Fellaini’s recklessness was the highlight of a tepid Manchester derby

The Manchester derby ended in a goalless stalemate as Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho had to contend for a point which will not make either party particularly happy.

The Portuguese may be marginally more satisfied than his Spanish counterpart as the growing list of injury problems at Manchester United threatens to derail a late-season flourish and an Europa League challenge.

For Guardiola, his side is out of Europe and the FA Cup which makes qualification for the Champions League a bare minimum to be achieved in his first season in charge of the Sky Blues. Here are the talking points from the Manchester derby:

The incorrigible Feillaini

In the helluva, super-hyped world of the Premier League the Manchester derby at times carries the promise of glamor, glitter and much gallery play, but not on this night of high stakes and tension - what transpired was perhaps not unsurprising: a stalemate and a moment of utter madness from Marouanne Fellaini.

The midfielder has been a favorite of his coach, because he possesses a combativeness that the Portuguese covets in his players. But the Belgian has had a long history of violent acts. He is a poorly disguised Fernandinho, the Brazilian, who, even against his local rivals, got away with his indignant assaults.

Incredulously, the Belgian felt aggrieved by his sending-off - an act of crass stupidity in a crass game - after he had head-butted Sergio Aguero. The repeat-offender had to be restrained by half a dozen of United players. His team had been very disciplined, but that was of little importance to Fellaini, a mad-cap captain.

The big Belgian oaf surfaced again and couldn’t contain himself. He deserved a ban and perhaps, for his share sheer stubbornness, for his utter negation of the footballing code and for his general indecency a prolonged, and preferably lifetime ban from the beautiful game.

With his red card, he left Manchester United very vulnerable, but, in spite of it all, their unbeaten run in the Premier League did continue. The 90 minutes were a stalemate, a poor match and perfect fit for a click-bait and TV-obsessed league.

A stalemate 

Fellaini was going to score the winner from a Claudio Bravo howler - the stars were aligned for it - but as it was, United’s number 27 was sent off and the Chilean goalkeeper wasn’t nearly enough erratic on the night. The visitors moved around with the intensity of overzealous reddish stormtroopers - that is too say - they were following strict orders from their boss - the ephemeral Mourinho, who ordered his battalion to do very little indeed.

It was not the derby that had been projected at the season’s start - one of ferocious but elevated play, the grand ball of English football, a 90 minutes to decide who’d receive the laurel of the game. Instead, the game - a stalemate, a euphemism for a terribly poor game - was an encounter between sadly spangled wannabe outfits, whose dubious mega-millions, aided little to the poor spectacular of a ‘sportainment’ Premier League.

Not that it was all bad. Uber-coaching guru Guardiola could reflect on a game wherein his team, spearheaded by an omnipresent Aguero and the effervescent Kevin De Bruyne, whose superlative ginger-ish touch is ever a delight, were playing well. They caused Manchester United - here comes the cliche - plenty of problems.

At the same time, Mourinho’s outfit did what they tend to do - without grace and without any subtly: they sat back. That in itself is not a despicable approach to football, but ‘parking the bus’ the Mourinho-way may never truly become a virtue in the game. It isn’t Catenaccio either, but rather a callous and perfide manner of getting points.

Kudos however to Eric Bailly, who played a valiant match in a feeble United back line that often seemed inept to deal with the threat of Aguero, a true menace, either side of the half with multiple chances and attempts. The Ivorian was United’s stand out player. City though were again not clinical.

Superior City but without edge

The scoreless result was a fair reflection of United’s impotency - this was an impotent, but above all mediocre team playing in the Mourinho mould, set out to frustrate and stifle the opponent. The team from Old Trafford did so with verve. So what did it say about Manchester City, the glorious petro-dollar fueled avant-garde United Arab Emirates toy?

It was a derby befitting City’s many longtime shortcomings. They do not have their opponents’ alternative Europa League route into the Champions League. City probed and poked, enjoyed prolonged bouts of possession, but encountered much staunch defending from their guests.

The match was very much a 4th round FA Cup encounter with City domineering ‘Swindon Town’ in terms of possession and game play. United disappeared in the final third. They absorbed the pressure but had little desire to attack.

De Bruyne ran in between the lines, Aguero harassed Manchester’s back line. City showed brief spells of intelligence and cunning, but, in the end, yet again, they fell short. The Pep philosophy has not been implemented yet or are the disappointing results perhaps the consequence of Guardiola’s inability to properly manage his players and analyse his opponents? Is the Spaniard in the unforgiving world of elite football becoming a failure or, and that is now the question, will City still find a way to crawl back into the top four? Even so, it would be scant consolation.