Talking Numbers: A Deeper Dive Into Boring Manchester Derby

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Manchester United have lost their Champions League campaign to RB Leipzig last week, which is something that will hurt the club and the team on a long-term basis. However, after that match, they did not lose the Manchester Derby, as they drew 0-0 in a clash that was rarely ever that boring. The Devils did not thrill, neither did Man City, giving us a derby not many will want to remember too much. Still, that does not mean we did not take a closer look into the underlying numbers and metrics that could tell us a little bit more about the game.

The 0-0 in the end worked well for both sides. Man United were trying to forget their disappointing collapse in Germany and a draw against City means there will be no bigger turbulences, as if it would have been the case had they lost this game as well. For City, this has not been a great start to the campaign, they are still far from the top of the table, however considering both Liverpool and Tottenham, who are currently at the top of the standings, also drew their games against Fulham and Crystal Palace, this means it will not be too much of a problem for them either.

Here is what we looked at.

Manchester City Create Better Chances

Manchester Derby deserved to end o-0, but considering everything we had seen during the game, it is a fact that Man City had some better chance to nick in one goal and get all three points. The expected goals are painting a good picture there, as City were just slightly better overall, with 1.28 in expected goals, while Man United had more shots, but accumulated just 0.59 xG. Man United also had more shots from the inside of the box, a total of seven, but City’s three in United’s box were enough to be better than those seven put together. Gabriel Jesus had one shot from the central area of the box midway through the first half from which he missed the goal, before Riyad Mahrez had his shot saved by David de Gea ten minutes later. There was also that blocked shot from Kevin de Bruyne in the second half which was a good opportunity as well.

Manchester United Do Not Get Much Action In The Box

Manchester United did make seven shots from the inside of the City’s box, but all of them were of very low goalscoring potential and apart from that, there was almost nothing from United in opposition’s area. The Devils made nine touches inside of Man City’s box, meaning only two touches on top of those seven shots. City managed to limit United in that regard.

Devils Show Aggression, But Not The Same Way As City

If we take a look into the number of tackles the two teams made, it would appear Man United were the more aggressive side, as they had accumulated 37 tackles to City’s 16. While that can show a certain type of aggression, it does not have to be necessarily a positive thing, considering that when we take a look into the pressures made from two sides, City are actually better, making 143 pressures to Man United’s 139. That meant City were better organising in trying to pressurise the opponent into mistakes…

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