Manchester United vs Man City result: Five things we learned from drab, dull derby draw

Manchester United and Manchester City played out a largely uneventful 0-0 draw on Saturday evening in the Premier League.

The first half was low on quality in terms of passing and creating chances in the final third, with a slow build-up and reluctance to over-commit players apparent from both teams. The best chance fell to Riyad Mahrez after Kevin de Bruyne’s through-pass, but David de Gea made the save.

After the break, Marcus Rashford had a penalty awarded but then overturned due to offside, while De Bruyne had a shot from close-range blocked inside the six-yard box just after the hour mark.

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Neither team appeared fully committed to going for the three points and the draw leaves them seventh and eighth in the league respectively.

Here are five things we learned from the game at Old Trafford.

Let’s hope this was the last…

No supporters allowed in Tier 3 locations, so no supporters at the Manchester derby.

If it wasn’t already apparent beforehand, there’s an enormous difference between having fans around and not - even the games with just 2,000 in at present have a noticeable uplift in atmosphere and intensity at key moments.

This game was flat throughout, certainly on the pitch and with very little off it even from the coaching staff and so on.

With fortune, this will be the first and last Manchester derby played behind closed doors - as a spectacle, it clearly needed the impetus of supporters to spark into life.

Pogba back in the side

Much of the headlines over the past week, where United are concerned, have been around Paul Pogba again.

It happens without him needing to do anything, and sometimes because he doesn’t do anything, and it was a definite surprise to see him in the line-up in a match as big as this one given some of the fixtures he has been left out for recently.

Pogba’s return didn’t mean the diamond, as might be expected, but rather saw him pushed out to fill in at left wing where Marcus Rashford would normally be - he was up front, with Anthony Martial only fit for bench duty.

The No. 6 performed…fine. No huge impact, no dramatic errors, some moments of quality, one or two occasions where he was walked past by opponents. Much like the rest of the game, he’s capable of more than was on show, but certainly didn’t do anything to jeopardise the result.

A switch with Bruno Fernandes after the break saw him more centrally at times and there was definitely more to admire about his game from there, but Pogba remains question mark in the side, both over whether he should play and whether he should stay.

Lack of attacking quality

De Bruyne. Fernandes. Sterling. Rashford. Greenwood. Mahrez.

The players were there to create, to score, to win. There should have been pace and invention, guile and intent - instead there was excruciatingly little of any of the above.

It said a huge amount about the game that the most notable moments in the final third came either via poor kick-outs from Ederson, or when the offside flag was up anyway.

For United’s defence, maligned in recent performances, a clean sheet is a boost, but maybe both will feel the rewards would have been far greater had they offered more aggression and desire in the final third on Saturday.

Old Trafford form

On the face of it, a draw against City isn’t a bad result in isolation.

It’s now one win in six home league matches for United this season, however, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team scoring at an average rate of once every two games thus far.

The most tame pair of Bruno Fernandes efforts imaginable aside, United had no goal threat or shots on target throughout - again, in isolation, it might be understandable and even acceptable in a one-off situation, but it’s not a one-off.

This game was a chance to bounce back after a hugely disappointing European exit and the opportunity to put on a show on home soil where United have already lost three times in the league this season.

Instead it was another turgid 90 minutes at Old Trafford which offers very little suggestion that the team are back on the right path.

Title hopes

As for Man City, they will only ever be spoken about as title challengers this season and rightly so - but at present they remain off the pace.

The gap right now is five points from themselves to the top, with all the challengers having played 11 times. It could open up more when Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool play later and on Sunday, though City will again have a game extra to play of course.

Guardiola has less reason for concern than Solskjaer perhaps, but his team have still won less than 50 per cent of their league games this term.

That’s unheard of, and the walking-pace style of play on the day will mean it’s a showing, as well as a result, he’ll want to quickly move on from.

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