Manchester United played a very dull 0-0 draw against Manchester City at Old Trafford with no fans in the surrounding.
United were granted a spot-kick in the 48th moment when Kyle Walker kicked Marcus Rashford’s foot in the crate however the choice was over-administered after VAR found the United striker had been in an offside position.
The outcome left United in the seventh-place with 20 points with City a point behind in eighth after 11 games. Pacesetters Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have 24 points from 11 matches before they play at Crystal Palace and Fulham individually on Sunday.
Without any fans inside a crisp Old Trafford because of COVID-19 limitations, the enthusiasm, and energy of the Manchester derby was missing however United will most likely be the more joyful of the two groups.
After their Champions League exit on account of RB Leipzig on Tuesday, United supervisor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expected to dodge the sort of result that may have brought up significant issues about his job. The Norwegian set his collaboration in one of the more moderate of his strategic varieties with only two strikers, three essentially cautious midfielders, and Bruno Fernandes accused of making openings.
On the off chance that the employment was to guarantee that United limited City and ground out a noteworthy draw then the structure worked – regardless of whether it was a long way from exciting for the fans watching at home. Man City had made the most obvious opportunity up to the punishment occurrence – a Riyad Mahrez shot spared by David De Gea in the 35th moment.
United’s most obvious opportunity came in the 54th when Paul Pogba put Rashford in on the left yet the striker slipped as he shot innocuously wide and their first exertion on objective didn’t come until an innocuous endeavour directed at City GK Ederson from Fernandes in the 88th.
Man City came up short on the radiance and sparkle of their best exhibitions with the utilization of Rodrigo and Fernandinho as a couple of holding midfielders showing administrator Pep Guardiola was likewise reluctant to go for a bust in this installation.
First and Second half – A game of skills and passes but no goals.
The game saw some crazy space passing from De Bruyne, Neat passing from both sides, pure insane skills from Sterling, Accurate crosses from Shaw, and sparkling moments from Bruno Fernandes. But all came with no end product. No goals scored even after both the teams had great chances. Bruno had some last moments to kill the game but he couldn’t. Even the first yellow card was received in the 79th minute for Harry Maguire. A Dull game after all.
A derby lacking intensity:
Gary Neville spoke about this in the post-match interview that this game didn’t had the quality to succeed as a real threatening derby. No pacy and urgent attacking display from both sides. They just kept the ball rolling in the backline without creating much goal scoring scenarios. Ultimately with no fans around, they were spared, or else there would have been sleepy faces in the stadium.
Man Utd are the only team in the Premier League this season yet to score a goal at home from their strikers.
The wait goes on. pic.twitter.com/zGIWEPHMfd
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 12, 2020
Lack of substitution:
There was just one substitution from both sides with the game mostly well settled. Solksjaer was reluctant to make any substitution and just brought on Martial for Greenwood at the 74th minute and even Pep wasn’t much interested in bringing anyone in either. Mahrez making way for Ferran Torres in the 66th minute. Solksjaer later spoke about this as he said that the game didn’t need many changes because everyone was well settled. The game lacked new faces and rather ran for a draw.
Solksjaer’s words after the match:
“In my time against Manchester City, that’s the best performance we have had. Not the best result but the best performance. It’s a mental challenge when that happens to you. The mental energy you spend trying to recover from Tuesday is huge. It was a big blow during the week so the way they recovered, worked, and how ready for the game my players were – I was very pleased with it, they had an exceptional attitude. We had some moments where we had to defend, in the second half there were times they pegged us back. But we stuck at it, defended really well. I’m happy with a clean sheet – in games like this when you have margins you can win or lose, so it is a fair result.”
What’s next for both sides:
Manchester United play Sheffield United whereas Manchester City will be playing against West Brom, both bring Premier league games next weekend.
