Why Elliot Anderson and Man City's new heroes were 'bouncing up and down' after 10-man derby win

OLD TRAFFOD, MANCHSTER — Phil Foden's red card for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes midway through the first half of Sunday's derby gave Manchester United a blank canvas and left Manchester City horribly vulnerable.

The visitors had started life confidently under Enzo Maresca, with three Premier League wins from three and a Champions League victory at Porto in midweek. But here was United's big chance to suggest a new narrative after a decade treading water downstream from Pep Guardiola's trophy-winning machine.

City's one-time boy wonder, Foden, had endured a dire moment to compound a prolonged tough period. In this fixture last season, Michael Carrick's first game as the then interim manager, United ransacked their neighbours. It finished 2-0, but it could easily have been five or six.

As Foden eventually trudged off after prolonged protests, United had a golden opportunity to pile derby pain onto a new, expensively assembled City squad without the safety blanket Guardiola provided. Over the past decade, any big defeat belonged to him. 

MORE: Man City's controversial 10-man win at Old Trafford as it happened

A humbling loss in the 199th Manchester derby would have come with pointed references to the transfer fees attached to the men in sky blue — certainly, their central midfield duo of £116 million ($154m) Elliot Anderson and £125m ($169m) Enzo Fernandez.

As it happened, United froze, thrown from their game plan of hitting City on the counter-attack as the numerical advantage compelled them to try to dominate. Anderson walked off with the player-of-the-match award — there were other contenders in Maresca's team from a deserved yet controversial 1-0 win, most notably Marc Guehi and Matheus Nunes — and Fernandez was the spiky, effective, streetwise combatant who everyone other than those affiliated to his team loves to hate.

"I found that obviously before I was playing with him, but no, he's a brilliant guy. And he's a real top player," Anderson told reporters afterwards, reflecting on whether United's players were irritated to distraction by Fernandez. "It's a derby, isn't it? There's always going to be that type of stuff in the game.

"He's very good. He shows real quality on the ball, and knowing you've got someone alongside you who's got your back is a massive help. He's top."

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This showed commendable modesty, because no one had more teammates' backs than Anderson, who relentlessly roved the Old Trafford turf, snuffing out opposition attacks and driving his team up the pitch by punching passes forward.

The 23-year-old's throwaway comment about City being the "kings of Manchester" after his transfer from Nottingham Forest was rehashed in derby week, and he looked caught somewhere between sheepish and mildly exasperated when this remark was brought up again afterwards. Anderson was more comfortably focusing on the team, who were "bouncing up and down" in the changing room at fulltime.

"Phil going off obviously made the game a lot harder, and we've all come together," he said. "It shows real fighting leadership from the lads. It changed our way of playing, but we did really well.

"I just gave everything for the team; duels and playing through the lines. I thought I did quite well, just staying calm in possession and helping everyone."

MORE: Why Erling Haaland goal was allowed for Man City vs. Man United — even though it was the wrong decision

Much of the focus on the upheaval at City over the summer has understandably centred upon Maresca succeeding Guardiola, but a busy summer of incomings and outgoings in the transfer market has accelerated an already considerable refit of the playing squad.

Of the team that swept to treble glory in 2023 under Guardiola, only Foden, Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland — provider of the disputed match-winning moment — remained in Sunday's starting XI. Anderson, Fernandez, Guehi and Iliman Ndiaye played in their first Manchester derby, Antoine Semenyo his second. Most of those players have come from teams used to digging in without the ball at places like Old Trafford, and that experience felt like an unforeseen edge on the Guardiola generation once landed in their 10-man predicament. 

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"Yeah, maybe. I've been used to playing that way quite a lot," Anderson said. "I find either way quite comfortable for me.

"Obviously, there's no doubt we have all the quality, but we've showed real mentality in the first four games, especially in this one. Not giving up, fighting for every tackle, every duel, and waiting for our chance, and obviously Erling scores."

Haaland took his chance, as he always does, but so did this new City collective. As the players celebrated in front of a jubilant away end, Fernandez and Ndiaye were pushed forward to take the acclaim. New heroes were being christened in real time by supporters who have seen Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and John Stones walk away over the past two summers. 

These are still very early days for the Maresca project, but those experiences can be harnessed and take a team a long way, just as being labelled big-money flops after a chastening derby defeat would have weighed heavily. United were handed the chance to apply those shackles and blew it. Once again, the two Manchester clubs are heading in different directions.