1) Guardiola puts pep in City’s step
After 35 minutes, a free-flowing Manchester derby ground to a halt so that a supporter could receive medical attention. The players took the opportunity for a drinks break. Pep Guardiola seized the moment and gave João Cancelo a dressing-down: a proper Pep talk. It was animated, intense, cartoonish and very Guardiola. Ralf Rangnick spoke to his team too, but in his usual measured way – managerial rather than inspirational. He had tried to play Guardiola at his own game, which was bold. “I see your false nine,” he seemed to say, “and I raise you … two false nines!” Manchester United were trying to out-pass Manchester City, which is like trying to out-press Liverpool. A depleted United made a decent fist of it in the first half, even though Kevin De Bruyne was running through his greatest hits. But whatever Guardiola said at half-time lifted City to another level. United fell apart and Guardiola, whose record in home derbies is curiously patchy, was rewarded with his biggest win over them. Tim de Lisle
