Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City dominated Ruben Amorim’s ragged Manchester United in the derby at the Etihad.
Tributes were paid before the game to former boxing world champion Ricky Hatton, a prominent Manchester City supporter who died on Sunday, with a minute’s applause held before kick-off and both sides wearing black armbands.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, on his Manchester City debut, saved a first-half shot from Benjamin Sesko, making his first Premier League start, while Altay Bayindir, keeping his place ahead of new signing Senne Lammens, narrowly avoided embarrassment after a heavy touch from a backpass.
Bayindir was picking the ball out of his net on 18 minutes though when Jeremy Doku broke through and crossed for Phil Foden to score only his third Premier League header. Haaland made it 2-0 on 53 minutes after smart City build-up and should have scored again when he rounded Bayindir but hit a post.
No matter, as he was sent through on goal again on 68 minutes and tucked it away for 3-0, running free from inside his own half.
Tijjani Reijnders was also sent through in similar fashion but clipped his finish wide. The win takes City up to eighth with United now 14th, having won one of their opening four games.
Here The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell, Mark Critchley and Mark Carey break down the key talking points.
How did Haaland miss — and how many more is he going to score?
To any other mere mortal, hitting the post from such a big opportunity in a Manchester derby might be enough to knock your confidence.
Erling Haaland is not that type of striker. It was a calamitous miss from barely five yards out after 55 minutes, but the Norwegian was unruffled. Why? Well, he is one of Europe’s most prolific strikers for a start, but largely because he already had one goal in the bag only minutes earlier.
A delightful dinked finish from the left side of the box put City two goals up and out of sight, but Haaland was eager to add more to his tally. A breakaway attack saw Haaland run clear from a Bernardo Silva pass to slot past Bayindir in a one-v-one from the right side of the box for his second brace of the season. He had plenty of time to think about it but the finish was inch-perfect off the post to put City three goals up.
That makes it five goals from his opening four Premier League games, and the seventh (yes, seventh) goal he has scored this week, after putting five past Moldova for Norway on Tuesday. For those who are a fan of the numbers, Haaland’s eight goals against Manchester United are more than any other player across the past four seasons.
If you thought he might have had a quiet campaign last season, the 25-year-old looks keen to ensure there is no repeat of that this year. He also made six clearances in his own box.
Chances might come and go, but Haaland will always remain on the hunt for the next one — as all world-class strikers do.
Mark Carey
Did Amorim’s selection gambles work?
For somebody who gave a lot away about his line-up in Friday’s press conference, Amorim still sprung a surprise when submitting the teamsheet.
Manuel Ugarte, last seen hooked at half-time in defeat to Grimsby Town, started in midfield. That meant Casemiro was dropped to the bench where he was joined, predictably, by Kobbie Mainoo.
Amorim said Ugarte had to start from a “tactical perspective” as he wanted his players to cover ground and press. In fairness, the Uruguay international offered that in the early stages when United were bright and on the front foot.
But the change did not work. Even Ugarte’s ball-winning tenacity cannot cover for the gaps that seem to widen week by week in United’s midfield, which is now routinely being targeted, outnumbered and overrun by opponents, and he too was often easily played past, including on City’s opener.
Amorim’s side played well at times but were then cut open (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Bruno Fernandes fell asleep on that goal, failing to track a runner again, just as he did at Craven Cottage last month. Injuries gave Amorim the opportunity to restore his captain to a No 10 role but he persisted with playing him in the middle of the park, and United’s problems persisted there too.
The other two significant selection decisions were telegraphed on Friday: Amorim confirmed Bayindir would start in goal, despite a nervous nature that he did not shed for this derby. Goalkeeper remains a live issue.
Sesko’s first Premier League start was the other headline and though he was willing presence up front, he was often isolated. Amorim rolled the dice with each of those selections. None of them came off.
Mark Critchley
What next for Amorim?
The die was still to be cast on United’s start to the season before this game, after a very mixed bag of results and performances, and it still is, even after this second defeat in four, as damaging as losing the derby can be.
But the jury will not stay out for long. With an empty midweek without European football to be spent ruminating on this poor defeat, and then Chelsea visiting Old Trafford on Saturday, Amorim is facing another noisy week ahead.
