The Manchester derby ended in underwhelming fashion today as both clubs shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw. The Red side of Manchester went into the game as favourites, mainly due to City being without Aguero and Silva through injury. However, both sides failed to create any real chances for themselves in order to break the deadlock.

Despite the fact United didn’t register a single shot in the first half, for the first time in 12 years, they did seem in relative control throughout the game – with City’s front 4 of Sterling, De Bruyne, Toure and Bony relatively ineffective. But United had problems of their own in the ineffective department, captain Wayne Rooney. The 30-year-old looked lost on the field and was bullied by City’s Vincent Kompany, Van Gaal opted once again to stick the No 10 upfront and push Martial out onto the left – but the Englishman’s performances recently are so dire that many are calling for him to be dropped altogether.

On the whole, City’s defence was almost untouchable and made it incredibly hard for United to attack. Other than Lingard’s brilliant effort late into the second half, the Red’s didn’t really have much of a sniff at goal.

After the game, Van Gaal praised his team’s performance, but admitted his disappointment at not winning the match: “I am very proud of my players because I think we played 90 minutes of a tough game. Both sides played a very tactical game. It was very compact and organised, that is how Manchester City played against us. They adapted the line-up against us.”

“Against Sevilla in the Champions League, they played with two strikers and now they played with one, with one more player in midfield, so it was a tough game. We created more chances but we didn’t finish them and that is the disappointment because you must win these kinds of games for the fans. It is the derby and when you are so focused and so concentrated like we were today then, yeah, you deserve to win. But sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.”

[Quotes via ManUtd.com]

Here’s how we rated the United player’s performances:

De Gea – 7

Valencia – 6.5

Smalling – 7.5

Jones – 7.5

Rojo – 7

Schneiderlin – 8

Schweinsteiger – 7

Mata – 6.5

Herrera – 6.5

Martial – 7.5

Rooney – 5