Man Utd, City Play Goalless Draw

For this most tribal of footballing rivalries, there was not a single Manchester-born player in either lineup as the neighbors produced their first goalless stalemate in five years.

United manager Louis van Gaal could not point to injuries to explain his side’s attacking shortcomings, although they came closest to scoring when Anthony Martial, the hosts’ stand-out forward, teed up substitute Jesse Lingard to volley against the bar late on.

Van Gaal refused to discuss Rooney’s performance, however, telling his post-match press conference: “I have to talk every week about Rooney”.

“I think it’s one where it could have been a little bit more [exciting]”. “I admire that they demonstrate what they can do over a long period”.

In fairness to Rooney, he was not the only one who struggled to make an impact on what was a poor game devoid of risk-taking bravado or entertainment.

But Manchester City stood firm and in a game which was less than thrilling and contained few chances, headed away from Old Trafford with a point.

“We created more chances but we didn’t finish them and that is the disappointment because you must win these kinds of games for the fans”.

United missed a golden opportunity to leap frog their local rivals on the Premier League ladder and move back into top spot. Van Gaal was clear that only his side had tried to win the game.

“We don’t have the luck neither because I have seen on the video that Herrera, it was a penalty, but the referee was not giving us that benefit”, he said. We are two creative teams, but we could not do it today.

Arsenal won their fourth successive league match after headers from Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny in a three-minute spell in the first half helped them go top for the first time since February 2014. As tactical games, mind games, it is easy to defend with 10 players near your box.

Following the tedium of the Manchester derby, that ended 0-0 with Rooney again contributing little, Van Gaal was again asked about his selection of the England man. It didn’t go down well…

“The players they brought in cost over £100million in De Bruyne and Sterling, so they are two fantastic young players and we have to nullify their threats and take advantage of their flaws”, Rooney told United Review.