‘Outstanding’… Sky Sports pundit raves about one Manchester United star’s performance v City

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Stephen Warnock was left very impressed by one Manchester United defender despite losing 3-1 to Manchester City.

Manchester United’s dreary season continued on Sunday as they lost their 11th game of the season and a third straight Manchester derby.

Marcus Rashford had actually given Erik ten Hag’s side a surprise lead but they were unable to keep City at bay for 90 minutes.

United’s resolve was broken in the second half when Phil Foden scored a screamer of his own to level the score.

The 23-year-old scored again to complete the turnaround and Erling Haaland added a third late on to secure the win.

Though it was another disappointing defeat, United did show signs of improvement and were much more solid defensively than they have been in recent weeks.

Stephen Warnock picked out Raphael Varane in particular for a fine display at the back.

Stephen Warnock praises Raphael Varane

Speaking on Sky Sports’ The Football Show, Warnock said: “But what they did extremely well, and I thought he was outstanding on the day, was Varane’s positional sense.

“His understanding of where to be. This is him in the centre of the pitch, what he does extremely well is he never vacates this near post position.

“He knows he can’t let anything come into those positions. He did that [clear a dangerous cross] two or three times magnificently well.”

United need Varane to stay fit

Some wayward clearances aside, it was another very good display from Varane and just shows how valuable having your best defenders available is.

United have been ravaged by injuries all season and ended Sunday’s game with Willy Kambwala at right-back.

Varane has been sidelined a lot while Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all injured.

Even Jonny Evans wasn’t 100 per cent fit for the derby but started anyway.

Any team in the world would struggle under such strain but United really need to keep their best players, like Varane, fit if they are to enjoy any success in the remainder of the season.