Manchester City vs Manchester United: 5 Talking Points

#3 Manchester United are a mess defensively

Matic should have done better for Gundogan's goal

It's simply not good enough. Victor Lindelof has shown signs of improving but this Manchester United defence has already conceded 21 goals this season. Before tonight, they had conceded 18. Last season, it took them 25 games to concede 18 goals.

In fact, Manchester United only conceded 28 goals last season. They've already conceded 3/4th as many goals as the entirety of the 2017-18 season in 1/3rd the number of matches. The deterioration is tragic, to say the least.

Manchester United have plenty of attacking talent. But they are simply being overburdened thanks to the underwhelming defensive performances. Nemanja Matic, who often slots into the backline was at fault for City's goal that essentially ended the game.

Matic just watched the cross sail over him and continued to stand in the centre of the box as Gundogan brought it down and slotted it home about 2 yards away from him.

The Serb is starting to show his age and Mourinho needs to sign a centre-back and a top-quality defensive midfielder to shore up his defence or rescue missions will become the norm at Old Trafford.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad