Ifwecouldjust....... said:
Manchester City 4 Manchester United 1: Demolition derby! Aguero strikes twice while Yaya and Nasri rub salt into Moyes' wounds as new boss endures embarrassment at the Etihad
Nobody knew what to expect from Sunday’s Manchester derby. They just didn’t expect this.
If anything, United got away with it. A three-goal margin does not accurately reflect Manchester City’s superiority. The statistics do not tell the story. They give United the edge on possession, City an edge on goalmouth chances.
They make it sound tight. It wasn’t. At 4-0 up, City’s ambition flagged. Like all good teams they knew the job was done and the outcome no longer in doubt.
They stopped tearing at United, stopped swarming over them in midfield, stopped bullying them back into their own half and settled.
Even then, it took a wondrous free-kick from Wayne Rooney to put United on the scoresheet.
More telling was the appearance of his manager, David Moyes — or the lack of it. He barely ventured off the bench in the second-half.
It was as if he had been rocked back in his seat, shocked, stunned, rendered mute in disbelief.
In this way, he mirrored his team.
United were simply repelled by their rivals, shut up, dismissed, seen off. They pushed them deep, chased and harried them up the field. A few reputations will take some mending, not least Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick, who had looked so impressive at home against Bayer Leverkusen last week.
This was another level of expectation entirely and they were found wanting. There were outstanding performers all over the field — but each one wore a blue shirt.
Vincent Kompany was the best defender, Yaya Toure immense in the centre of midfield, Samir Nasri enjoyed one of his best performances for City, Jesus Navas terrified with his pace. As a forward partnership, Sergio Aguero and Alvara Negredo were a perfect team — Aguero scoring two goals, Negredo tireless in support.
The newness of the managers made this a hard match to call and while one bad game doesn’t make Moyes a mug, or one magnificent afternoon for Manuel Pellegrini erase the memory of five points dropped against Stoke and Cardiff, it certainly dictates the narrative for both men in the coming weeks.
Punch drunk: De Gea catches Kompany but the skipper soldiered on
Moyes is now a Manchester United manager who has played Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City and seen his team scored one goal and collect one point in nine. He faces Liverpool, again, in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday and all eyes will no longer be solely on the returning Luis Suarez.
As for Pellegrini, he is now in massive credit with his fans.
There were no songs for Roberto Mancini yesterday — only comparisons with the day his City put six past United at Old Trafford.
This was better. Not numerically, but in terms of the performance.
When City won 6-1 there were late goals and a sending off for United.
Doubling the advantage: Yaya Toure put City 2-0 up in first half stoppage time
Derby delight: Yaya Toure celebrates putting City 2-0 up on the stroke of half time
Face in the crowd: Robin van Persie missed the game through injury and watched from the stands
This was 4-0 to City five minutes into the second-half, with both starting XIs in play. All that could be said in United’s defence was that Robin van Persie missed the match with a groin injury. Even so, one absentee, no matter how gifted, should not be able to neuter a team like this. If Van Persie really is the difference to this extent, Moyes has a castle built on sand.
The damage was done in the first-half. City were dominant, at times rampant. When Rio Ferdinand headed a clearance, City’s reaction to collecting the loose ball was magnificent. They tore United apart.
Not going to plan: Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Michael Carrick stand dejected after another goal
Crowded out: Marouane Fellain vies for the ball with Manchester City's Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany
Matija Nastasic directed a lovely header wide into the path of Nasri, who broke down the left before feeding another of the afternoon’s heroes, Aleksandar Kolarov, on the left. His cross curled in slightly behind Aguero but the Argentinian somehow pivoted and took it on the volley, the ball flashing past a helpless David de Gea in United’s goal.
City did not create a vast number of chances in this first-half spell, but they utterly dictated the game, and negated United’s threat.
Rooney had another fine match, but even he struggled to make an impression against Kompany’s outstanding defensive instincts.
Indeed, City’s offensive game often began from the back such was the command of the captain, and in first-half injury time, City forced a corner that changed the dynamic of the match.
Three and easy: Aguero scores his second and City's third in the derby
Pass and move: Aguero was heavily involved in the build up to his second goal
It's getting better and better: Aguero celebrates with Alvaro Negredo and Samir Nasri
Mixed emotions: Manuel Pellegrini and David Moyes share different emotions on the touchline
Had United gone in at half-time trailing by one they might have approached the second-half with more confidence.
Instead, they were two down and never recovered. When they appeared after the break, the game spiralled beyond their control, and a defeat became a rout.
It was a soft goal to concede though and Moyes, whose Everton teams were built on sound defensive principles, would be particularly unsettled by woeful marking.
Nasri took a corner from the right and Fellaini lost Negredo, whose powerful header was travelling just wide of a post, before being diverted in by Toure’s knee. Alarms would now have been sounding in the away dressing-room. If the plan from here was at best revival, at worst damage limitation, it failed on both counts, miserably.
Easy does it: Samir Nasri celebrates making it 4-0
Punch perfect: Nasri hits the corner flag in celebration
Nemanja Vidic, so often the rock for United at the back, was having a hard time against Negredo and the second-half was only two minutes old when he made the error that put the result beyond doubt.
Nasri played the ball in, Negredo spun his man and crossed for Aguero to finish, again on the volley, having exploited a gap between Ferdinand and Patrice Evra that could have been rented as caravan space. The home fans were now delirious, and levels of ecstasy were about to intensify.
A United move broke down, Navas sprinted the length of the field and his cross was met at the far post by Nasri with another volley.
Too little too late: Rooney scores from a free kick to make the score 4-1 in the final ten minutes
Teammates on different sides: Joe Hart shakes hands with Rooney at the end
Trudging off: Rooney, Chris Smalling and David de Gea leave the pitch dejected at the end
Nightmare: Moyes had a horrible experience in his first Manchester derby
It was no more than he, or City, deserved. Four goals, four volleys — even if Toure’s was more lunge than technical masterclass, that still takes some doing. This was accomplished football from a team full of the self-belief garnered from a comfortable Champions League victory in midweek. Nasri, certainly, has rarely performed as well here and had a part to play in every goal.
Of course, the game won, City relaxed and United enjoyed a brief spell in the ascendancy. Fellaini had a shot tipped over by Joe Hart, Evra had a header hit the post and Hart saved a Rooney shot. Yet all this did was skew the statistics.
The meaning of it all was summed up when Rooney, the one United player that Moyes singled out for praise, curled a beautiful free-kick over the wall and into the goal with three minutes remaining and did not even bother to celebrate.
‘He didn’t deserve to be on the losing side today,’ said Moyes, and he was right. Yet the same could be said of the 10 men in blue.
Unless Wayne fancied giving Joe Hart a run for his money, he could be no more than a spare part.
Twelve into 11 won’t go.
