The Manchester derby ended 0-0 on Sunday with both teams putting in incredibly strong and tactical performances.
For Manchester City, Nicolás Otamendi dominated at the back, and won the man of the match award. His team mates, Aleksanadar Kolarov and Bacary Sagna, struggled to contain the advances of Anthony Martial and Antonio Valencia but Otamendi didn’t let Rooney get a single chance on goal.
The Manchester United defence’s performance was credit to the whole unit working very well together. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones deterred Wilfried Bony and Yaya Touré.
At full back, Antonio Valencia worked back very well to stop the dangerous runs of Raheem Sterling; and Marcos Rojo frustrated Kevin De Bruyne so much that he switched sides to try and get some space.
The Red Devils keeping a clean sheet against City was a huge achievement, given that they’d scored 24 Premier League goals, in just 9 games.
Louis van Gaal has praised left back Marcos Rojo for completing his crucial task of keeping Kevin De Bruyne and Jesús Navas at bay.
Speaking to MUTV the United boss said:
“Rojo played a very good match, not only against De Bruyne but also against Jesus Navas.
“He had very good passes and very good crosses so I am very satisfied with him.
“It is only his third game this season; he has hardly played for 90 minutes. It is maybe the first time he has played for 90 minutes. I am very happy that at last he has the condition to play a full match.”
Marcos Rojo and Manchester United’s next Premier League game is against Crystal Palace next weekend.
