Man City blitz Manchester United on the day Jack Grealish became a true Blue
The 187th Manchester derby began with nervous pessimism and a goalscoring return to Manchester City for Jadon Sancho. It ended with the gleeful Blues Ole-ing their dominant heroes, and bouncing the stadium with a Poznan of joyous proportions.
In between, there was a stark reminder of the huge gulf in class between these two teams, despite the fact that they are separated by only four places in the Premier League table. Indeed, if it had not been for a superlative goalkeeping display by David De Gea, a City side inspired by Kevin De Bruyne ’s surging brilliance, Jack Grealish ’s poise and panache and Phil Foden ’s balletic balance would have racked up a scoreline to match the 2011 massacre of Old Trafford.
They had to be content with two goals from De Bruyne and two from Riyad Mahrez, and a match that became more one-sided the longer it went on. By the end, United were reduced to snidey ankle taps and desperate challenges as the Blues ran through, round and over them at will.
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De Bruyne and Mahrez grabbed the limelight with the goals, but in many ways this was the day when Jack Grealish truly became a Manchester City player. Maybe it was his excellent touch and finish in the less pressured surroundings of Peterborough on Tuesday night that flicked the switch, but the £100million suddenly looked like … well, a £100million man.
His link-up play with Foden, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo was the key to this game, creating the two first-half goals that De Bruyne finished like a penalty-box poacher. And in the second half, he was reducing the Reds to a rabble with his direct running, clever releases and slick touches.
The decision to
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