Man Utd biggest issue v City was exposed before a ball had even been kicked, it’s holding team back

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Manchester United were beaten against Manchester City at the weekend in a result which was not at all surprising.

A 3-1 loss was about what you would expect from this Manchester United team against City, although there was 45 minutes of hope with Erik ten Hag‘s side leading at half-time.

An unstoppable strike from Marcus Rashford gave United the lead, and the gameplan after that was to defend it and continue trying to hit City on the counter.

There was no ‘plan B’. And this was exposed particularly once City took the lead. But you could see this before the game had even kicked off.

Manchester United bench not strong enough

Manchester United put together the team’s best possible starting line-up at The Etihad, from the players who were available. And there were lots of high profile players missing.

Big investments Harry Maguire (£80 million), Rasmus Hojlund (£64 million), Lisandro Martinez (£57 million) and Mason Mount (£55 million), to name just a few.

And what this meant was that by time you get down to the substitute’s bench, there was not a lot of substance in reserve.

Here is a look at the bench options United had in the defeat…

• Antony – An expensive signing and an inarguable flop with just one goal and one assist all season, he has been totally ineffective.
• Willy Kambwala – Defensive depth, a player with one professional start in his career.
• Sofyan Amrabat – An international player who should have been a decent bench option, but not a game changer.
• Christian Eriksen – A good back-up, ill-suited to a game of this intensity. He has lost the faith of his manager, with one start in 2024.
• Omari Forson – A talented inexperienced prospect with one career start.
• Amad – Exciting prospect with no league starts this season, yet to win over the manager.
• Toby Collyer – A young defensive midfielder with no professional minutes to his name.
• Habeeb Ogunneye – A young full-back with no first team minutes in his career so far.
• Altay Bayindir – Back-up goalkeeper.

It was clear before kick-off that if Manchester United were going to need to make changes, there were very few options. Antony and Sofyan Amrabat were the only two that it felt likely the manager would turn to at some stage.

City in contrast had Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Julian Alvarez among their substitutes, giving manager Pep Guardiola a wider, more experienced variety of options.

United’s injury crisis this season has been near unprecedented, coming into this game with just one fit full-back. A team like City will eventually expose this.

But the biggest weakness was clearly a lack of attacking options, which always left United up against it.

Substitutions don’t help United

Erik ten Hag made four changes in total, and some of these were guided by his post-match revelation that two players started who were not fully fit, Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans.

Evans was the first player substituted at 1-1, with Kambwala brought on, which required a total defensive reshuffle, with the youngster moving to right-back, Diogo Dalot to the left, and Victor Lindelof shifting back into the middle.

This disruption played into City’s hands. Antony then replaced Marcus Rashford, but struggled to get a foothold in the game with the home side dominating possession.

After City took a 2-1 lead, Forson and Amrabat came on in the 82nd minute, replacing Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.

This change ended up being a net negative rather than a help, with Amrabat giving the ball away for City’s third.

United should have better options. Perhaps whoever the team brought on would not have been able to stop City yesterday, but those were the team’s available players, whoever the opponent was. The team requires more game changers.

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