How Ole Solskjaer’s tactics made Manchester United win derby against Man City in Premier League game-week16

How Ole Solskjaer’s tactics made Manchester United win over city rivals Manchester City in a dramatic match in the 16th game-week.

Manchester United defeated Manchester City in one of the most dramatic matches of the Premier League matches. It is a huge task to overpower Pep Guardiola, who had hegemony over the league in last two seasons.

On the other side, Ole Solskjaer who was being ridiculed by the Manchester United fanbase over lack results has finally got a sigh of relief after winning over the Champions of England at their own home.

It was not a fortunate win by the Red Devils but a well tactical plan to surprise Guardiola. Manchester United has been good against all the top teams, as it has the capacity to make good counters with the amount of space in the front line.

But last night was something special, the whole unit performed its duties well and decimated all the aspects of Manchester City’s plan. Hence, let’s look at how Ole Solskaer’s tactics made Manchester United win the Manchester derby last night.

Also read: Man City fan disgustingly mocks Munich air disaster during the Manchester derby

1. Defensive block

Manchester United’s players as a unit performed excellently when it came to defending. The robust defence of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan Bissaka was detrimental to Manchester City.

But apart from this, Manchester United created a solid defensive block, comprising of Scott McTominay, Fred and Manchester United back 4. This defensive setup damaged the passing lines of Manchester City as Fred and McTominay neutralized Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva.

On the right side of the defence, Wan Bissaka was highly tough to crack for Raheem Sterling, and this is how Manchester City failed to make shots on target and David De Gea managed the long shots taken.

Although, with this Manchester United had to sacrifice on their midfield but it was compensated by the quick gameplay by Rashford and James which we will discuss in the next point.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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