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Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 11 points over cross-town rivals Manchester United thanks to two incredibly sloppy and needless goals conceded.
Jose Mourinho’s men let themselves down with a timid approach in the first half, and atrocious set-piece marking to concede two goals that were preventable.
Here are four things we learned from United’s crushing loss to Man City:
Paul Pogba is Manchester United’s midfield
It was, once again, alarming how influential Paul Pogba is on this Manchester United team. At various points throughout the derby, the Red Devils had no way out of their own half, resorting to long balls from Marcos Rojo or Nemanja Matic.
As expected, Ander Herrera failed to put his mark on the game and could not run the game in the way the Frenchman can. There actually is a considerable difference in quality between the two players, and so no one is blaming the Spaniard for not doing so.
But Mourinho needs to sort out his midfield and have extra players in his ranks to be able to call upon in times like these. It is not good enough to go into a derby where so much is on the line and then be completely dominated and have no real tactic to come out of their own half or to build possession.
United Struggle from set pieces
In the build-up to the match, many observers felt that one area that Manchester United could exploit was set-pieces. Especially in-swinging deliveries to the near-post as City have conceded from that area in recent matches against Huddersfield and West Ham.
In actual fact, City won the game with two set-piece goals of their own, and though they were in no small part down to the putrid defensive contributions of Lukaku, this was still a shock.
Conceding both goals in such a manner will irk Mourinho, who obsesses over the smallest of details and prides himself on his team’s defensive solidity. United contrived to lose a match via the avenue many felt would provide their biggest chance of success – which is deeply frustrating for fans and manager alike.
Lukaku cannot find a way out of his slump
It feels ingenious to criticize a lone striker in a game in which he was starved of service, but there is no getting away from the fact that Romelu Lukaku had an absolute nightmare here.
It was only David de Gea’s heroics that prevented the Belgian from conceding an own goal when defending a set-piece away at Arsenal last week and it was the striker’s dreadful contributions from dead balls that cost United the game.
He nodded the ball towards David Silva for the game’s opening goal and his wild, aimless clearance bounced for Nicolas Otamendi to net the winner.
In a game where every other United player strained, Lukaku was off the pace. He did not protect the ball well enough, and to top it all off, he missed an absolute sitter which could have leveled the match in the closing minutes, blasting straight at Ederson when a composed finish in either corner would have earned United a point.
Lukaku came with question marks over his ability to contribute in big games and he emphatically failed to deliver in the biggest match of the season so far.
The title race is all but over
After Manchester City took the three points back to the Etihad with them, the gap widened to 11 points. It would take a monumental effort to claw that gap back, especially with the form and style of play the Citizens are in.
Manchester United are not equipped to close that gap, with their best hope of doing so by winning the Manchester derby. By far and large, this is Guardiola’s title to lose now. They are the Champions-elect and worthy ones at that. City is ruthless while playing the best football in the league – they have every title-winning quality a club would want in abundance.
