Impossible David Silva shines: Winners & losers from Man City 3-1 Man Utd

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Manchester City kept their unbeaten start to the Premier League going with a 3-1 win over rivals Manchester United.

City dominated the opening stages and took a deserved lead through David Silva and Sergio Aguero doubled it just after half-time with a well-taken finish.

United pulled one back from the penalty spot through Anthony Martial after Ederson brought down Romelu Lukaku inside the area.

But City wrapped up the three points as Ilkay Gundogan brilliantly controlled the ball and finished past David de Gea from close range.

Winner: David Silva

It seemed almost impossible given just how good the Spaniard has been for Man City in his career, but David Silva seems to have found yet another level to his play – and it is horrible for his opponents.

Starting in a midfield trio alongside Fernandinho and Bernardo Silva, David Silva was integral to everything City created against their rivals and found himself in the right spaces early on to give his side the lead.

Along with Bernardo Silva, David Silva pushed forward a lot to give City an almost five-man attack, popping up on the wing but also playing as an inside forward between Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero.

And it was the latter role which he capitalised on, making his way into the box to hammer the ball home after Aguero had failde to finish Bernardo Silva’s cross – though the Argentine was being fouled by Chris Smalling.

The goal had come after Silva had caused problems on City’s left, testing the centre-backs with teasing crosses and exciting link-up play with Sterling, and the Spaniard could have had a handful of assists inside the opening 10 minutes.

Losers: Ashley Young & Luke Shaw

In past big games for United, against Liverpool last season and Chelsea this one, Ashley Young had performed brilliantly at full-back to keep two of the Premier League’s most dangerous players, in Mohamed Salah and Eden Hazard, frustrated and quiet.

But the Englishman met his match against the frightening pairing of David Silva and Sterling down City’s left, overworked with little effective back-up from Jesse Lingard and Ander Herrera in the first half.

On the other flank, Luke Shaw had the same problem with Bernardo and Mahrez and played an unfortunate role in City’s opening goal. With Sterling’s cross eluding everyone inside the box, the left-back was unaware of Bernardo’s whereabouts behind him and allowed the Portuguese to send the ball back across goal which David Silva eventually tucked in.

The second-half substitutions from City didn’t help either with Leroy Sane moving over to go up against Young and giving the defender some serious problems with his pace and dribbling.

Winner: Bernardo Silva

While David Silva was shining on one side, Bernardo was causing as many problems for his defenders on the other.

Like his namesake, Bernardo started on paper in a midfield trio but saw his role switch between being an inside forward and winger on the right side of City’s attack. And it paid off after just 12 minutes as he was the widest man in the box to get onto the end of Sterling’s cross, smartly putting the ball back across goal when another player might have gone for goal.

With five minutes to go it was Bernardo’s cross which beat the United defenders, finding Gundogan inside the box among five, with the German making his touch and finish look simple.

The Portuguese has had a really good second season at City, playing in a deeper role than last year to cover the absence of Kevin De Bruyne with the Belgian struggling with injury problems.

And Bernardo is making sure De Bruyne is not being missed by his team, giving City a new kind of attacking threat from deep to complement their exciting wingers.

Loser: David de Gea

Only one team in the Premier League has kept fewer clean sheets than Manchester United in the Premier League this season, bottom of the table Fulham.

The Red Devils, who were formidable at times defensively last season having been anything but this campaign with usually vital David de Gea looking a shadow of himself pre-World Cup.

While the Spaniard could do little to stop City’s opening goal as his defenders crowded out the box and David Silva still managed to find a way through, De Gea has to shoulder a lot of the blame for the second.

It started with his poor kick out which was too powerful for Jesse Lingard to control and ended as he was beaten perhaps a bit too easily at his near post, by Aguero’s blasted effort which went into the roof of the net.

Winner: Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku had only been on the pitch 30 second before playing a significant part for Manchester United.

The Belgian had struggled for both form and fitness in recent games, not scoring for United since mid-September – going nine games without a goal or assist.

And while Lukaku will not officially be given the assist for Martial’s penalty, the forward does deserve plaudit for earning the spot-kick.

Running onto a good through ball from Martial, the Belgian saw a weakness in Ederson, tempting the Brazilian goalkeeper by trying to go around him before shooting rather than rushing a shot.

And it worked excellently, with Ederson upending Lukaku inside the box to give United a penalty and a way back into the match, which Martial took.

Loser: Ederson

Ederson is a very good goalkeeper, one of, if not the, best in the Premier League. But recently the Brazilian has showed some lapses in concentration potentially stemming from the boredom of watching City steamroll opponents further up the pitch.

Against Southampton last week, Ederson allowed the Danny Ings to pull a goal back in the first half after fouling the forward inside the area.

And in an almost carbon-copy, albeit at the opposite end of the Etihad, the Brazilian brought down Lukaku inside the box as the Belgian looked to take the abll around the goalkeeper.

Martial converted the spot-kick which put more pressure on City than their performance deserved, protecting a one-goal lead while trying to push for a third goal rather than having the slightly more comfortable two-goal cushion.

Winner: Marouane Fellaini

Manchester United may have fallen apart against City early on in both halves, but one man can certainly hold his head high for the Red Devils.

Often the butt of jokes and the destroyer of games, Marouane Fellaini helped United get through a rough patch when City looked like dominating and going on to score four or five goals in either half.

When he was sitting deep, United looked impregnable down the middle with Bernardo and David Silva enjoying more success on their wings against Young and Luke Shaw.

But things started to go wrong for United as Fellaini was pushed higher up the pitch when City went 2-0 up, giving Nemanja Matic far too much work in holding the midfield down on his own.

This, however, isn’t something to mark Fellaini down. If there’s one thing which can be both a positive and negative for Fellaini, it’s that the Belgian follows his manager’s tactics to a T. Mourinho must have told his midfielder to get further forward, to cause City’s defenders some physical problems but it only took Fellaini out of the game.

Fellaini did his job well until the job he was asked to do put United in trouble.

The post Impossible David Silva shines: Winners & losers from Man City 3-1 Man Utd appeared first on Squawka News.



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