Honours even in 196th Manchester derby | OneFootball

It was honours even in the 196th Manchester derby with City and United playing out a 0-0 draw.

In a lacklustre game of few clear-cut chances, Omar Marmoush had City’s best efforts – our January signing forcing Andre Onana into two second half saves while Ederson denied Joshua Zirkzee after the break as the hosts eyed a double over the Blues.

The result, a 54th draw in the fixture dating back to 1891, keeps us fifth in the Premier League table as we chase Champions League football for a 15th consecutive season.

WHAT HAPPENED

If the game as a whole wasn't high on excitement, the start was lively as Alejandro Garnacho raced clear in the first minute with Ruben Dias picking up a yellow card for felling the winger right on the edge of the box. It was just outside the area thankfully with Bruno Fernandes sending the subsequent free-kick into the carefully constructed sky blue wall.

After that early zeal, the first half turned into something of a damp squib with very little to write home about.

Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan skidded shots wide from just outside the box, KDB had a low left foot drive saved by Andre Onana while Omar Marmoush saw an effort charged down for the Blues.

For the hosts, Alejandro Garnacho failed to connect with a Diogo Dalot cross from the right corridor while Bernardo Silva did well to put Patrick Dorgu off when the former Lecce defender was well placed to pounce in the box from a Garnacho cutback.

It was more of the same after the break with both sides cancelling each other out for much of a largely sober second half.

City had an early chance three minutes in as Marmoush cushioned the ball into the path of Foden but the England international couldn’t get the necessary purchase as he looked to pull the trigger under pressure from Noussair Mazraoui.

Pep Guardiola looked to shuffle his pack as the hour mark approached, bringing on the energetic Jeremy Doku in place of Foden with the game crying out for a spark of inspiration.

Marmoush almost provided it, forcing two saves from Onana, the first a dipping 20-yard free-kick and the second a powerful half volley.

There was anxiety at the other end as Manuel Ugarte’s piledriver thankfully flew just wide of Ederson’s left-hand post.

There were further changes from the boss on 74 minutes as he looked to edge this tight, tense derby encounter with Jack Grealish – goalscoring hero in the last game against Leicester - replacing Ilkay Gundogan in midfield and Rico Lewis coming on for Nico O’Reilly in the left-back berth.

It was a substitute from the hosts who almost won it, though, but thankfully Ederson produced a fine save to keep out Joshua Zirkzee's shot on the turn with the clock ticking down.

There was plenty of huffing and puffing as full-time approached but no dent on the scoreline as the referee blew the whistle on a largely unremarkable encounter.

TEAMS

UNITED XI: Onana, Mazraoui, Maguire (Lindelof 57'), Yoro, Dalot, Dorgu, Casemiro, Ugarte (Mount 71'), Fernandes (c), Garnacho, Hojlund (Zirkzee 71')

Subs: Bayindir, Amass, Kukonki, Shaw, Eriksen, Obi

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly (Lewis 74'), Gundogan (Grealish 74'), Kovacic, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Foden (Doku 58'), Marmoush

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Nico, Reis, Savinho, Khusanov, McAtee

MANAGER VERDICT

“We have the control but not in the right spots to hurt them in the first half, a little better in the first minutes of the second half.

“United have been an incredible transitional team, defend against us deep, with Garnacho and the pace they have.

“They link inside, they know perfectly what they have to do.

“But we take the point, I'd prefer to win but we are there.

“There is a process when the ball is on one side the players need to be in the right position. Today that was not good enough.

“Against a 5-4-1 it's so narrow and congested. We should have been in some positions that we tried to get in but weren't good enough to punish them.

“The last games we much, much better, back four better, just our process was not but we know that, when we lose the ball in certain positions they are a strong team and punish you, but we knew that.

“We will prepare for the upcoming games, there are a few things I'm happy with what I saw, but now we need to achieve the target of qualifying for Champions League then next season is next season.”

KOVACIC VERDICT

“It was tough. They were aggressive in the mid block so it was tough to find the right spaces to play.

“It was tough to create chances and we had to be careful with the counter attack because they are good going forward.

“It was a typical derby. We wanted the win but we take the point and move on.

“We always go for the win but we also had to be careful not to lose it because we are in a battle for the Champions League and we need points.

“We could have done more going forward and creating more but it was tough with the small spaces. We move on to the next games.

“We have to have the same mindset for Champions League because it is important that Man City are in the competition next season.

“It will be tough until the end because there are many teams that fight for the top four and no game in the Premier League is easy. But we are confident that we can achieve it.”

DIAS VERDICT

“It was a very difficult game, it always is, they were dangerous.

“I feel like to leave today with a point is to add to our run to stay in the top four, there was a lot of fight from all of us.

“It's not easy when they are so low and so many numbers, it's difficult.

“I felt in the first half we had moments we arrived to the moment of last pass and if the last pass gets in we could have been more dangerous. Second half was different.

“Even though it was not our best performance, the way we fought and everyone was connected. The way Bernardo and Mateo fought for every ball. The last effort from Omar, completely drained but he still went for it, that is what we are made of.

“Time will tell how far we are, but definitely I feel we are more solid, our attitude, how we fight for duels, we are able to suffer in difficult circumstances.

“The way we react when lost the ball, the principles of being what we are.”

WHAT IT MEANS

Today’s draw in the Manchester derby kept us fifth in the Premier League table.

After 31 games, we’re one point behind Chelsea in fourth and five points behind Nottingham Forest in third with seven matches now remaining in the 2024/25 campaign.

WHAT NEXT

Our next game is a home clash with Crystal Palace.

We take on Oliver Glasner’s Eagles on Saturday 12 April with a 12:30 (UK) in front of TNT Sports cameras.

The corresponding fixture at Selhurst Park finished 2-2, Erling Haaland and Rico Lewis helping us collect a point in an action-packed game played in appalling weather courtesy of Storm Darragh.