10-man Manchester City expose United in controversial derby win

Manchester City went down to 10 men and still gave Manchester United a lesson in how a derby should be played.

In a chaotic Manchester derby, City lost Phil Foden to a red card after just 23 minutes. What should have been the turning point in United’s favour instead exposed the gulf between the two sides.

Foden only had himself to blame. His kick out at Bruno Fernandes was reckless, unnecessary and gave the referee every reason to send him off.

Fernandes was fortunate, though. His role in the incident deserved greater scrutiny after he appeared to kick Foden first, and a yellow card would hardly have been controversial.

Before the dismissal, this looked like a proper derby. It was quick, aggressive and fiercely contested, with both sides desperate to take control.

Then everything changed.

United had the extra man. City had the response.

Rather than retreat, City took command. They moved the ball quicker, played with greater purpose and repeatedly pulled United apart. The team with 10 men looked organised and dangerous. The team with 11 looked lost.

What began as a spicy, evenly fought Manchester derby became a City onslaught and a deeply embarrassing afternoon for United.

If anything, the red card did not weaken City. It exposed United.

Haaland winner

In regard to the only goal of the game scored by Erling Haaland, as poor as United were. They have every right to be fuming with PGMOL.

I get Haaland was onside; however, Enzo Fernández was clearly impeding Lisandro Martinez’s vision, which distracted Martinez from seeing Haaland free on the back post.

That, to me, is clearly offside, because Fernández makes a deliberate attempt to head the ball.

The PGMOL has apologised and reported the incident, but that’s still not good enough.

The Premier League is supposed to be the best league in the world, and yet it produces some of the worst officiating we have ever seen.

Also, why is there no referee’s call? Surely, if a call isn’t clear, it should just go back to the referee’s original decision, shouldn’t it?

If it works fine in rugby and cricket, why not use it in football?

The reason for that is because in football, the decisions are split into two categories: factual and subjective.

The factual calls are based on offside and fouls, etc. The subjective calls are where the VAR needs to intervene, because the decision if its clear.

With that said, surely you can’t intervene with the on-field call, because that is clearly offside.

If Manchester United miss out on Champions League qualification by a point? This could be one of the games they’ll look back on to say that they were robbed.

Back to the game itself, City thoroughly deserved to win, and they exploited one of United’s biggest issues in controlling games in sustained possession without exposing themselves on the transition.

Sunday’s performance showed the gap in quality between both sides in the way that they approach big matches.

City’s players seem to step up and rise to the occasion, whereas United’s players seem to crumble under pressure.

The main reason for that is that United are a one-dimensional team who thrive at playing transitional football against high blocks.

City over the years have shown they can adapt to different styles of play due to their recruitment of players, coaches, and academy structure.

Ultimately, Sunday’s game showed that despite the controversies that sort of shifted the match in their favour, City still are the dominant force in Manchester.

It also emphasises the more work United need to do to close the gap on their noisy neighbours.

For more information on the Manchester derby, visit World in Sport.