Ruben Amorim sayssmiling that the decision to leave out Rashford and Garnacho was due to what he had seen from them in terms of “training, performance (and) engagement with teammates”, which at first glance feels damning.

We tried to evaluate everything – training, performance, game performance, engagement with teammates. When we analyze the players and try to select them, everything is at stake. It’s my choice. I don’t want to send a message, it’s just a review. Everyone understands my decision.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Wilson wrote about Ruben Amorim’s role at Manchester United:

There was a moment, around 5.30pm last Saturday, when there seemed to be a real danger that Manchester United could transform into a serious football club. But it only took two minutes and the sight of Nikola Milenkovic towering over Lisandro Martínez caused that façade to collapse. Two more strange goals later – the kind of accidents that show profound negligence – and it was clear that the era of jokes still has some time to go.

That was just the beginning. The next morning Dan Ashworth had left the club by mutual consent: five months of gardening leave followed by five months of actual work, a truly great piece of lively satire, even taking into account the compensation United had to pay Newcastle to secure him and the high one Payout he must have received.

Much more here:

I read something before the game For you starting with this article by Tom Bassam about Pep Guardiola’s derby record.

Marcus Rashford played all 15 of Manchester United’s Premier League games this season, but that streak ends today: he and Alejandro Garnacho, who have made 22 league starts between them, were left out of the matchday squad by Ruben Amorim.

The team news is here, and the lineups look like this:

Man City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Gvardiol, Gündogan, Silva, Doku, De Bruyne, Foden, Matheus Nunes, Haaland. Subs: Ortega, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Savio, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee, Mubama.
Man Utd: Onana, de Ligt, Maguire, Martinez, Mazraoui, Ugarte, Fernandes, Dalot, Diallo, Hojlund, Mount. Subs: Bayindir, Lindelof, Zirkzee, Malacia, Eriksen, Yoro, Casemiro, Antony, Mainoo.
Referee: Anthony Taylor.

Hello World!