"There's many things we can do better...some players weren't good today" 😳
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 2, 2022
Man City boss Pep Guardiola reflects on his sides Manchester derby victory 🔵 pic.twitter.com/z90X6PNhCH
That’s it for today’s blog. Thanks for your company and emails – goodnight.
Erik ten Hag’s reaction
[What went wrong?] Lack of belief. I’m surprised we didn’t bring it on the pitch. It’s four weeks ago [United’s last league game] but I had seen a different team, a different spirit and offencement [sic]. Today we didn’t have offencement, we were not on the front foot and we were not brave in possession.
“It’s difficult [to explain the performance] straight after the game. I need to talk to my players. They know they can do better. If you don’t fight – and we didn’t – you’ll have a problem against a team like Man City. I don’t think you can compare this [to the Brentford game]. Against Brentford we didn’t run; today we didn’t follow the principles, we were indisciplined. Once again, it was a lack of belief.
Here’s Jamie Jackson’s report from the Etihad
Offfttt… What a day at the Etihad!! Manchester is BLUE 😍💙💙💙💙 pic.twitter.com/N6wRokVUxP
— Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) October 2, 2022
Christian Eriksen speaks
It was a very, very bad day at the office. We started on the wrong foot - they had chances straight from the kick-off - and we can only blame ourselves for not coming into the game at any point.
We missed a bit of courage to play out from the back. There’s a lot of things we need to change and do better. It was unacceptable.
Man City become only the 3rd side in @premierleague history to have 2️⃣ players score hat-tricks in a single match, after....
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) October 2, 2022
Arsenal 6-1 Southampton - Pennant & Pires, May 2003
Southampton 0-9 Leicester - Perez & Vardy, Oct 2019 pic.twitter.com/0XtZYREiIV
I suspect Erling Haaland and Phil Foden prepared for this game a little differently to Jermaine Pennant in 2003.
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There’s another Premier League game this afternoon: Leeds v Aston Villa. John Brewin is your man for that one.
The hat-trick heroes speak
Phil Foden
It’s a dream come true, being a City fan. We were right at it from kick-off and we took our chances. [Who gets the matchball?] I think we get one each, no?
Erling Haaland
Yeah, not bad. We scored six goals, what can you say? It’s nice. We always want to go forward, we always want to attack. This is what I love about the team. In the end, it’s amazing. There’s nothing more to say.
🗣️ "𝙒𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝, 𝙣𝙤?" 👀
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 2, 2022
Erling Haaland & Phil Foden on who will get to keep the match ball after they both scored a hat-trick in the Manchester derby. pic.twitter.com/Ics1jT25CZ
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The scoreline flatters United, who were 6-1 down before the substitute Anthony Martial scored a couple of late facesavers. It was a very strange second half, mainly because the game was already over.
Full time: Manchester City 6-3 Manchester United
Peep peep! Manchester City move to within a point of Arsenal after butchering Manchester United in an incredible game at the Etihad. Phil Foden and Erling Haaland both scored hat-tricks, and the match was all over when City led 4-0 at half-time.
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90+1 min I did promise it wouldn’t be 0-0, but I didn’t expect nine goals.
90+1 min What a peculiar game of football.
GOAL! Man City 6-3 Man Utd (Martial 90 pen)
Anthony Martial curls the penalty into the top-right corner. You don’t save those.
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PENALTY TO MAN UTD Martial is fouled just inside the area by Cancelo, and Michael Oliver gives it.
89 min Casemiro pings one from distance, and Ederson falls to his left to push it away. Decent strike.
88 min City aren’t even top of the league, yet it feels like the title race is over.
86 min Antony shoots straight at Ederson from a tight angle. He had Eriksen in a better position in the middle.
85 min Gomez’s corner is headed wide by Laporte.
85 min Alvarez misses a good chance to make it seven, miscontrolling Palmer’s low cross at the near post.
Eriksen sprayed a good pass out to Shaw on the left. He pushed it infield to Fred, who scampered past Akanji and hammered a shot from a tight angle that was beaten away by Ederson. Martial was first to react, heading the bouncing ball into the net from six yards.
GOAL! Man City 6-2 Man Utd (Martial 84)
It’s 6-2!
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82 min A bit of news from elsewhere: Wolves have sacked Bruno Lage.
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80 min The City fans enjoy a bit of olé football until Fernandes fouls Akanji. He gives the referee a serve and is booked.
79 min “Haaland deserves his plaudits but it is worth noting that de Bruyne features in your descriptions of four of the six goals,” says Colum Farrelly. “His contributions are more subtle but he continues to be an essential part of City’s magnificence.”
His pass for the the which one was it third goal was sublime.
