Chapter 1: What were the key moments in the Manchester derby?
Goalless in the Manchester derby and here's something of a mutual appreciation society. Certainly Guardiola was glowing about Michael Carrick in the week. Perhaps Carrick more happy with his night's work than Pep. Here's with Geoff Shreves.
Michael, in the context of the game, is that a really good battling point for United? It is in the end, yeah. I think it's a point gained for us. We would love to come here and win the game. We aimed to do that at the start of the game. We thought we could catch them on the break. We did have a couple of chances, but we obviously had to defend for large spells of the game.
But I thought overall we'd done that very well. Apart from the end when there was a bit of excitement and a bit of a flurry at the end there, I thought we'd seen the game out very well. Did it make it an even better point, the fact you did go down to 10? It always does, I think, yeah. Obviously, it makes things a bit more difficult when you go down to 10.
I know there wasn't too long left, but then when six minutes goes up, it's an awful long time to see how... But we managed to do that before we did it. Intelligent, done it well. It's a point, you know, it's tight up there, where we are at the moment, it's very tight, and it's a point that we can take from the game and move on.
And the fact that it's still in your hands as well to finish in the top four, that also makes it an extra good point. Well, of course, yeah. I think a lot of people made out before the game between us and City, but there's a bigger picture than that at the moment. Obviously, Liverpool are in that mix as well, and at the moment we're in a decent position. There's a lot of work to do, though.
So you're having warm words with Pep at the end. What was he saying to you? Because he praised you in the week, saying you were one of the best he's ever seen. Yeah, nothing, mate. It's just congratulations and well played. He's obviously a terrific manager, and he's had success wherever he's been, and I've got a lot of respect for him.
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Chapter 2: How did Manchester United manage to secure a draw against Manchester City?
It was a nice sporting moment. Thanks, Michael. Cheers. Thanks, Geoff.
But no goals at the Etihad. One red card, that from Marouane Fellaini, his fourth in English football, second... Sorry, first for two years. 19 attempts from Manchester City, nine of those from Sergio Aguero. So he had three times more than Manchester United managed. They managed just one on target. Let me draw your eye to the possession. Manchester United with 31%.
That is a new record low since Opta started recording the data way back in 2003, beating the previous low of Red Monday when they went and did a similar job at Anfield. So, Thierry, is that a job well done then for Manchester United?
Well, I guess that's what they wanted to do. I mean, Michael Carrick said that they wanted to get them on a break. They obviously didn't have possession. We said that at the beginning of the game. I kind of thought that maybe Jose Mourinho was going to do something that we didn't expect, but we expected that. And, well, they got a point. Very important.
We all know that they have to go at wide-out lane. They have to go still at the Emirates. I just thought that the game wasn't a great game of football, but a very important point for United.
Were you surprised, Frank, by how little attacking threat Manchester United show? This is a manager that you've played under for so long.
Slightly surprised. As Thierry said, I think we did feel that he was going to defend deep and sit behind the ball. They did it more, I think, than we imagined. The first 20 minutes had a couple of opportunities, but they definitely played for that. I mean, they never overcommitted players at any stage.
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Chapter 3: What impact did Marouane Fellaini's red card have on the game?
I think Martial played like almost a left back at times. an 80% left back. He wasn't sprinting everywhere. I think I'll give real credit to the midfield. I won't give credit to Fellaini for what happened at the end, but for Herrera and Michael Carrick, they worked their socks off. The back four shuffled side to side. They dropped very deep. It wasn't a one for the purists, but they played for it.
And when you look at the table, maybe you realise why they played for it. It's in their hands still, and they've come here and got what they wanted.
Well, let's have a look at the big moments in that final ten minutes. You talk about Marin Fellaini. Sum up what happened to him in those mad two minutes.
I can't... It's hard to sum it up because he gives away a strong yellow card. This is a solid yellow card. We all know the card's coming up here. First foul, he says. Yeah, and, you know, he deserves it. It's a yellow card foul. I think you get about towards eight seconds until he commits another one, which is maybe not even eight seconds, but that might not be a yellow. I'm not sure.
