MENDY REVEALS HALF-TIME TEAM TALK THAT INSPIRED CITY’S WIN
Guardiola’s men were keen to prevent repeat of last season’s derby collapse against United
Benjamin Mendy revealed Manchester City’s players issued themselves with a half-time warning to prevent a repeat of last season’s derby collapse.
Pep Guardiola’s side beat Manchester United 3-1 on Sunday and were a goal up through David Silva at the interval. But left-back Mendy said that they were conscious of their previous meeting in April, when Jose Mourinho’s team trailed 2-0 after 45 minutes and recovered to win the game, and eager to avert a sequel.
“In the dressing room at half time we had spoken about what happened in the derby last year, and we were telling each other not to let that happen again,” said the France international.
“We remember it went 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, so we had to stay focused, keep trying to play and make chances.
“Every player was saying the same thing: ‘OK, guys, don’t do the same as last year; be careful; pay attention.’ So when we came back on the pitch, we played better than the first half, so won the derby.”
Sergio Aguero added a second goal three minutes into the second half and after Anthony Martial gave United hope of mounting another memorable comeback with a goal from the penalty spot, substitute Ilkay Gundogan clinched victory for City. “Kun [Aguero] scored and then Gundogan and it was perfect,” Mendy said.
“We stayed focused. We know it was a derby, and for the fans, and for us, the team and the city it’s very important.”
Goalkeeper Ederson argued United were fortunate to only lose by two goals, such was City’s superiority, and that they could have extended their advantage.
“We did a great game and [got] a deserved win,” the Brazilian said. “We were way better than United, if we had pushed more we could have got a larger result.”
City had not conceded a league goal since January 1 until Ederson was beaten from the penalty spot on successive Sundays.
Both spot kicks – the first was both won and scored by Southampton’s Danny Ings – were conceded by Ederson, who is encouraged to come off his line by Guardiola but erred again when he fouled Martial.
“I haven’t watched the penalty yet,” said the 25-year-old goalkeeper. “I tried to retract my hands but had no time to do that.
“There was contact between us but I don’t know if it was enough for a penalty. It’s a quick decision in a moment of the game. I tried to get the ball, it happens.
“When a goalkeeper makes a mistake, there is no one to save the goal. A striker can miss four chances and still score the fifth. It’s different for a goalkeeper.”
Defeat leaves United in eighth place and with a negative goal difference. City midfielder Bernardo Silva, who set up his side’s first and third goals, suggested United are almost out of the title race as he warned their crosstown neighbours they have no margin for error now.
United are 12 points behind City and the Portuguese said: “It won’t be easy. Not only Man City – 10 points from Liverpool, a lot of points from the other ones as well. “They need to be almost perfect and wait for the other ones to lose a lot of points.”
United substitute Juan Mata said they have to reflect on what went wrong after what had been an encouraging week, following the Uefa Champions League victory over Juventus, ended on a sour note. “If after Turin we returned home happy and positive, after the Manchester derby we obviously felt the complete opposite,” the Spaniard wrote in his blog.
“It is a tough defeat to take because it is a special fixture. It is the time to analyse what we are doing well and where we have to improve, to make sure we’re at our best for the barrage of games that awaits us between now and the end of the year.”
Goalkeeper Ederson argued United were fortunate to only lose by two goals, such was City’s superiority
Twelve games into the Premier League season and Manchester City are 12 points ahead of Manchester United. City have never enjoyed such a gap over their crosstown rivals at the start of a season.
Asked after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium about being closer to 18th place Cardiff than City, Jose Mourinho said: “We are not going to be relegated.” Mourinho is right, of course. However, if it carries on like this then City will finish 38 points ahead of United, with more than last season’s 100 points and more than last season’s record 18-point gap between first and second.
And City would have excelled being without their best player Kevin de Bruyne, still nursing his way back from injury, for much of the campaign.
City are on course to shatter last season’s 106 goals – they might even get a 100 point goal difference if they keep up at the current rate.
It all makes grim reading for United fans. City kept up their average of three goals per game against United.
Mourinho’s men, meanwhile, hurtled to a fourth league defeat of the season.
United are the only team in the top 10 with a negative goal difference. “The way people that don’t understand football is analyse football with stats. I don’t go for stats,” Mourinho said. He does not – unless he is listing his achievements and titles won.
His strengths are his preparation, his attention to detail and his leadership. The Portuguese is still a formidable manager.
His double substitution in Turin last Wednesday was inspired as United came from a goal down to beat Juventus in a Uefa Champions League group match. However, a 10th place in the league and being already out of one domestic cup competition at the first stage is no place for United.
Mourinho also maintains that the league table will look very different come the end of the year, but the title race is all but over for United. This will be the sixth consecutive season United have failed not only to win the league but to mount a decent challenge.
Teams as good as City will not give up such a lead and Pep Guardiola is merely being magnanimous in stating that United are still in the battle at the top. It is easy to be generous when you are miles ahead.
City have not lost a game all season and not for nothing were United at their most unfancied to get a win there.
Youth players seldom get a chance, Mancunians too, but wins are all that matter to the vast majority of football fans.
United had scored late,
match-winning goals in recent weeks against Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Juventus. Those goals lifted the mood, but without Paul Pogba, who had been so influential in United’s comeback win at City last season, and with the outof-form Nemanja Matic – or Nemanja Static, as some fans have started calling him – it was always going to be tough against such an accomplished side who move the ball quickly in midfield.
The problem for United is not the way they finish games, but the way they start.
Too many goals are conceded early and the team leave themselves with much to do. United have gone behind in seven Premier League games.
Mourinho wanted a central defender over the summer and it is easy to see why: United have conceded more goals at this stage of the season than at any time in the past 50 years.
More stats, Mr Mourinho, but they are all relevant.
The comebacks make for exciting finales, but distort the overall picture. You do not need any stats to see that Ilkay Gundogan was in more space for City’s third goal than the International Space Station.
Little attention will be paid to United players talking about bouncing back and being positive. The sentiment is understandable, but talk is cheap. It is what happens on the field that matters and Manchester United have shipped a point per game to Manchester City this season.