A reflection of how far United have fallen that the Etihad isn't really rocking. City fans are so used to seeing the team annihilate opponents it's almost expected. This result would have been seismic yesteryear. Not anymore.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) October 2, 2022
76 min Haaland has a shot blocked by Lindelof. I was going to say this could get messy.
75 min A quadruple substitution for City. Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez, Cole Palmer and Julian Alvarez replace Foden, De Bruyne, Grealish and Gundogan.
Beast stays on.
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74 min This is bonkers.
Haaland was challenged by Casemiro, with the ball running through to Foden in the area. He controlled the ball on the half turn and swept it emphatically past de Gea at the near post.
GOAL! Man City 6-1 Man Utd (Foden 73)
Phil Foden has completed his hat-trick!
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72 min City are without four of their first-choice XI as well.
71 min After a decent spell of possession for United, Antony shoots well wide from 25 yards.
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70 min Man Utd make their final change – Fred replaces the sadly anonymous Jadon Sancho.
70 min Fernandes’s lofted pass is taken off Shaw’s head by the stretching Cancelo. Good defending.
67 min Fernandes’s deflected long-range shot drops towards the unmarked Sancho on the six-yard line, but he can’t control the spinning ball. That was a chance.
We’ve never seen the like. City got their usual overload on the left, with De Bruyne finding Gomez in space. His precise cross bounced just in front of Haaland, 10 yards out, and he pinged it first-time past de Gea. That’s a savage finish. There’s a VAR check for offside against Gomez, but the goal stands.
Updated
GOAL! Man City 5-1 Man Utd (Haaland 64)
Erling Haaland gets his third consecutive Premier League hat-trick at the Etihad!
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64 min: Just wide from Haaland! City open United up with two straight passes: first Ake to Bernardo Silva and then Silva to Haaland, galloping from centre to left. He takes the shot on the run and whips it into the side netting.
Bernardo Silva has had a great game today.
62 min Here’s that excellent consolation goal from Antony.
"So you're saying there's a chance..." 👀
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 2, 2022
Antony pulls one back for Man United with 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓 strike! 🇧🇷🔴 pic.twitter.com/OuCNpkIi4Z
61 min Grealish, who has had one of his best days as a City player, wins a corner off Dalot. De Bruyne’s deep corner is headed back across goal by Ake towards Akanji, whose looping header is nodded away by Dalot in the six-yard box. I think it was going wide anyway.
59 min: Double change for Man Utd Casemiro and Anthony Martial replace Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay.
Eriksen’s crossfield pass was missed by Grealish and collected by Antony. He cut inside, hugging the ball on his left foot, and hit a surprise, curling shot from 25 yards that flashed past Ederson and into the far corner. That was a brilliant strike, hit with very little backlift.
Updated
GOAL! Man City 4-1 Man Utd (Antony 56)
Antony pulls one back with a terrific strike.
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54 min United keep the ball for a while on the edge of the City area, but then Shaw’s forward pass is intercepted. It’s all a bit quiet, with City understandably struggling to recreate their first-half performance.
51 min Gomez wins the first corner of the second half. De Bruyne swings it deep and Lindelof heads clear.
51 min That Foden shot aside, it’s been a quiet start to the second half.
49 min Man Utd have now conceded at least four goals in five of their last 10 league games away from home.
47 min “Ronaldo moved to play as a striker because he wasn’t able to run up and down the flank all day,” says Ben Dunn. “Well, that’s what Haaland looks like, only it’s as if someone moved Ronaldo to striker when he was 22.”
Coincidentally, 22 is how many goals he’ll have for the season in about a week’s time,
46 min Foden almost gets his hat-trick in the first minute of the second half! Martinez and Shaw dithered over a loose ball on the edge of the area. Foden didn’t: he burst past them and smacked a shot from a tight angle that was beaten away by de Gea.
46 min Manchester City begin the second half. United have brought on Luke Shaw for Tyrell Malacia, who had a beast.
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“After half an hour,” says Zach Neeley, “I almost emailed to say this felt like a stereotypical Pep frustrating game where they’d regret their dominance leading to one goal instead of many before being suddenly pegged back (saved by laziness) but 15 minutes later the big ponytail has done exactly what he was brought here to do.”
Erling Haaland department “Of course, it usually takes players a year or so to adjust to This League and its Unique Physicality,” says Matt Dony. “Just imagine how good the Blond Andy Carroll will be next year…”
Half time: Manchester City 4-0 Manchester United
Crikey. Manchester City have had some huge derby wins in the modern era, but I’m not sure they’ve ever dominated United as much as they did in that first half. Phil Foden and the terrifying Erling Haaland scored two apiece, while Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne hit the woodwork. United were dreadful, a bag of nerves, but City have been quite awesome.
