Manchester City Annihilate Manchester United 6-1 in Biggest Derby Ever

It is still hard to register what we saw last night at Old Trafford.

It was built as the biggest Manchester derby of all time, and given the league positions, the talent on the pitch and the off field power of the two clubs, few would argue that it wasn’t.

Both were undefeated heading into the game, and it seemed likely before kickoff that both teams would end the game undefeated.

That could not have been further from the truth.

Mario Balotelli continued his scoring form in the 22nd minute setting the game alight and is really beginning to establish himself in the Premier League and in world football. Everyone has been aware of his talent for many years, but the attitude that was always in question seems to be a thing of the past.

The most talked about moment was cerintaly Johnny Evans’ idiotic straight red card just two minutes into the second half changed the entire complexity of the game. From there City were on the front foot and refused to show United any mercy as they poured in a further 5 goals to completely humiliate their more fancied and successful neighbours on the stage that has seen unequalled United success.

The feeling was one of utter shock and disbelief and even the Manchester City players and fans expressed a true feeling of surprise as the rout continued to pour on.

I think a lot of the blame should be put on Sir Alex Ferguson. Undoubtedly one of, if not the greatest manager the English game has ever seen, perhaps even professional football, rarely does he get it wrong but on this night he got it spectacularly wrong.

I have failed to ever see what some see in Johnny Evans. Not one game have I come away thinking he played a really good game. As Danny Mills said in commentary, “he always has one big mistake in him”, and last night it was the mistake that laid the foundation upon the most embarrassing loss in the history of Manchester United.

With much better options of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and surely Nemanja Vidic, Ferguson’s decision to play Evans went a long way to losing them that game.

Another key tactical error I felt from Ferguson was the decision to leave Hernandez on the bench. The little Mexican has been a revelation since joining the club last year and has quickly become one of the best goal poachers in football. He poked home a point saving goal against Liverpool last week and is constantly sniffing around the penalty box looking for any scraps that he can turn into points for United. He is the near perfect striker to have in the elite games against the elite clubs because his knack for scoring goals is something more valuable than most other talents.

Whilst Welbeck is a wonderful talent, I feel Sir Alex is pushing too hard for him to become Rooney’s long term strike partner, or indeed their main man upfront, with Rooney at centre forward in behind him. Welbeck is not ready for week in, week out football at the highest level but Ferguson has refused this, continually playing the young striker in hopes he will quickly become the incumbent striker for Manchester United. He may well become that, but he is not there yet. Hernandez should have started.

The rest of the finger pointing will largely be at United’s two most experienced figures. Rio Ferdinand played by far the worst game I have ever seen him play, and Patrice Evra was not far behind. Ferdinand was solely to blame for at least 2 of the 6 Manchester City goals in which he failed, no REFUSED, to track runners and clear the ball. Evra clearly was not mentally right to play the game given his racial controversies involving Luiz Suarez that dominated headlines through the week, another big error from Sir Alex.

Manchester United, albeit brave or just stupid, continued to try to attack Manchester City until the death, allowing the sky blues to easily counter the 10 men reds and add to the misery. Smalling and Evra failed to get back on numerous occasions, leaving the disgraceful Ferdinand and unfortunate Phil Jones to deal with continual City out numberings, ultimately leading to more City goals. Ferguson after the match admitted his confusion at the decision to play like this, citing his experienced defenders Ferdinand and Evra who should know better. They would have received the spray of all sprays in that locker room.

Yet Ferguson has always employed his teams to play this way, so I feel he is just as much as fault.

Nonetheless it was one of the worst days in the history of Manchester United, but arguably the biggest day in the history of Manchester City.

Regardless of how it happened or why it happened, Manchester City did the impossible and put a half dozen past their closest rivals and swiftly swung the balance of power in Manchester in their favour.

It is fair to say that the city of Manchester that was once undeniably nothing less than bright red, is now a city with an increasing shade of sky blue.