Guardiola's gone - but Manchester is still blue: City's derby delight shows gap to United remains cavernous

City exacted sweet revenge on their neighbours at Old Trafford on Sunday, securing a hard-fought 1-0 victory that took them up to second in the table behind champions Arsenal on goal difference, and maintained their 100 percent start to the campaign. Under their new manager, Enzo Maresca, they pulled this off despite playing 67 minutes with only 10 men.

Phil Foden was sent off mid-way through the first half for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes in a stupid act of petulance. There was very little contact, and Fernandes deserved punishment too for his ridiculously theatrical reaction. But Foden only had himself to blame, and he left City with a mountain to climb.

Remarkably, though, the visitors ' collective resolve grew from there. Maresca cleverly tweaked City's shape to a narrow 4-4-1 that cut off space in the central channels, forcing United to look out wide for full-backs Patrick Dorgu and Diogo Dalot. The hosts had most of the possession, but became too predictable, and City were easily able to deal with any crosses that came in after sacrificing the flanks to pack the penalty area.

Maresca also brought on Iliman Ndiaye for Rayan Cherki at half-time, and the former Everton man made City's defence even more solid with his relentless work rate, while also providing an explosive attacking outlet alongside Erling Haaland. City carried more threat, and eventually broke the deadlock on the hour mark, with Haaland turning home a Josko Gvardiol cross at the back post.

City then held on for the victory in remarkably comfortable fashion, but United have grounds to be extremely upset about Haaland's crucial goal. It was initially disallowed, as the Norwegian appeared to be offside when Gvardiol played the ball, only for VAR to intervene and recommend to head referee Michael Oliver that the goal be given.

Haaland was shown to be onside, but Enzo Fernandez was well ahead of the last defender when he attempted to play the ball before it reached his Norwegian team-mate. VAR did not see that as grounds to chalk the goal off because Fernandez didn't touch it, but he was clearly blocking Lisandro Martinez's line of sight, and appeared to impact his ability to clear the danger.

Even if you grudgingly accept that the foot of Dorgu, who tried to cut out Gvardiol's cross on the far side of the pitch, was ahead of Haaland's by literally millimetres, it's almost impossible to argue that Fernandez was not interfering with play. Carrick described the decision as "staggering", while Martinez called it an "injustice", and even former City defender Micah Richards admitted the officials had got it wrong in the Sky Sports studio.

Just hours after full-time, the Premier League refereeing body, Pro Ref, admitted an "error in judgement" over the goal that ultimately just added to United's misery, because it doesn't change the final result. But City deserved their luck, and Carrick's tepid, unimaginative side cannot hide behind VAR.

The first 23 minutes of the game were cagey, but Foden's rash actions should have given United fresh impetus. Instead, they consistently passed sideways or backwards, blindly lumped the ball into the box and took speculative shots from distance.

Kobbie Mainoo struck the post with the best of them, and Marcus Rashford also hit the woodwork from a free-kick, but United only mustered two shots on target when they had the numerical advantage. The second came in stoppage time and was by far their best chance of the game; Fernandes finally picked out an accurate vertical pass to put Bryan Mbeumo in on goal, but the Cameroonian's effort was the ideal height for City No.1 Gianluigi Donnarumma to push it behind for a corner.

United looked rigid and completely devoid of identity. How many times have words to that effect been said over the last 13 years? In stark contrast, City, to a man, ran themselves into the ground and showed great courage whenever they turned the ball over.

"We had to change the plan, but Enzo (Maresca) gave us a plan to play to our different strengths," Haaland said when asked about their team spirit. "For me personally I have to be there to wait for a chance and I have to be ready to execute. We also need fighters in the team which we have plenty of. Look at our midfield, they like to fight!

"I'm super happy with every single one of us and I'm so, so proud of everyone. To keep the ball away at Old Trafford with 10 men, that is personality."

Unfortunately for them, United don't have nearly enough personality or fight, and that's why the gulf between the two clubs remains cavernous.

Maresca has his work cut out to even get close to matching Guardiola's legacy at City, but he could hardly have made a better first impression. City have picked up five wins out of five in all competitions, and clearly still have the collective grit that is needed to challenge for the biggest trophies.

The Italian tactician is also benefitting from an excellent recruitment window that saw City fork out a record-breaking £456 million ($617m) on new players, with Fernandez, Ndiaye, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi the headline quartet. They were proactive about strengthening the squad to give Maresca the best possible chance to deliver success.

United are already eight points behind City because Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS neglected to do the same. Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos came in to refresh the midfield, but Carrick was also in desperate need of at least two more defenders, and a striker to challenge Benjamin Sesko.

Carrick is paying the price for INEOS' unfathomably conservative approach, and he'll inevitably be out of a job before long. United are as much a shambles behind the scenes under the Ratcliffe-led regime as they were when the Glazer family had full control of football operations. They are trapped in a cycle of failure that will continue for at least another year.

There will be no new battle for supremacy in Manchester; City are still the top dogs by a distance.

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