So if I'm Fellaini now, I'm thinking, how do I get out of this? Act like I'm a bit innocent and then bang, a headbutt. And now you can talk about Aguero. Aguero went in his face, a bit of criticism of him, but the forward motion... It's a headbutt. So he needs to go and speak to his teammates who played 80 minutes and he left them 10 minutes running around with 10 men trying to defend.
He needs to apologise to his teammates in the dressing room. Is that defendable, Thierry?
No, he knows.
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Chapter 4: What did the panel think about Manchester United's defensive strategy?
He knows. Obviously, he's on the field. He's going to say, I didn't touch him. He's not going to the ref and say, yes, I touched him. He knows that he shouldn't have done that. We can talk also about Aguero. If you do that, I'm not going to stay on my feet. It's part of the game. You're touching me. I go down and let the referee decide. But yes, I think that Marwan is going to see that.
Well, he knows exactly what he did. He knows that is wrong. That's three fouls in what? 15 seconds.
Yeah, if that, yeah.
But definitely a red. Incredible.
Honestly, I swear, if you make that second foul, you think, I don't want to, can I get out of this, can I look innocent, can I step away, you know, defuse it, and then you compound it with a certain red card.
And right in front of Martin Atkinson as well, presumably it's a three-game ban, he'll miss Swansea, Arsenal and Spurs. Tricky games to come for Manchester United. Then Manchester City have the ball in the net, just in front of us, Joey, the whole crowd is on its feet, but did they get that one right?
Yeah, it was an offside. And you sense that Gabriel Jesus is always finding himself in some situation at the end of free kicks. I like his little movement there. He goes away from Daley Blint. But what he needed to do is to go in front of him. He went behind him. By going behind him, he gets offside. If he goes in front of him, you're always going to be onside.
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Chapter 5: How did the players' performances affect the match outcome?
And that was the difference there. Just over-eager then? No, no, no. I think he did a great movement. But by going that way, you're always going to be upside. And then this big moment.
You wouldn't want it to fall to anyone else, Frank, surely? No, you don't. But I have to give him credit there. He's stretching. And as we're watching the ball come in, we all think it's going to go. When you watch it again, you see that he's stretching. Myself and Thierry are speaking there at the end.
Can he just lighten his foot and just get a tiny little touch in there which drops it back down in the goal for someone else to tap in? But in the moment, that's tough. In the last moment of a game, you're trying to stretch everything to get that goal when you get too much contact.
Frustration in the end, then, for Manchester City, bussing a gut to find the winner, which didn't come. Vincent, company now with Geoff Shreves.
Vincent, is there a strong sense of two points dropped there tonight?
Yeah, I think you can say that. I mean, I can't remember a season in which we have dominated so much, the big teams especially, and got so little results out of it. You know, today was the same a little bit as what happened against Arsenal, same a little bit as what happened against Chelsea. I think the difference is we probably got a point out of it. In that sense, it's not so bad.
But, I mean, we never feel like the game was really difficult or it never felt like they were a threat. We just don't seem to finish them off, you know. And that's happened a lot of times this season. Good games, but just not the result.
In terms of the threat they did offer, was it a case of your experience and know-how against their youth and pace?
Yeah, definitely.
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Chapter 6: What were Pep Guardiola's thoughts on the team's performance?
I mean, they are lightning quick. And with a bit more experience, I think it's going to cause a lot more troubles. But today was just a case of having played so many games against fast strikers and just knowing what to do. But... I think he's got what is Rashford and Martial.
I think they've got so much ability and they've got a bright future ahead of them, but experience gives you that little bit of an advantage. And other than that, we did really well. We covered the space well. I thought we pressed really high. We knew who to control and who to keep off the ball. Created chances.
I think we had more shots on goal, but it just doesn't seem to fold the right side of the line for us.
Biggest talking point will be the red card. Mario Mfuleni, teammate of yours at international level. Is that out of character for him?
No, I don't get involved. He's my teammate ultimately. Whether he's red or blue, I support him in every way. I don't want to get involved. The main thing was that I thought it wasn't changing a lot to the game. I think he was obviously a big presence for his team going forward. but ultimately we had a lot of possession and we just lacked that little bit of an edge maybe to bury the game.
