (Heaven 90, 6); Casemiro 6 (Ugarte 81, 6), Mainoo 6; Amad 8, Fernandes 9 (Mount 90, 7), Dorgu 8; Mbeumo 8 (Cunha 71, 7).
Donnarumma 8; Lewis 6, Khusanov 6, Alleyne 5 (O’Reilly 46, 5), Ake 5; Rodri 6; Semenyo 6, Foden 5 (Cherki 46, 5), Silva 6 (Reijnders 80, 6), Doku 6 (Ait-Nouri 80, 6); Haaland 5 (Mukasa 80, 6).
Anthony Taylor.
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