Manchester City's derby win another sign of worry for inconsistent Manchester United

City went down to 10 in the 23rd minute after Phil Foden received a red card but still came out on top thanks to Erling Haaland's goal in the 60th minute

Sep 13, 2026 at 2:04 pm ET • 4 min read

About an hour into play at Old Trafford on Sunday, everything seemed to be trending in Manchester United's favor. Phil Foden's 23rd-minute red card meant they were up a man against bitter rivals Manchester City, to the point that they had seized control of the game. They were racking up shots – seven, to be exact, Marcus Rashford's free kick from close range just before the break getting them incredibly close to the game's opening goal. City, meanwhile, had been limited to a single shot after the red card that clocked in at just 0.03 expected goals.

Then the inevitable happened: Erling Haaland scored.

The goal was not without controversy, so much so that it took a VAR check that lasted long enough for the commentators to poke fun at singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher for celebrating Haaland's strike long after the offside flag went up. Gallagher was justified in more ways than one, though. Not only did the referees decide Semenyo's pass resulted in a deflection that rendered obsolete questions on whether or not Haaland was offside, the goal offered a stark reminder that for all their attempts to appear normal in the last decade and change, United remain a deeply flawed team.

In the 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, United have been worse than they were on Sunday and even in defeat, they played with a sense of competency. The cautious optimism caused by last season's third-place finish and a quiet but solid summer of business, though, will take a pretty significant back seat after their 1-0 loss to City. They may feel somewhat hard done by the fact that they have one win in four games to start the Premier League season but on Sunday, their limits were fully exposed to the point that it would not be hard to believe that another rough season awaits the Red Devils.

Foden's red card livened up a dull game to some degree, though the stretch between that decision and Haaland's goal was on trend with United's performance before the sending off. Carrick's side were the aggressors to start, taking three shots while City had just one to show for their efforts and just before Haaland scored, United had 10 shots to City's two. There was one problem – 0.31 expected goals from 10 attempts is not exactly impressive, a signal that the Red Devils did not have much of an answer for City's defensive shape. The visitors had essentially dared their opponents to do something with all of their control, City coach Enzo Maresca betting smartly that they would not be able to. 

United entered the weekend as one of the league's better attacking sides but just three games into the season, it was hard to know much value to place into their output – they opened the campaign against newly-promoted sides Hull City and Ipswich Town, as well as a clash against perennial mid-table side Everton. City would naturally make for a much different test and against a high-quality defense, United's talented but non-elite attackers struggled to break through. They had their moments, including Bryan Mbeumo's stoppage-time effort that forced Gianluigi Donnarumma to make an important save. A moment for Rashford, who is trying to rewrite the narrative on his tenure at his boyhood club, never came either; Benjamin Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee were not the saviors off the bench and Bruno Fernandes could not pull out an equalizer out of nowhere, much as he has in the past.

After Haaland's goal, a natural sense of urgency was apparent but it looked a bit more like desperation than anything else. They lacked ideas even as they registered more chances; Mbeumo's last-ditch effort the only reason they outdid City on expected goals in the final half hour despite outshooting them six to three.

City, meanwhile, could afford to be unremarkable. Maresca has a tendency to go conservative after a red card, so much so that he did it a year ago at the very same venue while he was still Chelsea's coach. It did not pan out for him that day, the Blues losing 2-1 to the Red Devils, but things did not spiral out of control on Sunday. Maresca took Rayan Cherki off at halftime for Iliman Ndiaye, losing plenty of creative spark along the way. City's defensive shape held up just fine, though, with midfielders Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez working overtime after Foden's red card. A few short weeks into a new era, City may not be the finished product but Maresca is building a clear identity – one that is much simpler than the one Pep Guardiola built, but one that allows them to find ways to win regardless of the circumstances.

Maresca's counterpart, though, can only envision basking in glory. Carrick is not the only person to blame for United's defeat on Sunday but months after restoring good vibes following Ruben Amorim's firing, he has yet to prove that he can be a long-time steward of yet another United rebuild. It is not impossible to dig themselves out of the hole after just one win in four league games, but it is hard to see a clear way out at this moment in time after another flawed outing in a long string of them.