Comment: indifferent Manchester United players would have deserved a place in the B-team after such a performance, repeatedly at that

In the spring, Manchester United got 4 goals from their city rivals, now Pep Guardiola’s men managed to score this number of goals in the first half and then added two more in the second half. Another embarrassing debacle brought Erik ten Hag’s players back down to earth, or perhaps better yet, under the ground, after a string of wins. Perhaps the only consolation is that the current Manchester City is a real roller.

Those who were looking forward to the Manchester derby must have been really disappointed. The very first futile kick, which went into no man’s land, indicated what was expected from Sunday’s game, the Citizens would run their opponents over with the difference of class. In the end, however, they outclassed them by a difference of two classes.

There was utter helplessness from Manchester United, compounded by poor passing from players like Christian Eriksen, who fumbled 25% of his passes out of 16 in the first half. However, Jadon Sancho was also losing balls, sending promising attacks into the ground.

To beat Gaurdiola’s Manchester City, you need to put in a more than 100% focused performance. The Red Devils, however, showed absolutely nothing and the ignominious defeat was eventually eased only by two goals from Anthony Martial.

The Manchester United players thus gave a reminder of the match against Brentford, which looked very similar. Even their charges ten Haga passed on the scoring chances themselves and thus decided the fate of the match in the first half.

Of course the Reds supporters couldn’t watch this and many left their seats. To ask the players to pay for tickets would have been the least of it.

The problem with this team is certainly not the quality, although of course that is really different compared to the Citizens, plus we have to add the long successful concept of the Spanish coach and his team, but the desire to fight for their team and sacrifice.

It’s just that you absolutely don’t see that in the players and when they feel they can’t do it, it turns out exactly as it did today. It happens to every team once in a while, but at Old Trafford it happens more than often.

The following stat illustrates this, as Manchester United have conceded four first half goals four times since the start of the 2020/21 season.

After the Brentford game, the Hag had his players running as many miles as The Bees footballers had run. This time they should get a double dose and then, instead of showers, they should head to at least a 10-hour documentary charting the history of their club.

Maybe then they’ll finish off a previously lost game with honour and in a way that will keep the fans watching for at least that hour and a half.

Source: Premier League, Twitter