Манчестер Юнайтед өөрийн талбайдаа Манчестер Ситид 1:0-ийн харьцаатай хожигдсоноор Майкл Каррикийн багийн сул талууд дахин тодров.
Ням гарагт болсон Манчестерын дербид Манчестер Сити талбай дээрээ 10 хүнтэй үлдсэн ч Эрлинг Холандын гоолын ачаар ялалт байгууллаа. Уг гоолын эхлэлийг Илиман Ндиайе тавьсан бөгөөд тэрээр тоглолтын хоёрдугаар хагаст сэлгээгээр орж ирэн шийдвэрлэх нөлөө үзүүлсэн юм. Эсрэгээрээ, Манчестер Юнайтедын дасгалжуулагч Майкл Каррик тоглолтын төгсгөлд Жошуа Зиркзеэг талбайд гаргасан ч тэрээр төдийлөн үр дүнтэй тоглолт үзүүлж чадсангүй.
Тус тоглолтод Манчестер Ситигийн хагас хамгаалагчид болох Эллиот Андерсон болон Энцо Фернандес нарт 241 сая фунт зарцуулсан бол Манчестер Юнайтед Юри Тилемансыг 35 сая фунтын болзолтойгоор эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн нь хоёр багийн санхүүгийн бололцоо болон зуны наймааны цонхны үр дүнг харууллаа. Мөн Манчестер Юнайтедын хамгаалалтын шугамд бэрхшээл тулгарч, зүүн жигүүрийн хамгаалагчийн байрлалд тоглосон Патрик Доргугийн байрлалын алдаа нь эсрэг баг гоол оруулах боломжийг олгосон юм.
Манчестер Юнайтед 70 минутын турш хүн илүү тоглосон ч өрсөлдөгчийнхөө хамгаалалтыг сэтэлж чадаагүй нь багийн довтолгооны болон тактикийн бэлтгэл сул байгааг харууллаа. Шүүгчийн шийдвэр болон Фил Фоден улаан хуудас авсан нь тоглолтын явцад нөлөөлсөн ч Майкл Каррикийн сэлгээний шийдвэрүүд төлөвлөсөн үр дүнд хүргэсэнгүй. Энэхүү хожигдол нь Манчестер Юнайтедын удирдлага болон бүрэлдэхүүний шинэчлэлийн асуудлыг дахин хөндөж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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The sight of Michael Carrick turning to Joshua Zirkzee to try to rescue Sunday’s Manchester derby, while counterpart Enzo Maresca had sent on Iliman Ndiaye at half-time in an attempt to win it, illustrated the different landscapes at Manchester United and Manchester City.
United had been trying to sell Zirkzee all summer, City signed Ndiaye from Everton for £65million $87.8m), instantly switching targets in the final week of the same window, having been thwarted in their pursuit of Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo.
Zirkzee is a good, technical player, a Netherlands international who has represented his country at a major tournament, but he had nine goals in 76 United appearances before Carrick summoned him from the bench to replace Marcus Rashford with seven minutes of the 90 left at Old Trafford. His future was viewed as being elsewhere at the start of the summer, but United were unable to attract the relevant interest for a move to happen.
Ndiaye, meanwhile, was also wanted by Tottenham Hotspur, but City pounced and Maresca sent him on for Rayan Cherki yesterday to get a greater contribution off the ball from his right-winger, with his team down to 10 men after Phil Foden’s first-half red card.
It was Ndiaye who picked up possession when Patrick Dorgu’s miscued header failed to reach Harry Maguire, starting the move that led to Erling Haaland scoring the solitary goal. Zirkzee’s most notable moment was an overhit cross.
You imagine he will have more positive influences this season, and Ndiaye’s form will inevitably dip. But the wider point is that City have enhanced the squad Maresca’s inherited from Pep Guardiola with financial muscle and tailored additions, while the work done in United’s window for Carrick was modest.
2 – 50 teams have received a red card as the visiting team at Old Trafford in the Premier League, but only two have won: Everton in November 2025 and Manchester City today, with Iliman Ndiaye on the winning side both times.
Charm. pic.twitter.com/CgNerI1iAY
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 13, 2026
Central midfield told a story on this score, with City’s duo of Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez costing a combined £241million from Nottingham Forest and Chelsea respectively this summer. United’s opposing pivot was funded by a £35m outlay in that same period — the price of Youri Tielemans’ release clause at Aston Villa.
Tielemans’ midfield partner Kobbie Mainoo cost them nothing as an academy graduate, albeit the way he played, getting the better of Anderson on a couple of notable occasions — one being his tackle that teed up Rashford for a shot that hit the side netting — would suggest he too is worth north of £100m. Yet he is a player who the club, when Ruben Amorim was head coach, were open to offers for half that figure.
As much as anything, this latest Manchester derby, which took place amid protests by United fans outside and inside the ground, was an occasion to reflect on the divergent impacts of each club’s owners. While City have been given rocket boosters, United are anchored by Glazer debt, which has, together with costly recruitment failures, governed the approach taken by minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s regime over the past couple of years.
Zirkzee came on in the second half but was unable to make much impact (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
To what degree United needed to cut their cloth accordingly this summer is open to debate — as well as who that money has been spent on. Some answers should come on September 23, when their financial results for the fourth quarter are published. Could more have been spent? We shall soon get a better idea.
Could United have spent what they did more wisely? Luke Shaw’s minor injury, keeping him out of this game, has pushed the left-back question up the agenda quickly.
Dorgu deputised, having not played the position at all in pre-season, and his positional awareness defensively was exposed in the build-up to the goal when he followed the ball and ended up at right-back, leaving Lisandro Martinez two-against-one at the back post.
United weighed up going for Newcastle left-back Lewis Hall before pressing on with buying Brighton’s Carlos Baleba. Another midfielder was signed in the form of Andrey Santos, who cost an initial £48million from Chelsea and has played 42 minutes in the past four games since starting the season-opening defeat away to promoted Hull City and was an unused substitute on Sunday.
City’s winner should not have stood, an egregious case since admitted by Pro Ref.
But even had United drawn this game 0-0, these doubts about the squad would have surfaced. They were unable to break down a City team who played with 10 men for 70 minutes after Foden’s dismissal.
Carrick has credit in the bank for steering United into this season’s Champions League, something that looked like a remote prospect when he replaced Ruben Amorim in January, but he has less leeway in the court of public opinion than his opposite number at City, and others, due to his brief previous coaching resume.
His substitutions did not work here.
It took seven minutes for Benjamin Sesko to get onto the pitch after Haaland scored on the hour — when his introduction at the interval seemed to make sense — and United’s balance was upset by Tielemans going off. Rashford had also been playing better than Matheus Cunha, who stayed on for the duration.
United’s only really crafted chance came in the final minute of five added onto the 90, when Bruno Fernandes slipped in Bryan Mbeumo, only for Gianluigi Donnarumma to make the save. Mainoo had been involved again. It took Fernandes to dribble the ball and Mbeumo to dart into the box to get the space.
Too often in the second half, the attack was static as City dropped deep. United again had an issue with prising open a low block, their passing was nowhere near as accurate or crisp as required.
They also once more struggled when facing 10 men. They have also lost to Newcastle, under Carrick, and Everton, under Amorim, in the past year when their opponents have been a man down, and Maresca told his players at half-time that it would be difficult for United if City denied them the transitions they like.
That threatens to be a perennial issue for Carrick, whose ability to evolve this side will now inevitably follow a slower timeline than if a more fundamental change had occurred in the summer’s transfer market.
