Aguero double massacre United in Derby

MANCHESTER CITY   4   -  1  MANCHESTER UNITED

 

Aguero 16',47  Toure 45'  Nasri 50'                  Rooney 87'

 Yaya Toure scores to make it 2-0 for City                    PIC:BBCSPORTS

Two Sergio Aguero volleys helped Manchester City earn the bragging rights in Manchester till the return fixture next year, as him and his team mates in the sky blue shirts massacred Manchester United 4-1 in the 166th Manchester Derby at the Etihad Stadium. Manuel Pellegrini had said in the build up to the clash of the two Manchester rivals that they had to win to show their credentials in the title reckoning this season and that the game with arch rivals across town would be a good marker down for where they were.

The Chilean Manager at City had said previously that the most fiercely contested derby he`d been involved with was the Famous Argentina derby between River Plate and Boca Juniors in the Superclassico.

For United they were given a blow before kick off with the news Robin Van Persie was out of the game with a thigh strain as United added Marouane Fellaini to the line up for the derby clash.

Manchester United Manager David Moyes had never won an away derby with Everton in his tenure at the  Goodison Park club, but he did have a very successful record at the Etihad Stadium with Everton, so he was hoping his record would transfer over to his new club.

City went with a change of attacker as Spanish forward Alvaro Negredo was picked to partner Sergio Aguero up front as Pellegrini looked to set his side up in an attacking manor on his managerial debut in a Manchester derby.

From the first whistle it was City who pressured, punished and bossed United around for almost of the whole game, as the blue side showed they meant business in this derby game. In the 3rd minute of the game a sloppy pass by Nemanja Vidic went straight to Jesus Navas outside the United area and the Spanish midfielder struck a shot that went just over the bar and let their neighbours know that City were up for it.

Moments later saw the first card of the game brandished by Howard Webb, when the home side Matija Nastasic was the man to pick up the opening yellow card of this contest, when the Montenegro defender went up for a header with Chris Smalling and saw the defender slightly mistime his jump as he clashed heads with the United man and saw Webb show a yellow card which was a poor decision.

City`s midfielders were over running the non-existent midfield of United with Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas all working hard for the home side as they caused them a lot of problems. The home side kept possession fantastically well too as they pinned there visitors back in their own half and led to them breaking the deadlock eventually in the 15th minute.

Move was started by Frenchman Samir Nasri picking the ball up just inside the United half and running at Chris Smalling in the United defence, before the midfielder stopped just to the left side of the United penalty area, as he waited for the run of Aleskander Kolarov to come. Nasri then back heeled it into his path with the Serbian defender crossing into the area for an unmarked Sergio Aguero to volley home and give City a deserved 1-0 lead.

Aguero celebrates his first goal.      PIC: Yahoosports.com

City nearly went two up minutes later, when more pressing by home side saw the Red devils defense in trouble and from a Jesus Navas cross, Pablo Zabaleta went up for a header with Smalling and saw the ball come down to Nasri to which the midfielder struck it first time as it went inches over the bar with City very much in the ascendancy.

United`s only player on the pitch seemed to be Wayne Rooney as the rest of the team was nowhere to be seen in the match. Rooney and City Captain Vincent Kompany were having a real tussle all game with neither giving ground and giving as good as each other gave back to one another.

United rarely got out of their own half in the first half as attacks were few and far between for the away side, everything they did create came to nothing with City snuffing everything out that involved a red shir.

Rooney then picked up a yellow card after an accumulation of 4 fouls, with the official Howard Webb speaking to him and told him, it was his 4th offence in the game and so he had to show him a card for the persistent fouls he`d racked up.

Toure was running the show in the midfield, as the talk of who would win the battle between him and Fellaini in the build up was answered emphatically with Toure giving United a terrible time, along with Nasri too. City Strikers Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo were causing chaos for Rio Ferdinand and Nemandia Vidic in the defence especially Negredo, who is nicknamed "the Beast" and he shown his beast like strength throughout the game, as the Spaniard put in a great performance in his first outing in a derby.

United enjoyed their first bit of possession, but they wasn`t making any head way at all at the final third as they had their first chance of the game come in the 41st minute, when a Antonio Valencia shot was dragged wide of the target, much to the enjoyment of the home fans. 

Ashley Young then summed up United attacking threat in the first half, when the midfielder picked the ball up midway in the City half and then was caught into two minds what to do with the ball, Young then seemed to try a curler from a long way out with seemed to be like a half shot, half cross as he saw the ball go out of play and fair to say it wasn`t one of his best performances in a United shirt.