It’s arguably more important that he picks up positive results — perhaps no fewer than six points — against Brentford and Sunderland in the weeks after that too, heading into the October international break.
Otherwise, pressure will mount. There was always going to be little margin for error at the start of this season, given how the last ended. Amorim will know United need to improve: quickly.
Mark Critchley
What was behind Foden’s fine performance?
When asked how important it was that Foden rediscovers his form of two seasons ago, when he was named PFA player of the year, Pep Guardiola was definitive.
“He’s the first,” he said. “I’m looking for the spirit to feel happy and the joy in every training session.”
On his first start of the season, it only took 18 minutes for the joy to be written all over Foden’s face.
Foden said after the game the win was for Hatton: “I had extra motivation going into the game. It was him and his family and people suffering right now.”
Guardiola embraces Foden after the win over United (Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Playing in a central role with Bernardo shuffled to the right flank, Foden found himself arriving into the penalty area at the perfect moment.
Doku made the goal by drifting inside and skipping past two players, but his dinked cutback still required some work. Foden steered his header deftly into the far corner.
As he sprinted to the corner, he grabbed his shirt and pointed to the crest before sliding to his knees. After a difficult last season which saw him struggle as he pointed to difficulties “off the pitch mentally”, the relief was palpable.
For the rest of the game, Foden played instinctively. The boyish enthusiasm was back. There was a drag-back turn in the first half and for the second goal, he produced an elastico pass — flipping the ball one way with his instep before rapidly changing direction with the outside of his boot — that saw City escape from wide on the touchline.
It remains to be seen how Guardiola hopes to deploy him most often but his role was fluid on Sunday and it unlocked a sense of freedom in his play.
No longer did it look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. When he plays like he is having fun, so do City.
Jordan Campbell
How did City open United up?
One of the key criticisms of Amorim’s tactical system is that it can be rather predictable to work out. So much so that opposition managers are comfortable speaking about their approach to unlock United’s shape after playing them.
“We knew how they defend and we know they like to squeeze from the back five,” Fulham boss Marco Silva said after their 1-1 draw with United.
“If you don’t give bodies for them to squeeze from the back five, you can create superiority in the middle. We know they play with two in the middle, we tried to overload with our three plus Alex (Iwobi). It was as simple as that.”
For City to unlock United in the 18th minute, the approach was just as simple — have bodies between the lines and pin the wide centre-back to prevent him from jumping forward. It was magical feet from Doku to dribble forward but credit must also go to Reijnders for occupying Luke Shaw to allow the Belgian to receive the ball in space.
The crazy thing was that United had all 11 players behind the ball when Rodri plays the ball into Doku, highlighting just how easy it was to get beyond their shape out of possession.
Run the tape back and you will see some suspect individual defending from United for the opener but it was an intelligent lead-up to the goal from City. To borrow Silva’s words, it was as simple as that.
Mark Carey
How did City pay tribute to Ricky Hatton?
“There’s only one Ricky Hatton,” sang the Etihad. The words could hardly be heard over the top of the minute’s applause for the former two-weight world champion boxer.
The derby was stung by the news that Hatton had been found dead at his home this morning, aged just 46.
Both clubs paid their respects before kick-off, with all 22 players wearing a black armband to mark a minute’s applause to celebrate his life.
There was no hint of partisanship from the 3,000 Manchester United supporters in the away end, and for good reason.
Hatton may have been a die-hard City fan but he was a son of Manchester first, a fighter who transcended red and blue and carried the city’s hopes with him to world title fights around the world.
Tributes are paid to Hatton (Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
It is the reason 30,000 fans traveled with him to Las Vegas when he fought Floyd Mayweather in 2007.
City were a club who meant a lot to him and he was a familiar face to many players. He fought Juan Lazcano at the Etihad Stadium, wore sky blue shorts, and used ‘Blue Moon’ as his walkout song.
Sunday’s rendition was emotional. Hatton was a boxer who wore his heart on his sleeve and never took a backwards step in his 48 bouts.
It was fitting that Foden, a boyhood fan of the club, was the player to land the first punch.
Jordan Campbell
What next for City?
Thursday, September 18: Napoli (home), Champions League 8pm UK, 3pm ET
What next for United?
Saturday, September 20: Chelsea (home), Premier League 5.30pm UK, 12.30pm ET
(Credit: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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