If you go to Old Trafford in a derby, go down to 10 men in the first 25 minutes and still come away with a 1-0 victory, it tells you a lot about your players. Sunday's result was a statement win for Manchester City's new manager Enzo Maresca, who got his tactics spot on, but his team's performance will have showed him exactly what they are about. I am talking about the mentality, discipline, organisation and energy you need in order to get a result when things go wrong for you like that in a game.
They were smart too, and that experience and ability not to panic goes a long way in football in situations like the one City faced following Phil Foden's early red card. City are used to always having most of the ball but they were fine without it against United. That is down to leadership and communication - not just from the manager, but from the players on the field.
Maresca deserves plenty of credit for his decisions too, but he must be thinking he is a lucky man for having the group of players he does, because their intelligence and resilience was key. As I said on Match of the Day, if anyone is doubting the competitiveness of City this season, just watch that game. Refereeing body admits judgement error over Haaland derby winner Foden sees red as Mainoo impresses - Manchester derby ratings When it was 11 v 11, I thought United were the better team.
They pinned City back and were really bright going forward. Marcus Rashford, especially, was really positive and it felt like Michael Carrick's side were in the ascendancy. The sending-off, which was the right decision by the way, kind of stopped United's momentum a little bit and also basically told City how they were going to have to play - they were going to have to defend for most of the game.
It is not what they are used to, but when you've got really experienced international players who are comfortable and calm, they don't really mind having to adapt. They actually seemed to enjoy the challenge, and straight away they were well-organised and very disciplined. United did not really create too much in the second part of the first half, other than a Rashford free-kick that hit the post, but I was thinking they would make a few tweaks at half-time and come out and really go after City.
That didn't happen though. United hit the post again in the second half, with Kobbie Mainoo's shot from distance, but they did not really create a clear-cut chance until Gianluigi Donnarumma saved from Bryan Mbeumo right at the end of the game. Other than that, their decision-making in the final third wasn't great.
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