Danny Murphy Column: ‘Their Intelligence and Resilience Was Key’ – How Manchester City Earned a ‘Statement Win’
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‘Their intelligence and resilience was key’ – how Manchester City earned a ‘statement win’
If you go to Old Trafford in a derby, go down to 10 men in the first 25 minutes and still come away with a 1-0 victory, it tells you a lot about your players. Sunday’s result was a statement win for Manchester City’s new manager Enzo Maresca, who got his tactics spot on, but his team’s performance will have showed him exactly what they are about.
I am talking about the mentality, discipline, organisation and energy you need in order to get a result when things go wrong for you like that in a game. They were smart too, and that experience and ability not to panic goes a long way in football in situations like the one City faced following Phil Foden’s early red card.
City are used to always having most of the ball but they were fine without it against United. That is down to leadership and communication – not just from the manager, but from the players on the field. Maresca deserves plenty of credit for his decisions too, but he must be thinking he is a lucky man for having the group of players he does, because their intelligence and resilience was key.
As I said on Match of the Day, if anyone is doubting the competitiveness of City this season, just watch that game.
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