Manchester United produced a stunning late comeback against bitter rivals Manchester City on Sunday to claim a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Josko Gvardiol’s first-half header looked set to be the defining moment in a game which produced very few chances but two goals in the space of two minutes late in the second half changed the complexion of the game completely.
Amad Diallo, who was by far the best United player on the pitch, won a penalty after a huge mistake from Matheus Nunes which was expertly dispatched by Bruno Fernandes in the 88th minute.
And two minutes later, the Ivorian turned in the winner to send the away end into delirium as the visitors inflicted City’s eighth defeat in the last 11 games.
Amad, the hero
From being ignored by the former manager to emerging as the club’s biggest attacking threat, the 22-year-old has really turned his season around under a coach who trusts youth a lot more.
Ruben Amorim emulated Sir Alex Ferguson to win his maiden Manchester derby and the Portuguese has completely changed the way the Red Devils play.
The recent results, especially the loss against Nottingham Forest, might have been a sore point but the changes are there for all to see.
Back when Erik ten Hag was in charge, United were frequently reliant on counter-attacks against teams who liked to dominate possession.
And too often the players were encouraged to play vertically fast which resulted in loss of possession frequently and no real control on proceedings.
Not under the ex-Sporting Lisbon boss. United enjoyed 48 percent of possession and completed 467 passes as compared to City’s 491 passes.
In the last away Premier League derby, United had 27 percent of the ball and City had almost 500 more passes. Not that it is the most important statistic but Sunday’s game shows how much Amorim has changed the team in such a short span of time.
The 20-time English league champions did not look fazed when forced to play the ball back and kept it under control, passing from side to side to deny City the ball.
Amorim ball
The visitors showed patience and pressed really well, hardly allowing Pep Guardiola’s team time and space to hurt them.
The Portuguese head coach is changing the club both on and off the pitch as seen from the huge selection gamble ahead of the game.
He took the bold call to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, his team’s biggest threats on the counter, ahead of the game but still his team displayed grit and fight to emerge victorious.
Both have let the club down recently and Amorim is showing he is not afraid to take the much-needed decisions even if they might make things difficult in the short-term.
And despite losing Mason Mount early on due to injury, the team stuck to the plan and Amorim was rightly rewarded. Now the biggest challenge for the coach is to extract consistency from this group of players.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
