Jamie Carragher claims that Pep Guardiola’s inventive usage of John Stones at No. 10 enabled Man City to smash Man Utd.

Carragher went on: “His touches are all over the place when you look at his touch map from the Manchester United game. When you watch the game, you can also see that.

The noteworthy statistic is that he completed 39 passes in the last third, which is a record for him in a Premier League game.

“The matchup with Manchester United is crucial. Even after a full year of playing this role, why does he have the most passes in the last third of the game?

“It’s because of the set-up of Manchester United and their man-marking system in midfield.”

Carragher described how Guardiola utilized Stones to take advantage of the space that was created by Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva pulling United’s central midfielders, Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo, into wide areas.

“Mainoo and Casemiro are separated by the two No 8s that they have man-marked. In essence, Pep Guardiola always divides his No. 8s wider when facing Erik ten Hag.

“Erling Haaland has occasionally come deep to receive the ball, while Rodri has occasionally made runs into this area. It was John Stones entering that area this time.

Every time Manchester City plays against Manchester United, there is space, and Pep Guardiola’s job is to make the most of it. Manchester United was always being moved about the field by them.”

Carragher maintained that United had tried their hardest to stay compact, but he provided more evidence of how City had moved Mainoo and Casemiro out of position to create space in the middle of the pitch.

“Last week we were very critical of Manchester United for not being compact,” he said. “This group is small.

Which part, though, isn’t? Because of the man-marking strategy they deploy, Mainoo is with De Bruyne and Casemiro has dropped into center back, which is why it is there [in the center].

“Johnny Evans was being pulled out of position by John Stones.” He is therefore not merely a body there; rather, he is controlling the game.

“As previously stated, English football has never seen anything like this. It is distinct.”

Carragher then highlighted the action that resulted in Haaland wasting a fantastic opportunity at the Etihad in the first half.

That’s the gist of it. Once more, the gap between Manchester United’s midfield players is visible.

“So, this time, for Guardiola, it was about using his central midfielders to exploit the space from Manchester United’s man-marking system, and they should have gone into half-time at 1-1.”Once more, we are discussing a center-back moving into the No. 10 position rather than a center-back moving into midfield. He consistently blurs the lines.”