Four things we learnt as Man United earn massive 2-1 victory against Man City | OneFootball

Manchester United made the short trip to the Etihad to take on Manchester City, looking for their first win at the stadium since 2021.

Andre Onana started in goal with Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire in the centre of defence. Noussair Mazraoui shifted to the right wing back position and Diogo Dalot took his place on the left wing.

Bruno Fernandes started in a deeper position to partner Manuel Ugarte in the centre of midfield, while Amad Diallo and Mason Mount got the nod to start as the two tens.

After his match-winning heroics in midweek, Rasmus Hojlund was given the chance to lead the line.

Here are four things we learnt from the match.

Mason Mount cannot stay fit

Ruben Amorim has been incredibly complimentary when discussing Mason Mount and once again showed great faith in the former Chelsea man by giving him a start in a crucial derby game.

The Portuguese has reportedly been impressed by what he has seen in training and on the pitch and with Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford dropped from the squad, big things were expected of the midfielder.

However, after 13 minutes of play, a depressingly familiar sight took place when the TV cameras panned to Mount on the ground, looking dejected. He was shortly subbed off for Kobbie Mainoo.

The Englishman is only 25 years old and from a human perspective fans will feel for the player. Nonetheless, like Luke Shaw, Mount is beginning to feel more and more like a lost cause.

Set piece woes continue

Amorim has had a tough start to his Old Trafford career, where he has basically had no time on the training pitch to implement many of his ideas due to the hectic winter football schedule in England.

One of the toughest issues the club is suffering from is their inability to deal with corners or set plays in general.

They were taken apart by Arsenal at the start of the month when they scored two corner goals and last weekend, Nottingham Forest scored within the first two minutes of play from a dead ball situation.

Once again, United conceded from a corner at the Etihad despite looking relatively solid defensively from open play.

The Red Devils must stop this rot as soon as possible because they will be ruthlessly targeted by every Premier League team until they solve this particularly troubling issue.

Control with little attacking threat

United under Erik ten Hag would often approach away games against top clubs in a chaotic or overly defensive manner.

Despite a small sample size to date, Amorim has set his side up to have possession and control the game, doing so quite well against both Arsenal and Manchester City.

Nonetheless, whilst his side is able to keep the ball, they are severely struggling to create many clear-cut opportunities.

Despite having an impressive 47% of the ball at the Etihad in the first half, the Red Devils only got in once behind when Amad Diallo fired wide from a probable offside position.

Once again despite dominating the ball at the start of the second half, they needed to wait until the 61st minute for their first shot on target.

The first half in particular drew significant parallels to what happened at the Emirates and it feels not much will change until Amorim and his coaches have the chance to iron out these problems on the training pitch.

Amad Diallo is United’s main man

The Ivorian struggled for years to convince various United managers that he was worthy of a place in the starting line up.

The 22 year old was a constant thorn in the side of City and everything good from a attacking perspective came through Amad.

He really burst into life in the final five minutes when his hard work won a penalty that Bruno Fernandes converted before his big moment truly arrived.

Just before the 90th minute, Amad cleverly ran in behind and rounded Ederson before finishing from a tight angle, causing pandemonium in the away end.

United and Amorim have numerous issues to work out but one thing that is crystal clear is Amad Diallo is now the absolute shining light of this football club.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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