For Manchester United’s executives, City are the best-in-class runaway train they wish to emulate and aspire to. Coveted talent like Antoine Semenyo and now Marc Guéhi opt for blue when a generation ago, Old Trafford was the destination of dreams.
United’s myth and legend becomes increasingly sepia-tinged but there may be life in it yet. The list of Sir Alex Ferguson’s boys able to take the reins in times of emergency is being exhausted but Michael Carrick, on his second turn, found a way to feed off it. He has just 17 games though there is a tantalising prize on offer. A return to the Champions League looks possible. Rather than embracing the void, Carrick’s United reminded that sporting directors, analytic departments and strategic reviews may have their place in the eventual restoration of power, but dogged spirit, wanting it more, can win the day.
On Fergie’s face a broad smile, while a haunted, defeated Pep Guardiola, City’s chances of reclaiming the title dwindling to dust, rocking back into his cushioned seat, was delicious for United followers. As was the sullen departure of Erling Haaland, loping off with 10 minutes left, finally rid of Lisandro Martínez and Harry Maguire checking his every move. As City fans of a certain age will recall, the failures of rivals can be almost as sweet as sustained success. Your team actually delivering mortal blows is sweeter still.
Ruben Amorim was the manager who never appeared to remotely believe in the United legend. Reliving former glories is not nearly enough, as the past 13 years have shown, but snotting City will do fine for now. And perhaps the players for whom Amorim showed such distaste have more to offer than he was prepared to admit. Free at last from three-at-the-back – Bruno Fernandes asked to supply key passes instead of ratting round midfield – who would have thought that United’s players might find a way to express themselves?
A Stretford End flag day showed the United legacy still burns among the die-hards. In response, and until their team began to malfunction, those in the City end showed the braggadocio success will bring, all smirks and jibes. Where, until 2011, a ticker counting back the years since City had won a trophy – it reached 35 – the number 115 was brandished in the stand’s lower reaches. That United fans hope to wipe away their lost decade via a legal process that shows no sign of reaching a conclusion is a source of considerable amusement for those in blue.
Beyond the institutional stuff, the company law, the political economy of nation states and petrochemical billionaires, how about some actual football? Old Trafford crackled as of old from the early stages, the rafters shaking when Maguire nodded against the crossbar. Guardiola scratching his cranium distractedly was a positive sign, as was Gianluigi Donnarumma twice having to bail out dozing City defenders. Alongside him, with hands behind his back, clad in the type of black overcoat his old boss once wore, Carrick paced calmly, far less demonstrative than an opposite number becoming ever more anxious.
“Use the energy of the people” had been Carrick’s advice to his players, words he would have heard many times as a United player. Such a rallying call will not work every time, there will be occasions the crowd cannot provide the fuel, but a Manchester derby was just the place to employ it.
It undoubtedly helped United that this is not the City team of three years ago, despite almost £500m being spent on renovations in the last calendar year. In a frantic first half, Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo, both making welcome returns from Morocco, were the outlets for a series of wildcat counters. Kobbie Mainoo, whose rejection by Amorim was a key indicator the former manager had little interest nor understanding of club traditions, showed flashes, too, digging in with Casemiro against City’s old firm of Rodri, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. The trio’s class became lost amid the frenzy.
United pressed hard, stayed compact as a unit, and by doing so, occasioned on the better chances. Abdukodir Khusanov and Max Alleyne in central defence, callow to say the least, suggested just why Guéhi has been signed. Nico O’Reilly, the substitute only 30 Premier League games into his career, approaches positive veteran status.
Guardiola, who offered a manly embrace to Khusanov after a touchline tackle, clearly enjoys his role in establishing the next generation for a time beyond his tenure but, for all those players’ bright futures, City are struggling to live in the present. Rico Lewis was horribly culpable for United’s second, beaten soundly to the punch by Patrick Dorgu.
City are struggling with the discipline of attempting to stay successful while in a rebuilding process. Not every City signing has paid off, there has been significant wastage. At least Donnarumma, the keeper who was not supposed to suit the Guardiola doctrines, has been a palpable hit. Without him, City’s defeat would have come far earlier.
Donnarumma’s second-half double save from Amad and then Casemiro reminded that for all the high-minded ideals of a ball-playing keeper, making saves will always be the most important part of the job. That the Italian was celebrating his stops so demonstratively was evidence of the increasing pressure and emotional energy City eventually collapsed underneath.
