Manchester United vs Manchester City
Premier League
Sunday 10 December
Old Trafford
Full Time: 1 - 2
Look out for Dave's brief chat with Mikaël Silvestre, French international who played for Manchester United for 9 seasons with 249 appearances, winning 5 Premier League titles.
*****
It's bad enough when your bitterest rivals outclass you on your patch, but we don't need our own manager rubbing it in with some crass comments about dodgy refereeing decisions and the excellence of the opposition goalkeeper.
Mourinho's opening salvo about match official Michael Oliver failing to reward his side a second-half penalty followed by his hard luck story with Edison's late double save does not mask the fact that the 1-2 scoreline in no way reflected City's total dominance in this latest derby defeat.
No wonder jubilant City fans taunted their exasperated opposite numbers about Jose "parking the bus".
He certainly did that despite shocking most pundits with what appeared to be a very attacking line-up featuring every forward available other than Ibrahimovitch.
Pep's league leaders took immediate control, as Herrera and Matic, clearly not fully fit, struggled to contain the marauding David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne.
Obviously, the absence of Paul Pogba following last weekend's dismissal at Arsenal was a massive miss, but the manager has had enough time to come up with a plan to combat the leaders'dominance of the midfield battleground.
The pattern in the opening period was all too familiar with the Blues dominated possession and United breaking very infrequently as they had at Anfield although with better effect last time out at the Emirates.
The game suddenly erupted into life in the closing minutes of the first period when David de Gea saved smartly at his near post only to be-be badly let down from the resultant corner with Silva forcing the ball home after Lukaku appeared to miscue the resulting cross.
Almost immediately the Reds were level when a cross from Anthony Martial somehow found itself passed the chest of Fabian Delph allowing Rashford to finish with ease.
Hopes of a second-half restructuring were soon dashed as Marcos Rojos was replaced by Victor Lindelof and Otamendi capitalised when Lukakau fluffed a free kick clearance.
The giant Belgian failed to redeem himself when presented with a late chance and Mata similarly failed with the rebound.
But in the main, it was the swaggering Blues who ran the show and left Old Trafford in jubilant mood with another near-perfect performance.
Commentary by Lew Fink.