City doubled their lead before half time when all the pressure they put United under in the game saw them rewarded with second, when Yaya Toure directed a Negredo header goal wards into the back of the net from a Samir Nasri corner, with Toure giving City a commanding 2-0 lead at the break.

AGUERO puts city 3-0 up      PIC: Indianexpress.com

David Moyes will have given his troops a good grilling after their poor first half display, as he will have wanted a response from his side, however the one he got wasn`t the one he wanted. Two minutes after the restart saw Manchester City break up a United attack and led to them starting up their own attack, when Toure again was at the heart of the move as the Ivorian passed to Nasri, who collected the pass knocked it inside the area to Negredo who used all his strength to hold off Vidic, before he put a ball across goal for Aguero to volley side foot for 3-0.

The home fans couldn`t believe what they were witnessing and neither could Moyes as his defense was looking static and were getting embarrassed by the home side now, as this was anything but a Champions display by the away side. 

United were going to make a change as Tom Cleverly was stripped off ready to come on for United as the reds conceded the 3rd, the reds were stunned by City`s play as thoughts started to creep in to the minds of City fan`s that they could possibly replicate the 6-1 win they dished out a couple seasons ago.

Things got even worse for the visitors when Kompany broke up play by United just outside the City area and he set up another break, with the Belgian Captain setting Navas off down the right flank before he put deep across goal into the area with Samir Nasri volleying home for 4-0 much to the joy of the home fans and Captain Vincent Kompany as everyone was enjoying the massacre now on the Blue half of Manchester.

Nasri had been vilified by the City fans in the 3-2 derby loss against Manchester United back in December last year, when the Frenchman was adjudged by many fans to have wimped out of blocking Van Persie`s last minute winner against the blues. As Nasri seemed to shy away from making any real effort to block the free kick that led to the winning goal, so forward 10 months later and he got some retribution as he fired the goal that all but cemented the win for City with only 50 minutes gone in the game.

City came close to making it 5-0, when Jesus Navas spotted the movement of Alvaro Negredo towards the front of goals and if not for Vidic intervention then it was certainly looking like another goal for the home side. For United, it was nothing more now than a damaged limitations exercise for Moyes and his team and when Rooney had an effort go over the bar from a great position, it almost seemed to show that this was not to be their day at all.

Samir Nasri wheels away after he makes it 4-0  for City    PIC: theguardian.com

The blues seemed to take their foot off the gas after the fourth goal as United started to take over in the possession side, but they just couldn`t find a way past the City back line as they were stopped at every turn especially by Vincent Kompany, who had an immense game for the home side. 

Tom Cleverly gave United a bit of freshness in the midfield as they had more of the ball in the second half as they huffed and puffed at the City defense but nothing was doing for the men from Old Trafford, as they just couldn`t work anything at all that was threatening for Joe Hart.

Marouane Felliain then struck one from outside the area that saw Joe Hart come to life, with the England International tipping the ball over for a corner as it was the first real shot on the goal that United had created all game.

Antonio Valencia then went down far to easily inside the area after he battled with Kolarov down the right wing and seemed to wait till he reached the area before going to ground. He wanted a penalty that he was never going to get and Valencia voiced his displeasure toward Mr Webb as he ran up to Webb and earned himself a yellow card for dissent.

Negredo then had a chance before he pulled his shot wide of the target, when he snatched at a shot outside the area when the striker went fro power instead of accuracy.

Manuel Pellegrini then substituted Alvaro Negredo to a standing ovation from the home crowd, as he was replaced by a player who has fond memories of past derbies in Edin Dzeko, who scored 2 late goals in the infamous 6-1 win against United during their championship season. 

Dzeko tried a long range effort with wasn`t fully collected by De Gea in the United net, as he was almost embarrassed when the ball slipped from his grasp and headed towards the goal.

United then came close themselves, when from a Wayne Rooney corner Patrice Evra saw his header come back off the post and in the same passage of play, Rooney had two attempts at goal which was both stopped by Hart as he make a double save to keep the Champions at bay.

In the 85th minute Sergio Aguero came off for Javi Garcia as they tried to see the match out, but there was still time for Rooney to curl a spectacular free kick past Joe Hart to make it a 4-1 score line as it was nothing more than a consolation for the reds and a deserved goal for Rooney, as he was the only player for Manchester United to come out of the match with any credit at all.

The Last kick of the game saw Edin Dzeko go close with a shot that just went wide of the far post and had beat De Gea all ends up too.

Full time 

Full time whistle blew and Manchester City had not only thrashed their cross-city neighbours 4-1 but their main title rivals too as they showed the rest of the league that City are a force to be reckoned with after this performance by the Pellegrini`s squad.