Pep has even got Sir Alex drooling

REPORTS is they will only get better. Their most significant victory so far was achieved without Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan, while Leroy Sane is not yet up to full speed and Brazilian wonder boy Gabriel Jesus will arrive in January.

United’s response was stone-age stuff. Mourinho is still in a honeymoon period but the lack of subtlety and imagination in United’s play, plus his team selection, will prompt many of their fans to ponder whether the best manager is now on the blue side of town. City’s movement and their assurance on the ball deserved more than two well-worked goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho. The only blemish was an erratic debut by their new keeper Claudio Bravo, whose cavalier style with hands and feet gifted Zlatan Ibrahimovic a goal just before the break and could have led to a penalty and a red card when he clattered into Wayne Rooney. But Guardiola praised the character of Bravo, who has replaced Joe Hart, for bouncing back and insisted the benefits the Chile keeper brings to building play from the back will be worth the frequent heart-in-themouth moments.

“Claudio was unlucky with the goal because he collided with John Stones,” he said. “But I like goalkeepers to attack the ball. I was impressed with his personality. He was one of the reasons why we played well.”

Guardiola will not compromise his philosophy of playing from the back.

“Can it be risky? Yes – if you lose the ball, they score,” he said.

“But I came here to play that way and until my last day in England I will tell my players to take the ball and play with it as much as possible.”

Mourinho was shocked by United’s first-half no-show, admitting he could have made three substitutions after only 20 minutes.

His decision to leave out in-form Marcus Rashford and play the woefully out-of-touch Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard backfired while worldrecord signing Paul Pogba made little impact on the sort of game he was bought to influence.

United improved with the half-time introduction of Rashford and Ander Herrera but City still had the better chances. So it’s first blood to Pep – and lots of it.

MAN UTD (4-2-3-1): Booked: Goal: (4-1-3-2):

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