Confident you can still make the top four? Yeah, of course. I mean, there's nothing in the performance that needs to be worrying us. I think that we've made so much progression actually since probably the last year or so. The only issue I think is we're that far away of actually clicking and being an extremely powerful side, but...
It's all about percentages, and at the moment we just don't have enough.
Vincent, thank you. Good to see you.
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Chapter 7: What challenges do both teams face moving forward in the league?
And to reiterate, just that point means it's still in the hands of Manchester United and Manchester City to finish in the top four. Both could still do it. Let's bring in Jamie Carragher's analysis at this point. Jamie, it didn't add to the spectacle, but should we actually admire Manchester United's defensive organisation again tonight?
Well, not just Manchester United, I think especially Jose Mourinho. I mean, Frank's mentioned in the studio, and he's spot on, he knows him better than anyone, that he's come here to do a job. And since he's come back to England in his second stint, he's had six nil-nils away from home against the top six, so there's no one better than him to go in there and get the job done.
And City, Arsenal, Liverpool will be looking at Manchester United's fixtures away at Arsenal, away at Tottenham, but no-one's better at going somewhere, getting a job, and sometimes he nicks it. It's not just nil-nil. But I just want to look at the role of Manchester United's full-backs tonight. And I spoke in the game about how disappointed I was, really, with Manchester City's wide players.
Now, you see how wide they go. And it's not just the full-backs, it's the help they got. So you now see Kevin De Bruyne there in that position. But look at that wide player, one of the central midfield players, so you always have that triangle around the ball. And it's Mkhitaryan who comes away with the ball. We're going to look at the other side now. That was the space I spoke about all night.
That was the only bit of space there was, because Fellaini played a little bit higher to get in behind Fellaini, but as they get in behind him, the ball comes to Raheem Sterling, and we stop it there now, and look at that. There's actually four players around him. Now, that was the job. You know how vital wide players are in a Pep Guardiola system.
They stretch the play, they look to switch it, and you've got to get across and help your full-back. This is the full-backs with the ball. Now, you've just seen Damian in possession. He's on that side, and you have Valencia on this side. And you can see when they're in possession, don't get involved. Certainly don't go ahead of the ball.
Now, normally, when your wide player comes inside, that's licence for your full-back. Every team does that.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of this draw for the top four race?
Wide man inside, full-back overlap. But you see Valencia's position, holds his position there, plays it again, would be a case again. Normally, in most games, Manchester United or any full-back, winger inside, you overlap on the outside to create width. So you've now got Damian not interested in joining the play, Valencia, and that's so they don't get caught on the counter-attack.
And that's why Manchester United had so little possession, because you've got less options then, obviously, to pass the ball,
and you just see them always behind the ball, and that's the way they were in the game, that was the template of the game, and again, it's Mourinho nullifying another top manager in another big game, and it gives them a great chance now, it's in their own hands, of getting top four without winning the Europa League.
Jamie, thank you very much. Gary Neville has joined us. Gary, is this something that Manchester United could be really proud of moving forward, this ability to keep clean sheets in these big games?
Yeah, I think step two is to go and score a goal. If you think of the performance away at Anfield earlier in the season, it was very similar. I think if I'm sat here in 12 months' time, I think Jose Mourinho, if he's sat here in 12 months' time, will be thinking the next stage is now go and win those games.
He did it many times at Chelsea, where you have that resilience, that robustness, the tough mentality that he's put into this squad. 24 games unbeaten is an amazing achievement. The next step is go and win the games. I think that seems to be a little bit further away. There's no doubt, I think both teams, you would argue, Jose Mourinho, if he's analysing it in his post-match,
with his team would probably say they failed in an attacking sense because they didn't do what he wanted to do and that was going to hurt Manchester City on the counter-attack and they didn't get close enough to Rashford.
Do you think, Frank, there is an evolutionary process going on here with Jose and the first port of call is sort the defence?
Yes, yes, and he's done that. I think all season they haven't conceded so much. You can see that they can do the job when they need to do the job when he's organised them there, but you are slightly disappointed they didn't get that much. I think he's... He didn't want to bet on his team going toe-to-toe with Manchester City today. I think player for player, the attacking player City had.
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