Man Utd beat Manchester City 2-0 at Old Trafford as Michael Carrick made an impressive return to the Old Trafford dugout.
Michael Carrick and Bruno Fernandes
Michael Carrick was delighted with Bruno Fernandes' performance against Manchester City(Image: )
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Bruno Fernandes was back in the No. 10 position for Manchester United and back at the centre of a stunning derby day performance at Old Trafford, with the Portuguese playmaker creating the first goal for Bryan Mbeumo and seeing a strike of his own ruled out after a marginal offside call.
Michael Carrick's return to the dugout at United ended in victory against Manchester City and the players embraced a return to a 4-2-3-1 system, with Fernandes deployed in an attacking set-up designed to pull the visitors out of shape.
It just did that and Fernandes was at the centre of most of United's best moments against Pep Guardiola's side, while Carrick also praised his defensive discipline in helping disrupt City's attempts to build through the middle of the pitch.
Carrick had just three training sessions to prepare his team to face the Blues but he did speak to his captain during the week and was delighted with his display.
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"I've spoken to Bruno, I've known him a long time now, and I thought he was fantastic today," he said. "The way he played the position, he's so clever, and he takes up space.
"They had a big disciplined role, him and Bryan defensively as well, to protect the team from anything coming through the middle as much as possible, so it wasn't all kind of playing and positivity to that point.
"He's just got so much quality, Bruno can adapt and playing in that position he's a real threat and he made the difference."
It was an emotional return to the dugout for Carrick, who has now beaten Guardiola, Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta while managing United, as well as drawing with Chelsea when Thomas Tuchel was in charge at Stamford Bridge.
He got the call to replace Ruben Amorim last week but is still a regular at Old Trafford and admitted he always had an idea of how the team should operate, only bringing that into sharper focus when he got the job until the end of this season.
"I think it's obviously something that clicks into gear when you think it might be on my toes to do something about it," he said. "I've watched a lot, we've got season tickets and my family comes, so I've been to a lot of games over recent times and you get to know the players and your own eye.
"Everyone has an opinion and your instincts, and then there was a few days to prepare, so the balance of how much information, what the lads could take on, being fair to them to not overdo it, but actually City probably ask you as many questions as anyone could possibly ask, so you've got to have the answers to that, so it was a real balance."