🔗 Share this article

Much like bad weather swept through the northwest the previous evening, Manchester City blew Manchester United aside at the their home ground. It was a emphatic three-nil victory for their manager's side owing to goals from Knaak, Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a result that firmly established their championship potential as they consolidated their standing at the WSL pinnacle.

Successive Losses for Manchester United

This result represented consecutive league setbacks for Marc Skinner’s side for the first time since last May, putting them a significant margin off the league leaders with their title hopes in serious doubt.

The Red Devils' capability to manage league and continental football with a limited team has been a hotly discussed issue since they secured entry to the European competition. Reviewing the fixture list, it always felt like this was the week that would seriously challenge this ability. Sadly for the opposition, they appeared weary from start to finish, the historic win against PSG clearly having taken a toll.

Tactical Shifts

Skinner had sought to make changes with a several alterations. Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Janssen and Galton all brought freshness, although the dropping of the high-performing Malard to the sidelines caused surprise.

Manchester City, in comparison, have fewer workload concerns. Andrée Jeglertz made a single alteration from last week’s win over the Toffees with Hemp making her initial starting appearance since healing from a physical setback.

Dominant First Half

The storm clouds started to gather for the United boss and his side from the kickoff. This was a exhibition of the strength from City whose energetic attack controlled and pulled the visitors apart with a excellent opening period showing that saw them put three past the keeper in just over twenty minutes.

This left the home team completely dominant and saw the visitors disorganized. Prior to this encounter, United had conceded just six in this league campaign but they fell apart in the face of the hosts' attacking flair.

Early Chances

The warning signs came early when Vivianne Miedema used her power to push Julia Zigiotti off the ball, only to send her shot wide. Hemp was at the core of everything in the beginning, taking advantage of the space left by Riviere down United’s right side. Her passes were creating danger and led to an opportunity for Hasegawa that Sandberg scrambled off the line.

The Red Devils had several forays forwards, their direct style giving them options in the wings but they could not test Ayaka Yamashita. City, in the meantime, controlled possession, taunting their opponents and trying to lure them of their organization.

Triple Strike

They made their pressure count with almost the first period played when Fujino won the home team a set-piece. A delivery to the far post was nodded across goal by Shaw for Knaak to head in. It was Manchester City's seventh header of the season.

They added to their advantage with an additional two goals just before the half-time. When Jade Rose was able to advance through the midfield from defense, the pitch opened up for the hosts. The influential Kerstin Casparij collected the pass on the right before delivering a accurate low cross for Shaw to force home. Shortly later, they had a third after a swift shift in the ball saw Hemp afforded the room to fire a shot home from distance.

After the Break

The clearest change came from Skinner at the half-time as Melvine Malard entered for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was too late to shift the momentum of the match. Ex- Manchester City player Park came closest, hitting the upright, but the away team were offensively poor and failed to register a single shot on target.

The home side, meanwhile, could have added to their lead when a delightful Miedema through ball sent Shaw away only for her to fluff her lines but it mattered little to the winning team. Having failed to defeat any team who placed above them last season, Jeglertz’s side now have successes against Arsenal and Manchester United to position them in a strong standing after nine matches.