𝐒𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 🤯🤯
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 2, 2022
What a move by Manchester City 👏 pic.twitter.com/kGWIa7vK4K
Even by City’s standards, this is awesome. De Bruyne roared through midfield and found Haaland in space on the left. He slid a wonderful, De Bruynish low cross towards the far post, where Foden got the wrong side of Malacia and rammed the ball gleefully past de Gea. For the second time this season, Manchester United are 4-0 down in the first half.
Updated
GOAL! Man City 4-0 Man Utd (Foden 44)
Two for Haaland and now two for Phil Foden!
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41 min: Manchester City substitution Sergio Gomez replaces the injured Kyle Walker, which means Cancelo will switch to right-back.
40 min: Manchester United substitution Victor Lindelof replaces Raphael Varane, who hasn’t recovered from that awkward landing when he blocked Foden’s shot at 1-0.
40 min There’s a break in play while Kyle Walker receives treatment.
39 min Bruno Fernandes shoots straight at Ederson from distance. Erling Haaland, meanwhile, has now scored eight goals in his last two and a half Premier League games on this ground.
This is devastating stuff from City. Grealish surged through midfield and found De Bruyne in the inside-right channel, 25 yards out. He flipped a glorious ball around Varane towards Haaland at the far post. Haaland slid onto it, watched the bounce carefully and studded the ball past de Gea. That’s a quietly brilliant finish, because the bounce was rwally awkward.
Updated
GOAL! Man City 3-0 Man Utd (Haaland 37)
Erling Haaland is unstoppable!
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37 min One strange thing about Haaland’s goal is that he was originally being marked by Christian Eriksen. He lost him easily enough and then got up so early that McTominay couldn’t challenge him. The rest was a formality.
35 min I’d like to see that De Bruyne shot again, because I’m not certain de Gea got a touch. Not that United can really complain about the scoreline. They’ve been battered.
That De Bruyne shot which hit the bar was given as a corner, so presumably de Gea got a touch. De Bruyne curled the corner towards the six-yard line, where Haaland got above McTominay and powered a header past de Gea. Malacia hooked it away but the ball was over the line when he did so.
GOAL! Man City 2-0 Man Utd (Haaland 34)
Erling Haaland scores!
Updated
33 min I think Varane twisted his ankle when he landed after blocking that Foden shot. He’s on his feet but limping a little.
Updated
31 min: Good block from Martinez! Foden’s long-range shot hits Varane, who stays down, and runs to Grealish on the left of the area. He cuts inside Dalot and hammers a shot that is superbly blocked in the six-yard box by Martinez. City keep playing until De Bruyne hits a dipping long-range shot that brushes the top of the crossbar.
30 min Antony cuts inside, away from Grealish, but then overhits a cross that goes behind for a goalkick.
29 min De Bruyne shoots wide from 20 yards after a return ball from Grealish. City must have had the ball for around 90 seconds before that shot.
27 min Nothing comes of the corner.
26 min Eriksen’s crossfield pass is intercepted by Cancelo and City are off again. Cancelo combines with Grealish to win a corner, the first of the game, off McTominay.
Updated
23 min A dreadful ball from McTominay (I think) goes straight to Grealish. He slaloms into the area and is well tackled by Martinez. Moments later, Malacia is booked for pulling down Foden. United are all over the show.
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22 min United’s attacking players have been peripheral, particularly Antony and Sancho. I’m not sure the team needed a reality check after four straight wins, but they’re getting one.
21 min: Just wide from Foden! City could be out of sight already. Grealish plays in the underlapping Bernardo Silva, who holds off Dalot near the byline and cuts the ball back towards the penalty spot. It’s collected by Foden, who takes a touch and rifles just wide of the left post.
20 min City have been fantastic so far. Foden plays in the underlapping De Bruyne, whose low cross is blocked at the near post by Martinez.
18 min: Gundogan hits the post! It was a lovely free-kick, curled around the outside of the wall. De Gea didn’t move and the ball pinged off the outside of the right-hand post.
Updated
17 min Grealish, who looks bang up for this, scurries infield from the left, plays a one-two with Haaland and is chopped down by Martinez on the edge of the D. This is a chance for De Bruyne…
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16 min Akanji’s overhit backpass is kept in play by the stretching Ederson. Rashford collects on the left wing but is then shouldered off the ball by Akanji.
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15 min Fernandes’s crossfield pass is missed by Walker and reaches Sancho on the left of the area. He waits for support and then plays it back to Eriksen on the edge of the area, but he stumbles into the ball and knocks it harmlessly through to Ederson.
14 min A bit of possession for United, until Malacia lets the ball run under his foot and out for a throw-in. Erik ten Hag looks displeased by their start.
13 min Here’s the opening goal from Phil Foden.
Phil Foden FIRES Man City ahead! 💥 pic.twitter.com/KgH60TPrsT
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 2, 2022
12 min Dalot, who is on a yellow card, fouls Grealish again. He already looks frazzled. Foden’s free-kick is headed back across goal and then cleared by Eriksen.
