The Manchester derby last weekend will be one to remember for all the City fans. On the other side of Manchester, United fans will very quickly want to forget their most humiliating defeat in the Premiership. It's fair to say that had Man United had 11 men on the pitch the entire game, we would be looking at a very different scoreline, however the end result would have been the same. Man City were simply superior to Man United in every department, and that includes tactics.
Quite clearly Mancini's risky move to play Balotelli in one of the biggest games of the season paid dividends, as well as choosing the rejuvenated Milner ahead of Nasri. This along with the very fluid 4-2-3-1 formation caused Man United all sorts of problems. While Ferguson on the other hand stuck to a rigid 4-4-2 albeit with Rooney swapping positions in midfield and attack. Like last week against Liverpool Man United were overrun in midfield, this time by the power of Yaya Toure and surprisingly Gareth Barry. These two as well as the help from the ever impressive Silva and Milner on the wings helped break up United's play on several occasions. Usually Ferguson's wingmen cause enough trouble so that their two centre midfielder's don't have to be world class shall we say. However Nani and Young (despite an energetic start) were kept quiet by Clichy and Richards. I'm sure Everton will be watching the tapes of this game as they may have found United's weakness.
It is clear that United started the brighter team, however Balotelli, who was teed up by Milner after he had linked with Silva, struck the first of many blows. These three were involved in the first three goals all fairly similar with Silva at the heartbeat of the attack. Although these 3 Musketeers were fantastic throughout, it has to be said that Man United's defence (and not just yesterday) was very poor. Evra over the years has been argued as being the best left back in the world but recent for suggests otherwise. Evra could not handle the fluidness of Richards and Milner/Silva on the right and had a horrid game. Rio Ferdinand one of Fergy's most trusted players has also looked out of form the past year, and I would not be surprised to see the impressive Jones take his spot for good. As for Evans, it has to be said he has improved but quite clearly is out of his depth at United and showed this by bringing down Balotelli on the edge of the box and getting himself sent off. Norwich had shown the fragility of United's defence as well as Liverpool, however Man U managed to escape both games unscathed. When you have Man City's quality however, it is much harder to get away with defensive faults.
Towards the final 20 minutes of the game Balotelli was substituted for Dzeko, and Aguero for Nasri. These substitutions show just how far Manchester City have come as they can so easily replace fantastic footballers for fantastic footballers. Although Man United too have a strong bench, the magnitude of their bench cannot live up to City's. So many times we have seen Man U bring on a super sub in a time of need and it has helped them win the game, Tevez in previous seasons, Hernandez last year. However it may have turned the other way. Dzeko came on and bagged a brace, albeit it in stoppage time. Although he could have easily had a hat trick.
For City next week they host Wolves at home after their midweek game ironically at the Molineux. After thumping United for six it is very difficult to see them not cruise through this match against a side in very low form. As for United they travel to Goodison where Everton have shifted themselves out of their bad form after an impressive win at Craven Cottage. Last year United struggled and dropped two points on the road here and if the same were to happen again they may leave themselves seven points behind City. Of course City wont get ahead of themselves especially after seeing Chelsea's implosion last year. However, if they were to maintain this five point gap or even add to it by Christmas, then they will have very much put themselves in the driving seat to winning the Premier League.
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