There was little question about United’s parlous state in simply seven minutes of the Manchester derby.
When Eric Bailly clumsily intercepted Joao Cancillo’s cross to show the ball into his personal internet, it was the beginning of one other painful Old Trafford encounter with a far superior opponent.
“This team just doesn’t have desire and fight.”
Roy Keane feels sorry for Manchester United gamers pic.twitter.com/QcFzFDcKXU
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) November 6, 2021
The solely shock from Saturday’s derby was United’s escape after a 2-0 loss to Manchester City, when Bernardo Silva beat goalkeeper David de Gea at his shut put up in stoppage time.
The humiliation right here was prevented two weeks after a 5-0 loss by Liverpool, however it was one other match to see how far United have slipped from the Premier League elite.
City and United have a number of the costliest soccer squads on the earth – every assembled for greater than $1 billion – however it clearly will not be a sight to behold within the northern English rain.
On paper, six factors now put defending champions City in second place behind fifth-placed United. The distinction in high quality, technique and elegance is extra seen, with the town transferring easily to victory.
It was not Pep Guardiola’s title City followers had been singing at Old Trafford. They had been brutally making enjoyable of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“Owls at the wheel,” he watched because the United supervisor sarcastically adopts the United fan music.
With only one win out of six league video games, Solskjaer limped on the job. The solely breakthrough got here final Saturday in opposition to Tottenham, who acted swiftly to determine the necessity for a managerial change. And by firing Nuno Espirito Santo and hiring Antonio Conte, the north London membership snubbed a possible alternative for Solskjaer.
The Norwegian could not rely on being bailed out once more by Cristiano Ronaldo, who doubled down on Tuesday’s Champions League draw at Atalanta.
Instead Ronaldo minimize a annoyed man as the dearth of depth and stress left him remoted from the entrance. The solely time he got here near scoring what would have been a draw was within the twenty sixth minute, with Ederson widening Ronaldo’s first-ever volley.
It electrified the group with that sort of roar till the hardly ever used Donnie van der Beek was heard once more within the second half.
Boos, nevertheless, had been as soon as once more the soundtrack of the house crowd at Old Trafford.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