9 min That finish was not dissimilar to the goal Foden scored at Chelsea when City turned their season round with a 3-1 win in January 2021. He’s very good at wrapping his foot around low crosses from the left.
Updated
Phil Foden has put City in front. Inevitably, it came down the left, where City are having so much joy. Cancelo played a simple pass to the overlapping Bernardo Silva, who dragged a precise low cross towards the near post. Foden, unmarked, swept a first-time shot past de Gea. That’s a really good finish.
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GOAL! Man City 1-0 Man Utd (Foden 8)
It’s been coming.
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7 min A dodgy square ball from Grealish goes straight to Sancho, but he is well challenged by Akanji. That was an important tackle.
6 min It’s been a really confident start from City. No surprise really: they have won their last seven home games in the league, scoring 30 goals in the process.
3 min: How did City not take the lead?! Silva’s lofted cross from the left is headed back across goal by Haaland, who stayed in the air for an age, and half cleared by McTominay. De Bruyne’s follow-up is beaten away by de Gea, and then Silva’s shot is desperately blocked by McTominay.
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2 min Dalot is booked for flattening Grealish.
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2 min Both formations are as expected. Haaland gets his first few touches and is fouled by Varane near the halfway line.
2 min “It may be moot in an hour or so,” says Neill Brown, “but if one manager needs to change things or chase the game with 20 minutes to go, I think I’d rather have Utd’s substitutes than City’s. Can’t wait for this one.”
1 min Peep peep! United, kicking from right to left as we watch, get the game under way.
Ilkay Gundogan and Bruno Fernandes lead the players onto the field. Both teams are wearing black armbands because of the tragedy in Indonesia.
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𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 💦@GNev2 was straight out of there 😂 pic.twitter.com/LR02jTC6Vv
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 2, 2022
Erik ten Hag speaks
We can bring confidence [from beating Arsenal] but it’s a different game. They want to dictate the game and they are good at that, but we want to bring them out of their comfort zone. We will see.
[Marcus Rashford] is fit and trained well. Rodri has a huge influence on their game, in many aspects, so they will miss him. But they still have 11 really good players on the pitch.
We have to play our best. If we follow the rules, follow the principles, we have a chance to win this game. It will be hard but we are confident. It’s always about the process. When two top teams play, it’s about details. We need to make sure the details are on our side.
United will feel they can get at that City defence, especially with Marcus Rashford in such good form. City will feel they can get at any defence, especially with Beast up front. In short, this won’t finish 0-0.
Jonathan Wilson’s preview
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Team news: Rodri out for City
Some interesting team news on both sides. City are without the injured Rodri, which means Ilkay Gundogan will play as the No6, and Ruben Dias is only on the bench. Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake are the centre-halves.
Erik ten Hag sticks with the same XI that beat Arsenal a month ago, which means Casemiro stays on the bench.
Manchester City (4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo; Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Dias, Laporte, Alvarez, Gomez, Mahrez, Palmer, Lewis.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) de Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Malacia; McTominay, Eriksen; Antony, Fernandes, Sancho; Rashford.
Substitutes: Heaton, Shaw, Lindelof, Casemiro, Fred, Pellistri, Elanga, Martial, Ronaldo.
Updated
Preamble
Sometimes, as Vito Corleone could confirm, revenge is a dish best served by your offspring. Twenty-one years after Alf-Inge Haaland was flipped upside down by Roy Keane in the Manchester derby, his son Erling has a chance to put the hurt on United. Young Erling was exactly nine months old when his dad was nobbled at Old Trafford. Hasn’t he grown up fast!
When Haaland was presented as a City player in the summer, he was asked which game he was looking forward to the most. He didn’t need to think about his answer. “I don’t like to say the words, but... Manchester United.”
One of the fun things about longstanding rivalries is watching the cast of characters evolve. There are only six survivors* from Pep Guardiola’s first Manchester derby six years ago, and Haaland should be one of at least six debutants this afternoon. Erik ten Hag will also face City for the first time as United manager. His team have had some good results of late, but now they are up against the most consistent team in world football. By 4pm, we might have a better idea whether United are serious top-four contenders, or whether their run of four straight wins was an affront to xG.
Then again, maybe derby results aren’t that revealing. To explain. It feels like City have been embarrassing United ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. On a macro level – 12 trophies to three – that’s certainly true, but in the actual matches United have done okay. Their derby record post-Fergie is W8 D3 L11. They’ve won five of their last eight games at the Etihad, although they were plugged 4-1 in the most recent meeting.
In short, nobody knows anything. The fun part is finding out.
Kick off 2pm
* De Gea, Shaw, Rashford, Martial, Stones, De Bruyne.
