Well, considering the conventional wisdom going into the latest installment of the Manchester Derby was that United were a bigger underdog than Peter McNeely when he fought Mike Tyson, The Washington Generals any time they line up against the Harlem Globetrotters or 80s WWE jobbers like “Iron” Mike Sharpe or Barry Horowitz when they would face off against superstars like “Macho Man” Randy Savage or the Ultimate Warrior, the fact that the Reds only lost 3-1 (after leading 1-0 at halftime) was pretty impressive.
Never mind that United played with 10 men behind the ball for most of the match and got outshot 27-3. Never mind that United only managed 26% possession and had a mere one shot on target (Marcus Rashford’s stunning thunderbolt that ranks among the best goals ever scored in this fixture but really came out of nowhere). Never mind that Phil Foden continues to look like the second coming of Zinedine Zidane whenever he faces United, or that Erling Haaland scoring a goal against United is about as inevitable as death, taxes, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe sacking Erik ten Hag at the end of the season (probably). Never mind that City’s domination was so complete and total that it made you wonder if Pep Guardiola took his foot off the break because he didn’t want to humiliate ten Hag (or because he wants to keep ten Hag around Manchester for the foreseeable future and he knew another 6-1 demolition probably seals his fate).
So in other words, it was business as usual. Ratcliffe’s got his work cut out for him if he really means to knock City off their perch.
