“Just don’t do anything stupid.” That was evidently the primary concern on the minds of the players who took to the field at Old Trafford for the Manchester derby. Mission accomplished, we guess, but there really isn’t much more to say for either side beyond that.
The first half sparked into life only sparingly – largely in the form of Manchester United counter-attacks that they were unable to finish off. Just like the last meeting between these sides, that served as a reminder of just how far away from the Premier League perch both have been this season.
The second half offered a bit more pace, a bit more rhythm, just a tad more willingness to try to do things that weren’t strictly handed down as instructions in each side’s pre-match video sessions, as has become something of a scourge of top-end clubs this season. And also these two sides.
Both City and United were better than they were in that dismally-boring-until-very-late encounter back in December, but there was a tangible sense of the occasion getting to everyone’s heads. It’s written all over players’ feet when they are too afraid of making costly mistakes to try much of anything risky that might actually lead to, you know, penetration and goals and all that stuff. Oooh, just not worth the gamble, is it?
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That was especially true on Manchester City’s end, and it remains strange to see despite having the better part of this season to get used to their no longer having the ability to relentlessly grind all comers into submission.
There is no more apt setting than Old Trafford to point out the difficulty of regaining that knack. Sir Alex Ferguson did it generation after generation; that’s what made him the greatest of all time and kept United as the team to beat for so long. Their failure to do so following the Scot’s departure continues to haunt them.
Pep Guardiola’s commitment to a longer stay at the Etihad suggests he is willing to take on that same challenge. For all his accolades, the question of whether he is capable of doing so is one he has never had to answer before.
That question is especially pertinent just days after Kevin de Bruyne announced he will be leaving the club at the end of the season. The playmaker has been nowhere near his best even when fit over the past 18 months – and wasn’t here either – but his imminent departure still holds huge symbolic value of where City are in their life cycle.
If City get it right this summer, they can count this season as a lesson well learned that their great side of the late 2010s and early 2020s had come to its end just slightly too late for them to realise it at the time.
United are well, well past that, of course. Ruben Amorim’s task of helping build the side from the ground up will only really begin in earnest this summer. Until then, the best he can really hope for is for his side not to embarrass themselves too much in the league and put forward their best in the Europa League.
Next season, both sets of fans will expect much more than just not making tits of themselves.
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