Sport · Column
Sixty-seven minutes against ten men. A Marcus Rashford post, a Kobbie Mainoo post, and a goal conceded after an endless video review. Manchester United lost the 199th Manchester derby 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday. What follows is the entirely unapologetic view of a Manchester United supporter.
Opinion column. The facts are checked. The tone is red.
What happened
In the 23rd minute Bruno Fernandes caught Phil Foden while Foden was on the ground. Foden kicked out. Michael Oliver produced a straight red, and Matthew Donohue on VAR let it stand. Manchester City would play more than two thirds of the match a man down.
Before the break, a dipping Rashford free kick from distance struck the post. Shortly after half time Mainoo curled an effort past Gianluigi Donnarumma and off the woodwork. Twice, by a matter of centimetres, this derby turned.
On the hour, Patrick Dorgu — again at left back with Luke Shaw absent — gave the ball away. Josko Gvardiol crossed low and Erling Haaland turned it in at the far post as he fell. Offside was given on the field. Then the wait. Then the goal stood: the Premier League Match Centre said Haaland was onside, and that Enzo Fernández, who was offside, “didn’t play the ball”.
In stoppage time Donnarumma denied Bryan Mbeumo. Enzo Maresca sprinted towards the away end. A crowd of 74,161 filed out of Old Trafford in heavy silence.
The referee is not the real problem
Let us be honest, because a column that lies to its readers is worth nothing. United had an extra man for 67 minutes, at home, against a side missing its playmaker. The return on that advantage was two posts and a great many crosses aimed at nobody in particular.
Four points from four matches. Thirteenth in the table. That is not an injustice, it is a pattern. Michael Carrick has inherited an expensive squad that, the moment it has to build rather than react, starts going in circles. Against ten men a serious team finds a way through. United did not.
And yet: that goal
Four minutes of waiting for a decision nobody inside the ground understood at the time leaves a mark. Carrick spoke afterwards about “worrying” officiating standards, and he did not sound like a man reaching for an excuse so much as one tired of making the same point every other week.
The law, as written, was probably applied correctly. That is precisely the trouble: when the correct application of a law produces an outcome 74,000 people find absurd, it is the law that deserves the scrutiny, not the official.
The part that should worry everyone
The scoreline was not the heaviest thing about the afternoon. Before kick-off, supporters hung a banner above the tunnel reading “the way you treat us is a disgrace”, aimed at the club’s handling of its ticket-touting investigation. Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Avram Glazer watched from the stands.
A club can lose a derby. That happens. Losing the trust of its season-ticket holders is a different order of damage, and a far slower one to repair.
What next
Manchester City stay perfect after four matches, level on points with Arsenal at the top. Haaland now has nine Premier League goals against United, more than anyone else in this fixture.
United go again with four points and one certainty: nobody is coming to fix this for them. We will believe anyway. That is rather the point of us.