Manchester United welcomed Manchester City at Old Trafford in the 191st Manchester derby.
United went into the game on the back of three consecutive wins across all competitions. City on the other hand were keen on gaining ground on table-leading Tottenham Hotspur.
Erik ten Hag started Andre Onana in goal, with a defensive four of Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof ahead of the goalkeeper.
In midfield, Ten Hag gave the nod to Sofyan Amrabat, Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay.
Rasmus Hojlund started up front with Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford flanking him on either side. Here are three things we learned from Manchester United’s 3-0 win against Manchester City.
Onana much better and growing in confidence in a United shirt
After his summer move from Inter Milan, Onana endured a difficult start to life at United.
He made a number of high-profile errors, especially in the Champions League, that dearly cost his side. However, the shot-stopper made a heroic last-gasp save against FC Copenhagen and the hope was that it would mark a change in fortunes for the Cameroonian.
Onana picked up where he left off by playing well against City – one of the few United players who could claim to come out of the game with any credit.
Especially in the opening 45 minutes, the 27-year-old came up with some clutch saves that kept United in the game.
In the early stages of the match, he kept a Phil Foden header from flying into the back of the net, when the effort from the City forward seemed to be destined to go in.
Acrobatically, Onana clutched on the ball once again to keep it from the path of Erling Haaland who was lurking to tap it in.
The United goalkeeper made an equally important save from a bullet header from Haaland just before the interval and prevented the Red Devils from going into the break two goals down and with a mountain to climb.
Unluckily for Onana, he could not do much about Haaland’s penalty that was dubiously awarded to the Norwegian after Hojlund was deemed to have brought Rodri down inside his own box from the slightest and softest of touches.
In the second half, Onana also made some big saves without which United would have suffered an even more embarrassing scoreline.
He kept a powerful shot from Jack Grealish out. In another instance, Haaland was put through on goal before trying a chipped finish, but Onana came out of his line and made himself big enough to deny the goalscorer his hat trick.
Beyond his incredible saves, Onana’s kicking was much better and more refined. He frequently found Hojlund who in turn held up the ball well to bring his teammates into play.
Onana was in regular communication with his defenders from the number of times he could be seen issuing instructions to Maguire and Evans.
The former Inter Milan man is undoubtedly growing in confidence after a pretty rough beginning to his Old Trafford tenure.
Lindelof poor at left-back
One thing that was questioned when the team sheet came out was Ten Hag’s decision to start Lindelof at left-back while Sergio Reguilon was on the bench.
Against City, Lindelof showed why he is not a natural fit for the full-back position.
In quick succession during the first half, he was caught sleeping by Foden, who easily kept making runs in behind the United defender.
For Haaland’s second goal, Lindelof was dragged inside to mark another player, only to leave the City talisman wide open, unmarked and with all the space and time in the world to pick his spot.
Expectedly, Haaland made no mistake from close range.
Maybe instinctively, Lindelof kept tucking in and seemingly occupying a left-centre-back position. The result was that the City attackers were able to maintain as much width as they liked through Foden.
Even going forward, the Sweden international did not offer much. He did not provide the needed overlapping runs or any form of support in the channels – at least not in the way Reguilon or Luke Shaw do it.
Ten Hag has at times resorted to deploying Lindelof at left-back, sometimes out of necessity due to an injury crisis. However, when there is the option of not doing so, it makes little sense to use the Swede in that role.
The 29-year-old is suited to operating at the heart of the backline and luckily for Pep Guardiola’s men, they had this weakness to repeatedly exploit and utilize to their advantage.
Pressure mounting on Ten Hag
While his job is not in any danger at the moment, pressure is certainly mounting on Ten Hag for multiple reasons.
In addition to the questionable team selections, the team lacks an identity or clear style of play.
There seems to be no cohesion or meaningful direction and it’s worrying that United are trying to grind out results this early into the season.
From the outside looking in, it appears like Ten Hag has abandoned his principles and football philosophy for short-term gain and immediate results but as has been seen in the past, such methods are simply not sustainable.
The 53-year-old coach has recently spoken about pragmatism and the need to register wins even in the absence of convincing performances, but this can only get the team so far. In any case, one would argue that a top manager should be able to achieve both at the same time and as it stands, Ten Hag is failing at this objective.
There are of course factors that have hindered the Dutchman this campaign including injuries and other off-the-pitch matters but overall, his influence in terms of play is not being felt. This is being seen by just how much United are constantly outdone by opposing teams week in and week out.
Questions need to be asked of Ten Hag and if this persists, it won’t be long until the pitchforks come out and people start calling for him to be sacked.