In Manchester Derby, Manchester United lost to Manchester City by 1-3. After the game, the Red Devils fell behind by 12 points. Daily Telegraph criticized Manchester United’s signings, because in the Manchester Derby, only two players who are signed during Mourinho’s charge are in the start XI. In contrast, there are 7 players signed during Guardiola managing appeared in the derby.
Against Manchester City, Manchester United did not create a miracle. In the Champions League game against Juventus, the Red Devils took 3 points in the last minutes, but in the Manchester Derby, they were defeated by a better team. In this battle, Manchester City is a well-trained team that once scored their third goal after 44 passes, while Manchester United only scored a penalty.
The gap between United and City is obvious, and the two coaches are very different in terms of using players. Before the game, Bogba was injured, so he was not able to play. Besides, Fred was ignored by Mourinho and he was just signed at £52 million this summer. British media pointed out that even though Manchester United’s midfield problem is getting worse, Fred is still on the bench and even can’t be on the pitch for one minute.
In the Manchester Derby’s starting lineup, Mourinho only included two players he signed, Madic and Lindov. Then, what about Guardiola’s Manchester City? The answer is seven. In this Derby game, Edson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Bernardo Silva, Mahrez and Mendi are all in the starting lineup. They all came to Manchester City during Guardiola’s management.
The comparison given by the British media actually reflects the problem of a player’s utilization rate. About Manchester United’s players who didn’t play this game, Fred, Lukaku, Bogba and Bah have a transfer fee of almost 250 million pounds in total, but they don’t contribute much. In January of this year, Manchester United worked hard to sign Sanchez as Manchester City the competitoew, but the Chilean scored only one goal this season. Mourinho can not help him play a world-class level, and at the same time Sanchez’s weekly salary is the Premier League highest.
On the other hand, Manchester City, they signed Aldson, Mahrez, Silva and other players at almost the same price. These players completely outshined Mourinho’s team in the Derby game.
After 12 rounds of the Premier League, ESPN have rated the six managers of the top 6 clubs. Guardiola was rated A, which is the highest, while Mourinho was rated D, which is the worst.