Man United’s embarrassing De Bruyne moment that exposed their pressing problems

Manchester United lost 2-0 to rivals Manchester City on Saturday, a game that was possibly even more painful to watch than the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool.

United were passive for the entire 90 minutes and never threatened the City backline, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looking utterly bereft of ideas as his substitutes did nothing to change the game.

Solskjaer did at least attempt to switch the formation in a bid to improve his side’s fortunes, but no mid-game system change is going to rectify the deep-rooted issues that exist within the squad.

I personally believe it’s no longer a formation or personnel issue that is hindering United’s progress, it’s purely down to the tactics of the manager.

Aside from United’s appalling attacking performance (Solskjaer’s men mustered fewer shots on City’s goal than they did on their own), the most glaring problem on Saturday was that United allowed City to play how they wanted.

It looked like the team had completely forgotten about the high-tempo pressing that had secured results in previous derbies and instead decided to let City have time on the ball – probably not a wise idea against one of the slickest teams in Europe.

As we saw last week when Pep Guardiola’s side were beaten by Crystal Palace, the visitors took the game to City and reaped the rewards. Having been offered the perfect blueprint, Solskjaer decided to completely ignore it and subsequently United had absolutely no control of the game.

Solskjaer’s side have struggled to adopt a pressing system all season and it’s certainly not gone unnoticed, but one moment in particular on Saturday just summed up the problems at the club.

In the first half at Old Trafford, City were obviously in possession of the ball (they had 68% possession in the game so it’s safe to assume when recalling any specific moment that City probably had the ball) as Kevin De Bruyne assessed his options in the middle third of the pitch.

The Belgian midfielder looked to advance before slipping and falling rather hilariously (as a United fan watching that game you really needed to saviour the little moments), but to the shock and bemusement of everyone watching, instead of making the most of the error and using the opportunity to win back possession, United just stood and watched.

Fred and Scott McTominay should have pounced on De Bruyne’s unfortunate mishap before looking to launch a counter, but instead, they just waited for him to get back up and got on with the game.

What should have been an embarrassing moment for De Bruyne was washed over by the fact he was allowed to get up and collect the ball as though nothing had happened.

No one in the stadium could believe what they were watching and it only seemed to confirm the fans’ greatest fear about the team; they don’t know what to do on even a basic level.

It might sound a bit daft to suggest this considering we’ve just been smashed at home by both of our biggest rivals in the space of a fortnight, but it almost felt like this was the moment a lot of fans decided enough was enough.

Solskjaer has been criticised for being tactically naive and unable to get the best out of his players, but when players don’t even know they’re allowed to move out of their shape if it means they can win the ball back and start an attack, that’s a whole different level.

The international break might actually have come at a decent time for United because the board have got a lot of thinking to do.

Were you at the Manchester derby? What did you think of United’s performance? Follow our United On My Mind writer Casey Evans on Twitter and get involved in the discussion in the comment section below.