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Much like bad weather tore through the northwest the prior day, Manchester City blew the visitors aside at the their home ground. It was a emphatic three goal triumph for Andrée Jeglertz’s side due to goals from Rebecca Knaak, Bunny Shaw and Hemp. It was a performance that clearly signaled their championship potential as they strengthened their position at the top of the table.

Consecutive Setbacks for Manchester United

This result marked back-to-back league defeats for Marc Skinner’s side for the maiden instance since last May, leaving them a significant margin off the top team with their championship aspirations hanging by a thread.

United’s capability to balance league and European football with a limited roster has been a widely debated issue since they qualified for the UCL. Reviewing the schedule, it always seemed this was the matchday that would seriously challenge this capability. Sadly for the away side, they looked weary from start to finish, the landmark win against the French side clearly having taken a toll.

Team Changes

The United manager had tried to make changes with a several alterations. Toone, Terland, Dominique Janssen and Galton all added energy, although the omission of the on-form Melvine Malard to the bench raised a few eyebrows.

Manchester City, in opposition, have fewer fitness issues. Jeglertz made one change from their most recent win over the Toffees with Lauren Hemp making her return to the lineup since recovering from a physical setback.

Commanding Opening Period

The trouble started to gather for the United boss and his squad from the kickoff. This was a exhibition of the quality from City whose potent offense controlled and tore United open with a superb initial 45 minutes performance that saw them score three goals in under half an hour.

This placed City in a commanding position and left United all at sea. Prior to this encounter, the away side had allowed just few in this league campaign but they disintegrated in the face of Manchester City's offensive ingenuity.

Opening Threats

The omens came early when Vivianne Miedema used her physicality to push Zigiotti off the ball, only to drag her shot off target. Lauren Hemp was at the center of everything early on, exploiting the space left by Jayde Riviere down United’s wing. Her crosses were creating danger and led to an chance for Yui Hasegawa that Sandberg scrambled off the line.

United had several sorties forwards, their direct style giving them options in the wings but they could not test Yamashita. City, in the meantime, commanded possession, teasing their opposition and trying to draw them out of their structure.

Triple Strike

They turned chances into goals with almost thirty minutes played when Fujino won the home team a corner. A cross to the far post was nodded across goal by Bunny Shaw for Rebecca Knaak to head in. It was City’s seventh header of the campaign.

They added to their lead with another pair of goals just before the break. When Rose was permitted to advance through the middle from the back, the pitch opened up for City. The influential Casparij collected the pass on the right before delivering a accurate ground pass for Bunny Shaw to force home. A short time later, they had a third goal after a rapid shift in possession saw Hemp afforded the room to fire a attempt home from distance.

After the Break

The most obvious substitution came from the United manager at the interval as Malard entered for Elisabeth Terland but by this time it was ineffective to change the course of the match. Former Manchester City player Park came nearest, hitting the woodwork, but the visitors were lacking in ideas and were unable to record a single shot on target.

The hosts, in contrast, could have added to their cushion when a excellent Vivianne Miedema pass sent Bunny Shaw away only for her to fail to convert but it mattered little to the winning team. After failing to overcome any side who ended above them last season, Jeglertz’s side now have successes against Arsenal and Manchester United to position them in a commanding situation after the opening fixtures.