MOTD2 analysis: How Man City mindset gave Man Utd hope

Manchester City deserved to win Sunday's derby but you have to give Manchester United great credit for the way they played with 10 men.City had been on top when it was 11 against 11 and, from their point of view, it was good to see that they maintained that level of pressure when Chris Smalling was sent off in the 39th minute.Manuel Pellegrini's players could have been frustrated by the fact they were not awarded the penalties they should have been given with the score at 0-0.Instead of feeling hard done by, they kept pressing forward.They got their reward when Sergio Aguero put them ahead with a brilliant finish, but the momentum of the game turned with that goal, which came with just under half an hour to go.United come forward, City drop backThe first part of what changed is fairly obvious: once United had fallen behind and knew they had nothing to lose, they attacked with greater numbers and greater intensity in search of an equaliser.What you might not expect, especially with them playing against 10 men, is for City to do what they did next - which was to drop deeper and deeper rather than continue pushing forward in search of the second goal that it appeared they needed to be sure of victory.Having been in the same position myself, I would suggest City's recent poor form might have had something to do with their caution, and the fact it was such a big game.But knowing they had an extra man would have been irrelevant.City just wanted to protect their lead even if, by doing so, they created some problems for themselves by allowing United a foothold in the match.I always think that when you are a man up in games the hardest thing is maintaining the same intensity in terms of pressing for the ball.When your team has an extra man, you automatically assume that you will have more possession, even though you still need to win it in the first place.But it is easy for players to get in the mindset that they don't have to work as hard when it is 11 vs 10 as when it is 11 v 11.(BBC)Bakudaily.Az