🔗 Share this article

Similar to Storm Claudia hit the northern region the night before, Manchester City swept Manchester United away at the their home ground. It was a emphatic three-nil triumph for their manager's side thanks to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp. It was a performance that truly announced their championship potential as they strengthened their standing at the top of the table.

Successive Losses for Manchester United

This scoreline signalled successive league setbacks for Marc Skinner’s side for the first time since last May, putting them a sizable gap off the top team with their trophy ambitions hanging by a thread.

Manchester United's ability to balance domestic and European soccer with a thin squad has been a widely debated issue since they secured entry to the Champions League. Looking at the calendar, it always appeared this was the matchday that would seriously challenge this ability. Regrettably for the visitors, they appeared fatigued throughout, the historic win against the French side clearly having had an impact.

Team Changes

Skinner had attempted to rotate the squad with a handful of alterations. Ella Toone, Elisabeth Terland, Dominique Janssen and Leah Galton all provided freshness, although the omission of the high-performing Malard to the substitutes was questioned.

City, in opposition, have no such workload issues. Andrée Jeglertz made one change from the previous win over Everton with Lauren Hemp making her initial starting appearance since returning from injury.

Overpowering Start

The trouble started to gather for Skinner and his squad from the first whistle. This was a demonstration of the strength from City whose dynamic offense played with and tore United open with a sublime opening period display that saw them score three goals in 21 minutes.

This put the hosts completely dominant and had Manchester United disorganized. Prior to this fixture, United had conceded just six in this league campaign but they fell apart in the presence of the hosts' attacking flair.

Opening Threats

The early indicators came early when Vivianne Miedema used her strength to push Zigiotti off the ball, only to pull her shot wide. Lauren Hemp was at the core of everything early on, using the room left by Riviere down United’s wing. Her passes were posing a threat and led to an opportunity for Yui Hasegawa that Anna Sandberg kicked off the line.

The Red Devils had multiple forays forward, their long-ball tactic giving them choices in the wings but they could not trouble Yamashita. City, in the meantime, dominated the ball, teasing their opponents and trying to draw them out of their organization.

Scoring Spree

They converted their dominance with almost half an hour played when Fujino won the hosts a corner. A ball to the back post was headed across goal by Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to score. It was City’s seventh goal from a cross of the season.

They extended their cushion with two more goals just before the half-time. When Jade Rose was able to maraud through the midfield from the back, the play opened up for the hosts. The influential Kerstin Casparij received possession on the wing before delivering a pinpoint driven ball for Shaw to tap home. Shortly later, they had a additional score after a swift shift in the ball saw Lauren Hemp allowed the opportunity to strike a attempt home from outside the box.

Final Period

The most obvious change came from the United manager at the half-time as Melvine Malard came on for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the game. Ex- City player Jess Park came closest, hitting the woodwork, but the visitors were offensively poor and were unable to record a solitary shot on target.

The hosts, in contrast, could have increased their lead when a superb Vivianne Miedema through ball sent Bunny Shaw away only for her to fluff her lines but it mattered little to the hosts. Previously unable to overcome any opponent who finished above them last season, City's side now have victories against the Gunners and Manchester United to position them in a strong position after nine matches.