Old Trafford defeat shows how far Erik ten Hag’s side are off the pace, even when Manchester City were sloppy in the first half
Football is an increasingly complicated game, all half‑spaces and passing lanes, pressing patterns and probabilities, but some aspects remain very simple. Such as, if you’re playing against the most prolific elite-level striker in the world, you don’t give him a free header at the back post. And if you’ve got away with doing that just before half-time, you certainly don’t give him an even easier chance just after the break.
Manchester United can protest about a soft penalty and they can ponder what might have happened had Rasmus Højlund or Scott McTominay taken one of the chances that fell their way in the first half, but what should disappoint them is that against an unusually sloppy Manchester City they lost because they were even sloppier. That’s 34 Premier League defeats now at Old Trafford in the 10 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, the same number as they endured in more than two decades under him.
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