Manchester City’s dominant derby win over United laid bare in eye-opening graphic

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Manchester United’s away game at City was a game to forget this year. Unlike last year’s enthralling 2-0 away victory, this time there was no appetite from United fans to search out the highlights for a re-watch. City won 4-1 with a particularly dominant second half display.

City on their part were outstanding and United just couldn’t live with them. The defending in the first half was comically poor, reverting to pre-Ralf Rangnick levels. In the second half United simply couldn’t win the ball back to even start to mount an attack.

This eye opening graphic shows just how dominant City were with their attacking play in the second half, and how non-existent United’s was.

This data is a fair reflection of how the game panned out, and it is troubling to reflect upon. City were totally dominant in the second half and United had only 21 per cent possession in the second 45 minutes.

The 4-1 scoreline depicted a team where one were clearly better than the other, and the 22 point gap in the Premier League table between the two teams.

Ralf knew it was over

Interim boss Ralf Rangnick said he knew the game was over as soon as City scored their third goal.

Rangnick told the club website: “This goal killed us off because then against a team like Manchester City, the best team in the world in possession of the world, if you then still try to chase the ball high up, then you take the risk to concede another two or three more goals.”

The players had not offered anything in the second half before the third goal, which was scored in the 68th minute.

After posing a threat in the first half, United came out flat after half-time, perhaps tired by the efforts in the first 45, stifled by City’s quality.

Jadon Sancho’s goal was a good, positive moment, but it was just a footnote on an embarrassing day for the Red Devils.

This is a club currently without a plan – the plan is to get a plan. At present the team is in limbo, and players seem to reflect this. This team is so far behind City it hurts, and the season is becoming a long and painful one to endure.