‘Criminal’ – Patrick Dorgu given 2/10 and Matheus Cunha gets 3/10 rating as toothless Man United barely lay glove on Man City

It was deja vu for Manchester United fans as they watched their toothless team lose 1-0 to neighbours Manchester City in the 199th Manchester derby.

United were gifted the chance to ram Elliot Anderson’s taunts about City being the ‘Kings of Manchester’ down their throats when Phil Foden petulantly got himself sent off mid-way through a tense first half.

5

But despite playing the best part of 70 minutes with a man advantage, it was City who came away with the points thanks to Erling Haaland’s controversial goal in this grudge game.

It was the second time in 14 months the Red Devils had suffered the indignation of home defeat at the hands of a team who spent the majority of the game with ten men.

Ruben Amorim never really recovered from that humiliating beating against David Moyes’ Everton before talking his way to the sack.

Luckily for current United boss Michael Carrick, he has more credit in the bank following last season’s third-place finish and status as a club legend.

But in many ways, this was just as tough a watch for the long-suffering Old Trafford faithful.

Carrick will point to his team twice striking the post through Marcus Rashford’s long-range free-kick and Kobbie Mainoo’s effort from the edge of the box.

Why was Erling Haaland's winner so controversial?

He will also feel aggrieved VAR intervened to overrule the on-field decision to chalk off City’s goal for offside even though Enzo Fernandez made a clear movement towards the ball before Haaland fired home at the far post.

However, the harsh reality is City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who has started the season looking more than a little vulnerable, was rarely tested.

In fact, United finished the game with an XG of 0.95 and that was inflated by Donnarumma’s late save to deny Bryan Mbeumo when he was through one-one-one.

Rashford, recalled to the starting line-up after being rested for the mid-week Champions League win over Sabah, made some promising runs but lacked end product, as has become the story of the latter years of his United career.

5

5

Having played a big part in Foden’s early dismissal, Bruno Fernandes was uncharacteristically below par with his passing.

Fernandes’s misplaced ball that sailed over the head of substitute Joshua Zirkzee in stoppage time summed up the captain’s afternoon.

Neither Matheus Cunha nor Mbeumo were able to impose themselves on a City defence that were given a sterner test by newly-promoted Coventry last weekend.

And it wasn’t just the forward players who were found wanting.

Patrick Dorgu’s ‘defending’ for Haaland’s winner was criminal and it was only because United didn’t have another recognised left-back in the squad that he stayed on for the duration.

Who could have possibly foreseen Luke Shaw being unavailable five games into the season when United’s bloated recruitment team opted NOT to sign a defender this summer?

5

5

The only player in a red jersey who could leave the field with their head high was Kobbie Mainoo, who tried his best to take the game to City, but could not do it single-handed.

Playing alongside Mainoo, United new-boy Youri Tielemans was upstaged by Anderson.

There is a reason one cost £35million and the other £117m.

Carrick is too measured to say it publicly, but has every right to feel let down by his bosses when he looks enviously at the riches lavished on Enzo Maresca to rebuild the visitors in the post Pep Guardiola era.

It already feels like all of the feel-good factor from the second half of last season has been wiped away by a meagre return of just four points from United’s first four games, leaving them languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League table.

As Maresca raced down the touchline Jose Mourinho style to celebrate in front of the travelling City fans, Carrick was left to reflect on another very bad day at the office.