Manchester City came out on top in the derby by four goals to one. But is anyone really expecting a different outcome ? If there is anyone with the thought, it is obvious it will come as a shock to such person if it came to pass. Even if it is United that emerged victorious, would that mean they are better than their City rivals ?
Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay (left-right) in action during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Picture date: Sunday March 6, 2022. (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
Which should make you feel more embarrassed, is it failing to beat 19th place Watford, who had won just once in 16 games or losing to defending Champions, Manchester City, who have lost just once in 19 league games ?
Competing and getting the positive results against the best teams is not by entitlement, but by hard work and playing good football. Sometimes, it does requires patience which is what United fans will have to embrace for a while.
Yes, United did finished second in the league last season, behind their City rivals but they have never finished above City since winning the league title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season at the club. The narratives has changed ever since.
Manchester City, since the appointment of Spanish manager Pep Guardiola has gone from strength to strengths and have become one of the force to reckon with in European football, while United battle with inconsistency, and they never look like matching their rival.
Yesterday at the Ethiad, it was just another game for City, who scored four without breaking a sweat and not many will bet against them not beating United, even if Pep Guardiola decides to play the benched players and vice versa. The margin is getting wider between the two clubs.
The stake of the Manchester derby explained how much transition has occured, that has shifted the might of Manchester to the blue side, nonetheless United had won their three previous visits to the Ethiad before Sunday evening. Those were victories not many would have predicted and in the end, the defeats has no detrimental effect on their rival.
City are looking to maintain their position on the top of the table in their charge for the title defence, which will be their fourth league crown under Pep Guardiola and their fifth since United last won one whereas United are looking to temporarily leapfrog Arsenal to fourth, whilst the Gunners have three games in hand to return to the position.
Liverpool and United once dominated the Premier League before the Merseyside club experienced a severe degradation for more than a decade and even failed to win the league title for 29 years before eventually winning one in 2019-20 season.
However, they have come a long way before returning to former glory. The process started by appointing a long term manager in Jürgen Klopp and that decision has paid off now as Liverpool have won all the major titles with the German.
Manchester United were completely shredded into pieces in the Manchester derby. Photo Credits: B/R Football.
United on the other hand are yet to accept what has hit them, so naive that they might be thinking they are on the same level with their city rival. Is there any point in feeling dejected because you lose to City ? Yes, maybe for the bragging rights but isn’t City winning four league titles since the last time they won one more than an insult ?
It appears United have wasted the years under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as they were unable to build on their second place finish in the league last season, despite adding players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Varane and Jadon Sancho, while the Norwegian was also shown the exit door due to the lackluster performances.
Losing their heads just because of the derby defeat is not worth it as they have been already defeated by their rival, even when they don’t both take to the pitch for the derby match.
City are currently 22 points ahead of Manchester United but catching up with Pep Guardiola side is no more the objective for the season but how they can get back into the top four, a feat which now looks like a mountain despite the fact that they have been afforded several opportunities to move farther ahead of their rivals, who now have multiple games in hand.
The season is not decided though but it could get even worse for United, who apart from having an uphill task in finishing in the top four have just one difficult mission to not finish the season trophylees and that is by winning the Champions League.
Their next challenge in the competition is going past Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 and after a 1-1 draw in Spain, they will be much confident ahead of the return leg in England but they will need much more than their recent showing to better Diego Simeone side, who are recently coming to the party.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
