Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United: Four Things We Learned

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Manchester United were down and on their knees. Manchester City were cruising to the championship win, having a 2-0 lead at half-time. Except that was not enough. Jose Mourinho’s players showed incredible amount of character to come back and score three goals to beat soon-to-be champions of England.

Soon, not now, as it turned out, as Manchester United did not let their rivals to have the sweetest of victories, and have stung them with a brilliant second half display to make sure Pep Guardiola and his players remember it.

Paul Pogba Shows Up When He Is Needed The Most

His performance was the one that resembled the performance of the whole team. Pogba was sluggish in possession and lost without it, chasing players in wrong areas, wandering around similarly to how he did at against Tottenham on the last day of January. Yet, his second half display could not be more world-class, more that of a true leader of a team, pushing them back in the game when they needed it the most.

Pogba’s two goals came at the right time, in space of just 97 seconds, to make City fear again. Chris Smalling scored later to seal the win, but the Frenchman was the one making everyone around him better. That is why he was bought in 2016 and that is what will be expected of him to do next season more consistently.

Manchester United Play Two Different Halves

This was a game very tough to analyse. It was so chaotic that and odd that it could not be said some tactical changes made things different. City were brilliant in the first half, doing what they did for the most part of the season and could have easily scored four goals is Raheem Sterling finished his chances better.

Yet, in the second half United made five shots and scored three times. It was a psychological comeback. Mourinho did not alter things during the break, the players simply showed up and made sure City did not win that day.

Manchester City Endure A Terrible Week

What a week this has been for Manchester City. Two of their crucial matches and six goals conceded. To make things worse, they had lapses of poor displays, spells when they were simply unable to defend. The three goals against Liverpool came before the 30th minute, while the three conceded on Saturday were all conceded in second half.

Improvements Needed For A Title Push

Manchester United fans could see on the day what could be done with this team. That is, what could be done if it was to be improved this summer. Matches like these did not come very often for United in recent seasons and if they are to happen consistently rather than occasionally, Mourinho will need to strengthen his squad.

The loss to Sevilla should not be forgotten now, especially not now when we could see what this team was capable of. In the last five weeks they have beaten Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City and the next season could be the one. It is still far-fetched to talk about it, but the summer work must be done properly.

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