‘Are you watching Ruben Amorim?’ – Manchester United dazzle in Michael Carrick’s first game back – there’s no excuse for level to drop

That was more like it.

The roar of Old Trafford felt like a throwback to the good days as did the grit and endeavour shown by a Manchester United side often lambasted for their inexplicable performances.

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Michael Carrick’s reign as United interim head coach got off to the best possible start with a 2-0 derby win over Manchester City.

United produced arguably their best performance of the season to boost their hopes of a top four finish while inflicting a huge dent to City’s title hopes.

Almost two weeks after Ruben Amorim was sent packing, the Red Devils found a gear seldom seen to remind one or two detractors of just what they are capable of under the right conditions.

The tone was set early on for Pep Guardiola’s men when Diogo Dalot was given just a yellow card for a high tackle on Jeremy Doku.

City were left incensed by the referee’s decision not to dismiss the Portuguese full-back, but the reprieve only sought to spur United on who saw Harry Maguire hit the crossbar with a header and two first half goals ruled out for offside.

United took the Mich

United pressed for the opener and if it wasn’t for the heroics of City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who denied Casemiro from point-blank range, Carrick’s side would have broken the deadlock much earlier.

But the hosts didn’t have to wait long to nudge their way in front when the returning Bryan Mbeumo fired low beyond Donnarumma just after the hour mark.

It got even better for Carrick when Patrick Dorgu pulled away from his marker to get on the end of Matheus Cunha’s cross to add a second 15 minutes from time.

And it could have been even worse for City had Mason Mount’s late goal not been ruled out for offside, while Amad saw a effort in the closing staged come off the woodwork.

That’s Mor like it

Few could have not been impressed with United’s display and talkSPORT’s Micky Gray was among those dazzled by the performance.

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The former Sunderland star has now challenged Carrick’s side to push on and deliver similar-style performances week-in, week-out.

“Well, are you watching Ruben Amorim?,” Gray told talkSPORT.

“I’m surprised I haven’t heard that from the Manchester United supporters because they have seen a Manchester United performance today.

“And that’s what it takes to play for a club like this.

“If you want to be winning trophies it’s not just against your fiercest rivals. That’s you’ve got to do every single week.

“There’s no distraction of the Carabao Cup, FA Cup or Europe. There’s no excuses to go out there and put a shift in like that every single week.

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“They were outstanding today. It should have been 4 or 5-0. They were brilliant.”

Old Trafford was bouncing

Mbeumo made a scoring return to the Manchester United line-up following his time away at AFCON with Cameroon.

Asked whether his derby-day heroics was his best moment in a red shirt, the forward told Sky Sports: “I think it’s one of them.

“Scoring in front of this stand is unbelievable. Derby is even more and like Licha [Martinez] said, we used the energy of the fans today. This place was unbelievable today.”

“When I came back a lot of things changed. I think we have a very good group. We always stick together. We have a fantastic unit, so it is unbelievable.

“It is a bit of everything. It is not easy because we only had three days. Because we are all together, we all want to win the same way with the same aim.”

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Pep’s Admission

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was honest in his assessment of his side’s defeat – admitting United were the superior team and deserved their victory.

“The better team won,” he said. “They were better. When a team is better you have to accept it. They had the energy we didn’t have, so congratulations.

“They had the chances at the end and of course the goals we conceded were poorly.

“We didn’t control but in general we can talk about this action or that action. We have the duty to analyse the game in general and they were better.”

City are without a win in their last four Premier League matches and could find themselves nine-points adrift of leaders Arsenal if the Gunners win at Nottingham Forest in the 5.30pm kick-off.