SIMPLY TOO HOT TO HANDLE
United’s hunger and power put dismal City to the sword
TOO strong, too hungry and too powerful. All over the field Manchester United were superior. It has been a while since we have said that, in this fixture at least.
A season that seemed to be heading nowhere when Arsenal defeated them in the FA Cup last month will perhaps now be remembered for a return to European football and also for this, a victory over their neighbours that was even more complete, more absolute, than the scoreline suggests.
United used to do this to City all the time. They used to bully them, pass through them, demoralise them and embarrass them. But not since 2009-10 when United beat City twice in the Barclays Premier League and edged a League Cup semi-final have they brutalised them like this.
Time will tell what the ramifications will be. United will surely take third place in the league. That looks a certainty now. For City, everything suddenly seems unclear, including their manager’s position and their own place in the top four. Here at a rapturous Old Trafford, United played like a team that had been waiting for this day. City looked like a team waiting for the season to end.
City actually bookended this game with two very good goals, Sergio Aguero ( below) scoring in the eighth and 89th minutes.
What happened in between, however, served to confirm recent indications that United have finally found their true selves while City have fallen off the edge of the proverbial cliff.
The home team had all the game’s best players. Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young, Daley Blind and Juan Mata were all excellent and key to events. City, on the other hand, hardly had a player who will reflect on this comfortably.
For 10 minutes, City were excellent. They have grown used to coming here and starting like this.
Last season Edin Dzeko scored early and the game finished 3-0. This time, a move began by Gael Clichy and soon joined by a David Silva dash to the by-line was finished off by Aguero.
A goal ahead and with three clear chances already to reflect on, City seemed to have given themselves a platform while United looked hesitant. Silva seemed to be readying himself for a stellar afternoon.
United, though, have been running hot on belief recently and that has made an enormous difference to their play. The fact they managed to fashion an equaliser from a position of vulnerability spoke volumes.
Goalkeeper David de Gea actually looked to be in trouble as Jesus Navas attempted to run on to a short back-pass in the 14th minute and the ensuing clearance was more of a hack than a measured pass to the left wing. But when Fellaini won a challenge with Pablo Zabaleta opportunity suddenly beckoned.
The ball broke to Ander Herrera and when he crossed to the near post Young edged his dual with Clichy to nudge the ball over the line after it broke off both of them.
Coming at a time when United had looked weak, the psychological effects of the equaliser were immediate and far reaching. The momentum of the game shifted towards red and City never managed to reverse it.
United were not particularly fluent and it was, for a while, a tight game played in an atmosphere that reflected the stakes. However, the home team looked to have more energy, more purpose and more conviction. This is what confidence does to a team and by the 21st minute they were in the lead. This time, City had to ask themselves questions and over the remainder of the game it became a theme.
The threat in the air from Fellaini was obvious but somehow he managed to isolate Clichy at the far post as Young crossed above the head of the taller Martin Demichelis, who was essentially marking nobody. It was, as the bare facts suggest, a mismatch and Fellaini powered above his opponent to head the ball through Joe Hart
and in to the corner. Less than a quarter of the game had gone but already the road back for City looked long.
From that point on until Aguero’s late consolation, City hardly made a chance.
As half-time neared, their captain Vincent Kompany could have been sent off for a lunge at Blind. As it was, he strained a muscle making the challenge and didn’t reappear for a second period that began with Hart saving Wayne Rooney’s freekick and then Michael Carrick’s follow-up.
City desperately needed a foothold but couldn’t find one. They enjoyed some possession but conviction was absent and when Demichelis dashed senselessly from his position Blind and Rooney were able to pick up the pieces to play in Mata, who looked offside, for the decisive third goal. From here on in, only the winning margin was in doubt and when Chris Smalling ran off Demichelis’s shoulder to head in the fourth from a Young free-kick anything seemed possible.
As it turned out the final act belonged to Aguero — Zabaleta the provider this time — and the winning margin settled at a rather modest two. That doesn’t tell the story, though. United were dominant and, at times, rather rampant. For the first time in a while, they held City in their grip.
Afterwards, Louis van Gaal suggested he would spend the evening at his favourite Manchester restaurant, Wings.
It was appropriate. His team, finally, are in flight.