Marc Skinner didn’t want his players to have any regrets after the Manchester derby, and he didn’t want excuses either. The Manchester United head coach wanted personality, energy and hunger. United had never beaten City away in the league and had only won one out of 10 WSL Manchester derbies.

“Players are at Manchester United for these high-pressure games,” he said before the game. “That’s why we exist in football.”

United adopted that carpe diem spirit from the off. Their intense press rattled City as the hosts attempted to play out from the back. The visitors used their strong, aggressive press to exploit City’s weakness, the absence of captain Alex Greenwood because of a knee injury, the key to their build-up play. Instead, City fielded an unfamiliar backline with new January signing Rebecca Knaak partnering Laia Aleixandri at centre-back.

Although United have not dominated possession or the attacking third (see field tilt in the table below), their standout statistic this season, as shown below, has been their high pressing intensity. Along with City, they are the most aggressive pressing team in the WSL, a target Skinner has set for his team to maintain for the second half of the season.

Pressing intensity can be measured by passes per defensive action (PPDA), the number of passes the opposition are allowed before an attempt to win the ball back is made (a tackle, foul, block or similar). Ahead of this match, City and United were on par with each other, allowing just 8.5 and 8.6 PPDA respectively this season while Chelsea ended opponents’ passing sequences the quickest on average (7.30s) with City (7.34s) and United not far behind (7.64s).

Hunting down City as a pack at the back and winning the ball higher up the pitch, closer to goal, was United’s game plan all along. Skinner wanted to “make (City) think differently”.

“Some of the angles we jumped at, the pressure points we got were fantastic,” he said. Meanwhile, City struggled to escape United’s traps. Their timing, decision-making and movement to receive were off, playing passes too soon or too late.

Although goalkeeper Khiara Keating endured a horrific derby, Gareth Taylor pointed out that the players in front of her didn’t do their job. United’s goals came from forced errors and they hurtled into a three-goal lead within 36 minutes.

The third illustrated their intent when United smelt blood but Elisabeth Terland blasted a huge chance over the bar, only for Keating to play out from the back from a goal kick to Leila Ouahabi who was pounced upon by Celin Bizet, gifting Ella Toone her second of the night. Skinner also credited the double midfield pivot of Hinata Miyazawa and Dominique Janssen for their “unselfish work” and covering spaces where in previous games United had been overrun in midfield.

Credit should be given to United for taking the risks to go at City but the hosts were equally at fault. Taylor noted his team continued to fall for their traps. “We needed to be smarter tonight,” he said.

Previously City have handled the occasion very well with composed leadership and game management but their most crucial and creative players — Greenwood, Lauren Hemp (City’s top assister) and Bunny Shaw (City and the WSL’s top goalscorer) who make up half of their leadership group — are sidelined with injury. Another absentee was Chloe Kelly who, according to Taylor, withdrew from the squad because of an ankle injury sustained in Saturday’s training session. Both managers said they knew nothing about reports linking Kelly, who attended the game, with a loan move to rivals United.

Despite United’s positive approach to the first 40 minutes, they were not efficient enough in front of goal and should have been five or six nil up. They let a situation in which they were in control sway the other way as Vivianne Miedema and Knaak headed home within eight minutes to make it 3-2 before the break.

But nine seconds after the restart, City had not learnt from their mistakes. Keating took a heavy touch, Terland blocked her clearance and the ball fell kindly for Toone who completed her hat-trick. Keating covered her face with her shirt while Toone, a childhood United fan, wheeled away in celebration. Despite being the first player to play in 10 WSL Manchester derbies, she had never scored against City before Sunday’s game, a statistic she told her team-mates before the match.

City were guilty of not being clinical enough either which has been one of their strengths in the past thanks to Shaw and Hemp. United No 1 Phallon Tullis-Joyce, however, pulled off some fingertip saves but it seemed Miedema was single-handedly carrying City’s attacking threat. Taylor’s side have now lost three of their last four WSL games — all of which Hemp was absent for — after only dropping points in two of their previous 23 league matches.

Skinner ranked this first away win against their neighbours as “one of the very best” along with United’s victory at the Emirates and against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. He described the 4-2 victory as a “momentum point” rather than a turning point though.

“I had a team two years ago that were experienced in the bigger stadiums,” he said. “Those players have gone. A win tonight was huge for their (the younger players’) growth. We’re heading in the right direction. It’s three points and we’ve got to play them again on Wednesday so straight back down to earth and work.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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