Manchester United 0 Manchester City 0
This was the first goalless draw in this famous fixture since November 2010 and given the disappointing quality on show the fair result. Yet Manchester United came close to claiming the 170th derby as the end neared.
Anthony Martial was about the best player on show from either team and on 84 minutes he illustrated why. Stepping inside from the left wing position Louis van Gaal again asked him to play, he flipped over a precise pass into Jesse Lingard. The second-half substitute stuck out a leg to instinctively volley this and was unlucky to see the ball rebound from Joe Hart's bar.
Moments later Chris Smalling struck a knockdown from Marouane Fellaini – another replacement – at Hart and he saved well.
This late action made the preceding dour stuff the more disappointing.
Martial seems wasted by Van Gaal when not operating as the No 9. Wayne Rooney again played there and was as ineffective as he has been for a long while.
Yet Manuel Pellegrini was also culpable of not seizing the initiative. With David Silva injured Kevin De Bruyne is the natural No 10 for City yet he was stuck out on the right and Yaya Touré, who is no quick-minded reader of games, played there.
Eleven minutes had passed when a first shot was sighted. This came from Raheem Sterling and the manner of the pause-then-shoulder drop inside United's area was reminiscent of the composure that netted him a hat-trick against Bournemouth the previous weekend.
No goal followed but Van Gaal’s side had been given a first warning.
Moments later, City received the same. This time it was Martial. He mirrored Sterling’s youthful zest by skipping past Fernandinho and drawing the foul and the latter’s entry into Mark Clattenburg’s book for the opening yellow card. When the 19-year-old was felled again moments later Rooney sent in a dipping free-kick that was awkward for the City rearguard who did enough to stymie the danger.
Touré’s positioning at No 10 meant he was expected to join the attack as City roved forward. He did so when Sterling released the ball from around halfway. Here was a chance for the 32-year-old to launch a buccaneering run at David de Gea’s goal. He did but when Marcos Rojo raced across from left back Touré lost conviction and the Argentinean cleared his lines.
The hope for Van Gaal would be that faith in Rooney as the leader of the attack would be vindicated by the 30-year-old offering more than he had done at CSKA Moscow in midweek. Yet the half hour came and went and beyond the free-kick Rooney’s only action of note was to have some staples administered to a head wound.
Phil Jones will not have been pleased with his "standout" contribution as the break neared. A header that should have been a clearance or left alone for De Gea to collect was spooned out for a corner.
Five minutes before the teams wandered off Touré had aimed a free-kick at De Gea that was deflected for a corner and headed wide the subsequent dead ball kick and then later banged a shot straight out. For United Rooney had punted a 45-yard pass straight out and, well, that was about it for the home side.
It had not been great so far. It could only get better was the hope. Yet the suspicion was this could be the first goalless encounter for five years when the teams shared the points at Etihad Stadium.
Neither manager made any personnel change at the start of the second half.
United's starting XI had showed one adjustment from the draw at CSKA, Van Gaal reinstating Juan Mata for Lingard.
Pellegrini provided the headline team news by selecting Vincent Kompany after leaving him out of the previous two games due to disquiet at the captain's appearance for Belgium following a recent calf injury. The Chilean, who dropped Eliaquim Mangala for Kompany, had also switched Aleksandar Kolarov for Pablo Zabaleta and Fernando for Jesús Navas.
As with the majority on show, none of these players had made any material impact thus far. Martial had done so and now conjured more magic from which United might have scored. The forward's clever brain and clever footwork allowed him to offload the ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger. He passed this on to Mata who did the same to Ander Herrera and the latter pulled the trigger and won a corner.
From this United again threatened seriously. First Sterling might have conceded a penalty when tangling with Herrera but Clattenburg was unmoved. Then, from a second corner from the right, Mata’s delivery was headed by Smalling across Hart but the ball bounced to safety.
City were now in full-on siege mode. United had them pinned back and defending desperately. Schweinsteiger can be laboured yet he still had enough smarts to make a patsy of Kompany by selling him a dummy inside the area. The cross went for a corner and when this was cleared Rojo’s stabbed intervention rolled to Mata who seemed clear until the onrushing Hart punted clear.
On 54 minutes Sterling was replaced by Navas and in the 67th Lingard was brought on for Mata. These hardly appeared game-changing choices by Van Gaal and Pellegrini and the suspicion was that each may have been settling for the stalemate.
By the close this occurred in what was a good result for Arsenal.
