For Manchester United, the scoreline had unfortunate symmetry. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign ended with a 4-1 defeat. Ralf Rangnick had cited defensive improvement among his achievements. Then United lost 4-1 on Sunday and if it was against superior opposition – Manchester City rather than Watford – another injury-time goal was also a picture of a shambles. Rather than a straight line, United’s offside trap was a triangle when Riyad Mahrez raced away to score.
There could have been a second common denominator. Harry Maguire was sent off a Vicarage Road. A hideously late lunge at a flying Kevin de Bruyne only drew a yellow card at the Etihad Stadium but provided an image of a player way off the pace.
Maguire’s derby could be encapsulated in the goals: nutmegged for the first and just before the second, the third deflected off him. He can look hapless, a haunted figure weighed down by the twin burdens of the United captaincy and his £80 million ($105.4m) transfer fee.
Maguire can be the personification of a problem, but it is not confined to him. United have conceded more goals than Burnley. As David de Gea has made the most saves in the Premier League, that tally could be considerably higher than 38. City had 24 shots on Sunday, but Leicester had 22 and Watford 20 in scoring four against United.
A sense forged against lesser opponents that Rangnick had brought more solidity looked an illusion when City were rampant. Perhaps the most effective sticking plaster is not the interim manager but a summer signing: United have only conceded twice in one match that Raphael Varane has completed. Sadly for them, the Frenchman is injury prone.
In his place, Phil Foden left Victor Lindelof looking “like a fire engine racing to the wrong fire,” to borrow Geoffrey Green’s immortal description of Billy Wright, when fooled by Ferenc Puskas. Perhaps, given Maguire’s lamentable season, Varane and the limited Lindelof should be the first-choice pair. Certainly the captain can seem afforded preferential treatment, just as Alex Telles is entitled to think he could have been preferred to an out-of-form Luke Shaw at times.
Individuals are underachieving but the issue is also systemic. Rangnick clearly felt United were too passive and defensive in losing to City in November but Sunday’s high-pressing approach left then too open. And, as Ralph Hasenhuttl pointed out after Southampton’s draw at Old Trafford: “It is not a secret that when they lose the ball that the reverse gears are not the best from United.” Rather than Cristiano Ronaldo, they could have done with signing a high-class defensive midfielder to help cut out counter-attacks.
Manchester derby player ratings
But a £130m duo highlighted one of the failings of the modern United: players get worse there. Maguire’s towering performance for England against Germany last summer is a reminder he can be a high-class stopper. He normally excels for Gareth Southgate. He was wanted by Pep Guardiola in 2019, though City would not pay a world-record fee for a centre-back and, in Ruben Dias, bought a better player for less a year later. It is easy to imagine him flourishing in a Thomas Tuchel team, rather than floundering amid a rabble at Old Trafford.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka was isolated and exposed as City ganged up on him on Sunday. Rangnick’s lack of faith in the £50m right-back was shown when he preferred Diogo Dalot and even an out-of-position Lindelof. Wan-Bissaka’s limitations on the ball have long been recognised by teammates who were reluctant to pass to him but he arrived with a reputation as an excellent defensive right-back. That, too, is being lost amid defensive disarray that reflects United’s lack of joined-up thinking.
