Which trio impressed Fletch against City?

Sunday 13 December 2020 08:00

Former United midfield Darren Fletcher has singled out Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Aaron Wan-Bissaka for their performances in Saturday’s derby draw with Manchester City.

The Reds had to settle for a point against Pep Guardiola’s side, but Fletcher was encouraged by the team’s overall performance, following a difficult week, in which we exited the Champions League due to defeat at RB Leipzig.

Bruno Fernandes was named Man of the Match via a fan poll on our Official App, but the Scotland international was keen to praise some of the less glamorous work done by the aforementioned trio.

Fletcher: Fans would have upped the tempo Video

Fletcher: Fans would have upped the tempo

In his analysis on MUTV, club legend Darren Fletcher reckons it was a fair result at Old Trafford...

“I think everybody [played well]. I thought there were a lot of good performances,” said the ex-Red. “Wan-Bissaka's defending one-v-one versus Sterling was very good. They did get in a few times down that left-hand side, but his defending was good one-v-one.

“Harry Maguire's had a fantastic block. We talk about scoring goals, but that's a match-winning block [to deny Kevin De Bruyne] he had. The midfielders were good too. To a man, everybody did their job and put a shift in for the team.”

Fletcher also felt that Marcus Rashford was an unsung hero during the game, and could have been found more regularly by his colleagues.

“I liked Marcus Rashford's movement. He was threatening in behind a lot more, like we asked for at half-time, it's just a shame his team-mates weren't brave enough to try it [the difficult passes].

“Listen, sometimes you've got to try it. It's not going to come off all the time, but it’s amazing what a long ball in behind, or a run can do. It can create space in front and also, if you get in, it can be devastating. But I was very impressed with Marcus Rashford doing that today. Hopefully it's something that can pay off in future.”
Shaw pleased by our defending against City Video

Shaw pleased by our defending against City

Fresh from an excellent display, Luke offers his verdict on the draw and an important clean sheet...

The five-time Premier League winner suggested that a point was a fair result, and believes a clean sheet and a respectable showing in the 183rd Manchester derby offers the Reds some momentum to work with after a challenging week.

“It was a tactical battle," he added. "You get bodies behind the ball and it's hard to break teams down. We know transitions are where a lot of goals are scored – turnovers in dangerous areas – and both teams didn't allow that and it didn't manufacture itself. We weren't good enough to break each other down. Didn't get enough bodies forward and create overloads to take the game to the opposition. It was one of those games.

“To be honest, I think both teams will settle for it. We want to win games, but off the back of a difficult result in Europe, to come here against Man City, to get a point, you think to yourself: okay, not the worst thing in the world. A clean sheet, and you can move forward. So I think both teams will look and go: we're playing against a rival, in a derby,  between two top-quality sides, so we'll take the point and we'll move on, and we'll see what's next for the challenges ahead.”

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