City 4 - 1 United

DDG

Smalling Rio Vidic Evra

Valencia Carrick Fellaini Young(Cleverley)

Rooney Welbeck

Scored a beauty and worked hard, all to no avail

I called last Tuesday's performance the best of the season and it is safe to say that today's showing was the worst I've seen United play in quite some time. Some of our players did not look up to it and there were a couple who looked past their best. Once again, Young gave little to the United cause and I am still wondering why Nani and/or Kagawa weren't involved in the game. I rarely slate my own players but Young has been absolutely shite for the best part of his United career. Another worrying performance was that of Rio Ferdinand. He looked slow and a far cry from the old Ferdinand we know. However, at 34, that's quite understandable. I guess it's time Moyes gives Evans a chance to play in that position.

I've singled out two players who I thought should have done better today but, perhaps with the exception of Rooney, all players should have done better. Valencia was found wandering when City opened the score, Fellaini failed to mark Toure when the latter scored the second and so on. I'm not saying we would have won the game because, let's be honest, City were terrific today. BUT with a little more attention we could have easily avoided such an embarrassing defeat. 

Fellaini, not quite the answer to the irresistible Toure

In the past, we were often bullied in midfield by the powerful Yaya Toure. He's the backbone of Manchester City and an excellent all round footballer. We've been crying for a strong midfielder for quite some time and, I thought, the acquisition of Fellaini was exactly what we needed to tame such a strong midfielder. However, Fellaini's presence did little to control Yaya and today we were once again bullied off the ball and played off the park. Ultimately, it's difficult to keep such a world class talent under control, as our players might testify. Neither Carrick nor Fellaini managed to get a grip of the game and we only got going once Cleverley replaced Young. After we conceded the 4th, we played much better but that was probably because City didn't really need to keep playing at the fast tempo that helped them score four. 

If there was a positive in this match, it has to be the determination of Wayne Rooney. He looked like the only player who was up for the game and gave his all even when the result was a foregone conclusion. His goal was fit to win a world cup final but, unluckily for him, it meant very little today. His partnership with Welbeck never really got going and was very unlucky to have received very little service from our wingmen. We missed van Persie dearly because as energetic and determined as Welbeck is, he's definitely not close to being as clinical as our Dutchman. 

Chin up David, there'll be brighter days ahead

A lot of blame has been put on Moyes and, perhaps, he could have gone for a different starting XI. When a team performs badly, some blame has to be shouldered by the manager and rightly so. However, the calls for Moyes' head are down right ridiculous. Did we call for Fergie's head when we were trashed 6-1 a couple of years ago? No. So we should be patient and wait and see how Moyes and his boys will react to such a hiding. Leagues aren't won in September and now we've got a run of games that we should win easily. Ok, we've only clocked 7 points from 15 but we've got Liverpool, Chelsea and City out of the way. I'm not too worried but I'm thanking the heavens I'm not from Manchester. Imagine being a red and having to face your blue friends at work tomorrow morning. Thankfully, people in my country hadn't heard of Manchester City before 2008 and, although the number is increasing, there are very few people who support this football club. Therefore, I'm not going to go through the ordeal of having to face Man City fans tomorrow and I'm thankful for that. 

No reason to panic, we'll be just fine. It's reactions to such defeats that show what a footballer is made of. Hopefully, our players will strive to redeem themselves and show that they're not going to give up the Premier League crown without a fight. While the defeat today hurts, I'm not too disheartened. With the return of the injured players we'll get better, much better. Our road to redemption starts this Wednesday vs Liverpool. Come on United!