Manchester derby shocker as United beaten 6-1

By Chris,
October 25 2011

In one of the most disappointing games in the club’s long and illustrious history, 10-man Manchester United suffered a shock 6-1 home defeat against bitter rivals City. Woeful defending from the Red Devils allowed an expensively-assembled Citizens frontline to totally destroy the hapless hosts. 

City opened up a five point lead at the top of the Premier League table as they totally destroyed United at Old Trafford.

A crowd of over 75,000 were left stunned as City became the first side to score six league goals at Old Trafford since 1930.

Despite a positive start, in which City soaked up huge amounts of pressure, United fell behind as Mario Balotelli struck a fine finish.

David Silva was the creator – and Jonny Evans gave Balotelli too much time and space and he turned a casual but classy finish beyond the reach of David De Gea.

Evans’ afternoon got much worse two minutes after the interval. He hauled down a goal-bound Balotelli and referee Mark Clatenburg showed the Ulsterman a red card.

City sensed an opportunity to dominate – and that’s exactly what they did. United failed to adapt to losing a defender; and the visitors totally and utterly dominated.

The lead was doubled on the hour as Balotelli completed his brace by turning home James Milner’s cross from close-range, before Sergio Aguero scored a similar goal from a Micah Richards cross.

United had introduced Phil Jones and Javier Hernandez from the bench before Aguero’s third – but the changes did nothing to settle a United side totally overawed by City’s attacking talent.

Substitute Edin Dzeko, introduced for Balotelli, and the awesome Silva almost extended the lead – before United game themselves a glimmer of hope with ten minutes to go from an unlikely source.

Darren Fletcher beat Joe Hart with a rising shot from 20-yards, but any hopes of a dramatic late comeback were extinguished as City scored three stunning goals in stoppage time.

United had £62million of defensive talent on the pitch – but they proved no match for City’s attacking threat as the visitors surged forward in numbers time after time.

The fourth goal came through Dzeko, Silva added a fifth before playing a truly amazing through ball that unleashed Dzeko to make it six. Seconds later, Clantenburg put us out of our misery.

The post-mortem now begins. Fergie’s decision to name Danny Welbeck over Javier Hernandez seems strange, whilst far too much was expected of Darren Fletcher and Anderson in effectively marshalling the midfield alone against City’s superstars.

For United, this was arguably the worst result of a generation. But it is only one result and the players must bounce back.

Full Time – Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City
Attendance – 75,487