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Three things we learned from Manchester City vs Manchester United in stunning derby


Three things we learned from Manchester City vs Manchester United in stunning derby

MANCHESTER -- We witnessed an absolutely incredible late comeback as Manchester United beat Manchester City 2-1 in the derby on Sunday to pile more misery on Pep Guardiola.

With 88 minutes on the clock, City were 1-0 up thanks to Josko Gvardiol's first half header and looked okay. Then they imploded, again, as a big mistake allowed Bruno Fernandes to make it 1-1 from the penalty spot, then Amad Diallo made it 2-1 in the 90th minute to cap off a fine individual display.

City have now won just one of their last 11 games in all competitions. United have won for the first time in three Premier League games and this one will be so sweet for Ruben Amorim as he tasted victory in his first Manchester derby.

Here's a look at what we learned from a chaotic, brilliant, dramatic derby.

It has been clear for some time that Amad Diallo is special and now he is injury free and has a manager who plays to his strengths and believes in him, the sky is the limit. He was a constant threat for the entire game. He won the penalty kick for the equalizer, then scored the winner with a superb touch and finish. Diallo has had a lot of faith put in him by Amorim with Rashford and Garnacho now surplus to requirements. The future is all about Diallo for United. The young winger, still just 22, is exactly the kind of player Amorim loves. Direct, fast, able to run at players and he never gives up. He will be Amorim's go-to attacker moving forward and this performance against City on the big stage feels like just being the start of his rise.

With 88 minutes on the clock, it looked like Manchester City would secure a big win to potential get them back in the title race. Then they crumbled. Again. For most of the game it looked like they had stopped United creating big chances but late on they were nervous. Fernandes missed a big chance, they gave away a penalty kick in comical fashion to let United get level and then more poor defending gave United the win after one long ball forward. It was more about City giving United the win than United winning it. And that theme is constant at City right now. Belief is gone. They never created a chance in the second half. They played not to lose. That is not what Man City are about. They never looked confident they could see this out and given the erosion of that belief, the errors they're making and the ground they have to make up in the title race, they are surely out of the title race this season as they chased a fifth-straight title. Nine points behind Liverpool, who have a game in-hand over City, is too much for even the best City team to make up. And this City team is far from vintage. They're broken.

Amorim made a big statement by dropping both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from the United squad for this derby. They were told by WhatsApp before the game and were instead training on Sunday morning before the derby. This probably signals the end for both at United. Rashford has been on the out for a while under numerous managers. United have reportedly let clubs know they are willing to listen to offers for Rashford. Both players never seemed likely to fit in to Amorim's plans as he loves a 3-4-2-1 formation with two narrow attacking midfielders playing behind a striker. Natural wingers are not his thing and leaving out Rashford and Garnacho signals they are not needed and can be sold in January. Both will have takers but now that Amorim has laid his cards out on the table, United's bargaining power has taken a huge hit. If they're serious about backing Amorim they need to move on Rashford and Garnacho quickly to free up funds for him to strengthen elsewhere (left back, central midfield and another center forward). That has to happen early in January. But it probably won't.

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