City so far away that if they are being noisy, United can’t hear them

Sunday’s 1-4 defeat was a measure of how far Manchester United have fallen and how high Manchester City have risen. It didn’t feel like a derby anymore; the edginess, the excitement had evaporated to the point that City fans did the Poznan, that linked-arms ritual that involves turning backs to the pitch, in the second half. Last November, City won 2-0 at Old Trafford and the scoreline wasn’t a true reflection of their dominance. At the Etihad, numbers told their own story: City had 68% possession, 10 attempts on target to United’s two and nine corners to three by United’s. The only statistic where United had more was in the fouls column: 14 to nine. The only yellow card was shown to United captain Harry Maguire.

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Gap widens

Twenty-two points separate City and United. That’s seven more than same-city teams Real Madrid, the La Liga leaders, and Atletico, six more than Barcelona and Espanyol, and three more than Turin’s Juventus and Torino. Since Ferguson left after 2012-13, City have averaged 20.75 points more than United in the league and won it four times. United’s best finish has been second (twice) but they have also been out of the top five twice and fifth once. City have also been runners-up in the Champions League, won the FA Cup once, the League Cup six times and Community Shield twice between then and now . In that period United won the FA Cup and League Cup once each, shared the Community Shield once and won it in 2013 and were Europa League champions in 2016-17, an achievement that seems like the crowning glory of the post-Ferguson years.

Last January, it was reported that City’s revenue of £569.8 million was more than United’s £494.1 million for the financial year that ended on June 30, 2021. The neighbours have moved so far away that even if they are being noisy, United can’t hear them.

United have won seven of their 14 league games under Ralf Rangnick and the German has supervised an FA Cup exit to a team in the second tier of English football. Goals have been a problem and without Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood that was unlikely to change at City even though Rangnick’s ploy of using two false nines in Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes did rattle the men in light blue. For a while. In that time Jadon Sancho scored and Fred went close. But for all of Rangnick’s tactical nous, the personnel just wasn’t equipped to deliver. Getting Anthony Elanga further up the pitch left space on the right side of United’s defence that City exploited through Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo. It was too much for Scott McTominay in midfield and right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

And we haven’t even got to Phil Foden yet. As Pep Guardiola said at the post-match press conference, playing false nine is tough because you are expected to find space between central defenders and a midfield that sits deep. Foden did that with aplomb leading Guardiola to be asked whether the Mancunian is the best 21-year-old in world football now. His dinking the ball over Victor Lindelof led to a goal and he created space for City’s other attackers which meant that if one player missed or had a shot saved by David de Gea, there were two more at hand to tap in.

Collective brilliance

But good as Foden was, this was a concert of collective brilliance. Especially in the second half. In the way they used half spaces—all five goals were created or finished in the area in between the wings and the centre-circle—City were playing like Arsene Wenger had once described Lionel Messi at Guardiola’s Barcelona—PlayStation football. “If the second half is not our best, I don’t know what we have to do, honestly,” Guardiola told reporters. “…The second half was in all terms—defensively, transitions, offensively, with the ball, attacking, outside, inside, the commitment and everything—so good. I’m the biggest critic of my team, but when we play good, we play good. In the second half today, we play really good.”

How did Manchester United look back at the game? “When we had the ball, we just gave it back to them far too cheaply, far too easily, we weren’t clean enough with our passing. And in moments where we did have chances to hurt them we weren’t clinical enough, we weren’t clean enough with the passing and the transitional moments in the game, especially in the second half,” said Maguire.

Chastening time

For Rangnick, no team in the world keeps the ball as well as City. That the comment didn’t meet a volley of protest from United fans is proof of how things have changed since they had worked themselves into a lather when David Moyes had said how difficult it was to play City. Those days, the rafters at Old Trafford would have banners saying, “Not Arrogant, Just Better.” It was a time when the 20-time champions felt the 21st league title was around the corner. It’s been a chastening eight seasons since.

The reasons are myriad: a manager who hasn’t been able to show the way, inability to stay on the same level for 90 minutes, shambolic defending and poor recruitment. But it wasn’t because of money. United spent over £1 billion pounds after Fergie left and some of the signings have been past-his-prime Bastian Schweinsteiger, Angel di Maria, Morgan Schneiderlin, Marcos Rojo, who was signed when he could have been facing charges for battery, Eric Bailly, Pogba and Maguire. None worked out. Raphael Varane missed Sunday’s game due to Covid-19 but he has been a shadow of the defender who won a World Cup and was a pillar of strength at Real. And while there is no doubting Ronaldo’s goalscoring ability—he has 15 in 29 games including six in six in the Champions League—his inability to press has hurt United.

“For us, it’s important we keep developing the team, which we did in the last couple of months,” said Rangnick. With an interim manager, a leaky defence, the inability to replace Michael Carrick in midfield, it will be a while before the red side of Manchester develops enough to compete with the best of England and Europe.