Wow. That was a tough watch as a United fan. City dismantled United to take all three points at Old Trafford. The 2-0 to City scoreline flattered United, because were it not for David de Gea’s heroics in goal it could have easily been 5, maybe even 6 nil. United played just as bad, if not worse, than Tottenham did against us last weekend. Everyone was giving balls away, no one was hustling, it looked, just like how Spurs did against us, like everyone, save De Gea, gave up. This was the first match at home since the 5-0 Liverpool demolition, and it looked like Ole learned nothing.
First Half
Ole’s starting line-up must have looked like he was having a laugh at Pepe Guardiola. The Norwegian stayed with 3 at the back and with Ralphe Varane out for about a month with a hamstring injury, Eric Bailly steps in. Harry Maguire played on the left side and Victor Lindelof, who passed a late fitness test before the match, was on the right.
Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka the two wing backs and the ever present mid-field pairing of Fred and Scott McTominay or as some fans like to call them : “McFred”. Bruno Fernandes played just in front of “McFred” along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Mason Greenwood the two strikers.
Greenwood took the place of Edison Cavani who has an undisclosed injury and didn’t even make it to the bench. Looking at the starting eleven Guardiola knew his team really didn’t have to do much except stick their usual game plan and City would cruise to victory.
7 Minutes in, Already Down a Goal
As soon as the match started the writing was already on the wall. “McFred” and company started giving the ball away in mid-field with almost every possesion they had. United was extremely slow with their passing, taking two or three touches then getting their head up to look for a teammate but by then City had already taken the ball off of them and attacking goal. The first goal comes after Joao Cancelo hits a lovely cross into the box from Uniteds right.
Bailly tries to makes a sliding block on it but the ball ends up coming off his shin and into the back of the net. De Gea couldn’t do anything about it.
Complete Domination Leads to City’s Second
United only had one shot on target the entire match. In the 26th minute Shaw puts a cross into the box for an open Ronaldo who volley’s a first time shot right at Ederson. This was United’s only shot on goal in the whole 90 minutes. De Gea saved more shots from United players than Ederson did in the entire match.
After Ronaldo’s shot City would bombard De Gea’s goal with shot after shot. The Spaniard would end up making five world class saves in seven minutes alone in the first half. All of City’s possession would lead to their second in the 45th minute. Cancelo again, puts another dangerous ball into the box for Bernardo Silva who sneaks in behind Shaw and Maguire.
Shaw and Maguire totally switch off, leaving the ball thinking it’s going out to touch. Instead, Silva hustles in behind the lazy defenders and gets his foot on the ball and taps it in past De Gea. De Gea should have done better with Silva’s tap in but Shaw and Maguire should be dealing with that cross. More soft, lazy defending from a team that has no idea what they are doing. Them not knowing what to do comes from the non-existent coaching staff. The difference in class between the two teams was massive, it was like Roy Keane said “Men against boys” today. United go into half time down two.
Second Half
Luke Shaw came off with a head injury and Alex Telles would come on for him. United switched to a 4-3-3 formation after Shaw went off. Donnie Van der beak and Jordan Sancho would also make substitute appearances as Ole throws everything and the kitchen sink trying to get something from the match. City didn’t score any more goals but they didn’t have to. United would hardly get into City’s half of field with any meaningful possession. It was wholly embarrassing watching this match. United have to chance of challenging for titles with Ole in charge. It’s really hard to bring in great players like Sancho, Varane and one of the best ever Ronaldo to your team and actually end up worse but Ole seems to have done just that. This season is over for us, the best we can hope for is a top four finish at the most. With the Glazers in charge and all of their yes men making the meaningful decisions at United we are in trouble. They don’t have any ambition to win trophies, all they care about is squeezing as much money as they possibly can from this wonderful club and it breaks my heart. #GlazersOut
