Sunday’s Manchester Derby was always going to be a difficult game for United given the gulf in quality between the two sides. The rivalry between the cross-town neighbours exists now more on paper, as in its barest form the derby is between one side who are the defending champions and league leaders and the other struggling to nail down a top-four spot.
Perhaps that explains why United were able to match City stride for stride only for the first 15 minutes of the game where they tried to press high and even managed to score once through Sancho. But following that goal, the team simply could not hold on and fell apart quite quickly in the second half.
At times City were just toying with this Red Devils side, passing their way around with ease and sniffing out any possible counter-attack from United as early as possible. In the second half, United accumulated an XG (expected goals) of 0.00 and held only 8% of possession in the last quarter of the hour.
The win also dented United’s top 4 hopes as they saw Arsenal jump above them into 4th place, with 3 games in hand. All in all, it was a dull affair for Red Devil supporters, especially for faithful ones with personal history with the club such as Sir Alex Ferguson. Having already witnessed one mauling at the hands of bitter rivals Liverpool earlier this season, the Scotsman had to endure another tough time from the stands.
This matchday experience for SAF did get worse as the veteran ex-manager was spotted by fans being harassed by a City supporter rubbing the victory in his face as he made his way through the exit.
In the video, the City fan is seen shouting, “hey Ferguson, never in my lifetime…” before going on to chant “City, City, City” for the rest of the clip.
Although Man City outclassed United on the pitch, this fan’s antics have been called out by fans of both Mancunian clubs for its lack of class in disrespecting a legend of the game under the guise of it being banter.
The annoying fan would not have worried the seasoned SAF, who has seen everything there is related to football, but he would be worried about the fate that lies ahead for his beloved club with tough fixtures against Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and Tottenham coming up, in what could be a season-defining stretch of games.
