After about an hour of action at Old Trafford on Sunday, everything seemed to be going in Manchester United’s favour. Phil Foden’s 23rd-minute red card meant they took control of the game against arch-rivals Manchester City. They kept getting shots on goal – seven to be exact, and it was Marcus Rashford’s close-range free kick just before half-time that put them very close to the first goal of the game. Manchester City, meanwhile, were limited to just one shot after being sent off and were expected to score just 0.03 goals.
Then the inevitable happened: Erling Haaland scored.
The goal was not without controversy, so much so that the VAR check went on for so long that commentators mocked singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher for celebrating Haaland’s goal long after the offside flag had been raised. Gallagher is justified in more ways than one, though. Not only did the referee decide that Semenho’s pass resulted in a deflection, rendering obsolete the question of whether Haaland was offside, but the goal was a stark reminder that, despite their attempts to appear normal and change over the past decade, United remain a deeply flawed team.
In the 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, United have been worse than they were on Sunday, and even when they lost, they played competitively. However, the cautious optimism brought about by last season’s third-place finish and a quiet but steady summer will take a backseat after a 1-0 loss to Manchester City. They may be struggling a bit with just one win from their opening four Premier League games, but with their limits fully exposed on Sunday, it’s not hard to believe the Red Devils are in for another difficult season.
Foden’s red card went some way to livening up a dull match, although the time gap between the decision and Haaland’s goal was consistent with United’s performance before being sent off. Carrick’s side were the attackers from the start, taking three shots to City’s one, and just before Haaland’s goal, United had 10 shots to City’s two. There’s one problem – the expected goals against 10 shots is an unimpressive 0.31, which suggests the Red Devils don’t have many solutions to City’s defensive formation. The visitors were essentially challenging their opponents to use all their control to do something that City manager Enzo Maresca was smartly betting they couldn’t do.
United go into the weekend as one of the better attacking teams in the league, but with just three games into the season it’s hard to know how valuable their output is – they start the season against newly promoted sides Hull City and Ipswich Town, as well as a clash with a perennial mid-table side. everton. Manchester City will naturally face a very different test, with United’s talented but non-elite attackers struggling to break through against a quality defence. They had bright moments, including Brian Mbemo’s stoppage-time strike that forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into an important save. For Rashford, who was trying to rewrite his tenure at his boyhood club, the moment never came. Benjamin Cescó and Joshua Zirkzee were no saviors off the bench, nor could Bruno Fernandes equalize out of nowhere like he has in the past.
A natural sense of urgency was palpable after Haaland’s goal, but it looked more like desperation. Although they had more chances, they were short of ideas; Mbemo’s last-gasp effort was the only reason they overtook City in expected goals in the final half-hour, despite having a six-to-three advantage in shots on goal.
At the same time, Manchester City can also be ordinary. Maresca tends to play conservatively after receiving a red card, so much so that he did so at the same venue a year ago when he was Chelsea manager. His performance didn’t pan out that day, with the Blues losing 2-1 to the Red Devils, but things didn’t get out of hand on Sunday. Maresca replaced Rayan Cherki at half-time Iliman Ndiayelosing a lot of creative spark along the way. However, City’s defensive shape held up well, with midfielders Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez Foden worked overtime after the red card. City may not be a finished product just a few weeks into the new era, but Maresca is establishing a clear identity – one that is far simpler than the one established by Guardiola, but one that allows them to find a way to win no matter the circumstances.
However, Maresca’s opponents can only imagine basking in glory. Carrick is not solely responsible for United’s defeat on Sunday, but months after a return to good vibes following the sacking of Ruben Amorim, he has yet to prove he can be the long-term manager of another United rebuild. Just one win from four league games would have put them out of trouble, but after a succession of mistakes it’s now difficult to find a clear way out.