Man City vs. Man United: Winners and Losers from Manchester Derby
Manchester City beat Manchester United, 1-0, in the Premier League local derby on Sunday, with Sergio Aguero scoring the only goal of the game.
The entertaining clash featured many more penalty appeals turned down at both ends than might have been expected, along with a sending-off, numerous hefty challenges and a couple of injuries on United's side.
Here, we provide an overview of the game and pick out our winners and losers from the Etihad Stadium.
Losers: Juan Mata and Aleksandar Kolarov, the Early Casualties
1 of 5
Our first losers were branded as such even before kick-off.
With Radamel Falcao not making the matchday squad through injury, Juan Mata must have been hopeful of taking his place in the Manchester United starting XI once more, managing a rare three-game run in the lineup in the process—but instead found himself back on the bench.
Marouane Fellaini and Wayne Rooney both started in central midfield, leaving Mata to wonder if he fits anywhere into this United side now, just about a year after leaving Chelsea because of a lack of first-team opportunities.
Aleksandar Kolarov, meanwhile, was slated to start the derby—but he injured himself in the warm-up just minutes before the start of the game, having to be replaced in the XI by Gael Clichy.
Winner: David de Gea
2 of 5
The full-time score may have been 1-0, but the game could have been wrapped up by half-time if not for the interventions of United goalkeeper David de Gea.
Just as City started to get on top in the game, he was called upon to make two big saves within moments of each other, firstly from Jesus Navas from close range and then from Sergio Aguero, running in with a free shot at goal.
De Gea made further saves, including one spectacular stop from Stevan Jovetic, and generally put forth another first-class performance, which marks how far he has come as one of the league's top stoppers.
Loser: Chris Smalling
3 of 5
If awards were handed out for the most brainless sendings-off of the season, Chris Smalling would definitely be in the running for top prize.
In the already charged atmosphere of the Manchester derby, he first tested the patience of referee Michael Oliver with a late tackle, then was shown his first yellow for standing in the way of Joe Hart and putting up a foot to block his quick goal kick.
Just a few minutes later, if that one was pointless, his next booking was stupid. He was never reaching the ball ahead of James Milner and, instead of standing up and showing the winger to the corner flag, he went diving into a sliding tackle—and took out his rival. Second yellow, United down to 10 men for more than half the match.
And all this after Louis van Gaal had warned his players of the dangers of a sending-off, per Sky Sports:
"We don't want a red card because when it is 11 versus 10 it shall be very difficult to win this game so (talking about that) has also been a part of our preparation."
Winner: Kun Aguero
4 of 5
Sergio Aguero was denied by David de Gea in the first half, but he was not to be stopped after the break.
The Argentine was City's biggest threat throughout the fixture, with hard running and a robust mentality meaning he came back for chance after chance, even when the United back line buffeted him around somewhat unfairly at times and forced him wide to shoot on the angle.
When the goal came, it was no surprise that the league's top scorer notched it—the 10th of the season was dispatched clinically by Aguero to claim all three points for his team.
Losers?: Manuel Pellegrini and Louis van Gaal
5 of 5
Manuel Pellegrini will have been delighted to win both the derby and, in more general terms, three more points in the defence of his team's league title, but there was also still plenty to be concerned about following Manchester City's recent dip in form.
The final 15 minutes should have been comfortably played out; a goal to the good and with a man advantage, too, City should have easily kept United at bay. Instead, the nerves and bad decision-making, borne out of the last three games which had yielded no wins, reared their heads to ensure the home team were far from at ease. They gave the ball away, sat too deep and conceded ridiculous fouls to keep themselves under pressure, while the crowd didn't help, either.
Louis van Gaal, for his part, will have been most disappointed by further injuries to his back line.
Already without a number of defenders, he lost Chris Smalling to the foolish red card in the first half and then Marcos Rojo to a suspected dislocated shoulder after he came racing out to make an ill-fated tackle. Elsewhere, Robin van Persie had no impact on the game, his team could have easily had four penalties given against them and, of course, they lost the match itself—that's no wins in the last three league matches now.
