Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United: Player Ratings
Dumped out of the Europa League by Liverpool a few days back, a lot was to be riding on this fixture for Manchester United in terms of their quest for making top four in the Premier League.
The stage was set at the Etihad for the Manchester derby and thanks to the latest wonderkid, Marcus Rashford, United secured a 1-0 win over their bitter rivals Manchester City.
In spite of the Etihad being an advantage to the home team, Manchester United did well enough to fend off Manchester City and improve their own chances of getting closer to a spot in the top four by securing three points thanks to the fairly early goal by Marcus Rashford - a beautiful one scored skipping past Demichelis.
With that victory, United moved up to 6th place, just one point behind City who sit at 4th.
Here are the player ratings for the game.
Manchester City:
Joe Hart – 5/10
Joe Hart got injured early in the second half with a terrible back pass from Demichelis and was replaced by Willy Caballero. As for the goal United scored in the first half, there was nothing that could be done by Hart to have stopped it.
Bacary Sagna – 6/10
Sagna could have been better at centre back and struggled in bits throughout but did a decent job.
Martin Demichelis - 2.5/10
Demichelis had one of his worst performances as a City player. He let Rashford score the goal, caused Hart’s injury and also could have given away a penalty. He was replaced later by Wilfried Bony in the 52nd minute.
Eliaquim Mangala – 5/10
Mangala didn’t have a very good game either but was decent. He didn’t put a foot wrong but just wasn’t helped by Demichelis alongside him. He was booked for a nasty challenge on Lingard.
Gael Clichy – 6/10
Clichy almost got the chance of having a goal and was fairly solid throughout. He was one of the very few from the team putting in a shift.
Yaya Toure – 6/10
Toure again was one of City’s better players. He had some good moments and went close to scoring but wasn’t able to take up the entire team’s workload on himself.
Fernandinho – 6.5/10
Following Demichelis being a mess, there was a change of system as Fernandinho moved into the centre of defence alongside Mangala where he did well and kept busy. He was quite dictating at centre back.
Jesus Navas – 6/10
Navas had two close attempts early on - one a volley that went wide and the other stopped by De Gea. The Spaniard was one of the players putting on a fight.
David Silva – 5/10
Silva played at a wider role after Sterling was subbed off due to injury and looked to find some momentum but failed.
Raheem Sterling – 6/10
Sterling started off well and looked promising with his runs but was taken down by Mata and subbed off with a groin injury. Was replaced by Fernando.
Sergio Aguero – 7/10
As everyone would expect him to be, Aguero was City’s biggest threat. The Argentine’s attempt in the second half was off the post. A lot of times he looked to be the only one fighting for his team. He showed the desire to equalize throughout but was unlucky.
Substitutes:
Willy Caballero – 6.5/10
Caballero came on for Hart early in the second half. He saved a good effort from Martial well and overall did a decent job.
Fernando – 7/10
Fernando came on for Sterling in the 25th minute and did well by having an immediate impact.
Wilfred Bony – 5/10
Bony came on as replacement for Demichelis but didn’t have much of an impact.