On the 46th night since Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho last met in their first Manchester derby, Manchester United ran out 1-0 victors against their fierce rivals in the 4th round of the EFL Cup.
Guardiola made nine changes from the draw against Southampton on Sunday while Mourinho refused to rest his big guns. The first-half was probably one of the worst 45minutes of football you’ll ever see in a game filled with such expected talent.
The home side came out firing in the second though and Juan Mata’s opener gave them their just rewards. It was weak defending from centre-back duo Nicolas Otamendi and Aleksander Kolarov to allow Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mata to combine in the City box.
Guardiola brought on Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero in search of an equalizing goal – but in reality, City never came close. In fact, the sky blues were so toothless in attack they failed to register a single shot on David de Gea’s goal.
It’s now six games since Guardiola has celebrated a competitive win – the longest in his managerial career. Despite this, there were positives in City’s pair of young stars, Pablo Maffeo and Aleix Garcia. As much as some would like you to believe, City are in no crisis mode.
Here’s tonight’s player ratings.
