An awful season has been capped off before it’s even finished, with Manchester United putting a wide gap between them and City thanks to a 4-2 derby win on Sunday, which leaves them four points clear of The Blues in fourth place, after another poor performance from City left many feeling Pellegrini’s time is now up.
City started a strong team, seemingly going for just one player up front in Sergio Aguero, spearheading a 4-5-1 that many have been calling for for weeks, in lieu of the 4-4-2 that has looked less than impressive this season.
The change did appear to have had a positive impact, with City almost taking the lead within minutes thanks to Jesus Navas, who was put free down the right and ran in, before shooting for De Gea to easily block. However, on eight minutes City did manage to take the lead, to the surprise of many. Milner played a ball through the defence to Silva, who drew De Gea out of his net before sliding the ball across to Aguero for a simple finish to put The Blues 1-0 up.
However, the lead only lasted six minutes before Ashley Young levelled the game. A good cross found its way to the incoming Young, and despite Martin Demichelis blocking his first attempt, the winger was able to turn and hit the ball past Joe Hart to equalise for the hosts, with a goal that was probably a catalyst for them.
13 minutes later, United managed to take the lead with an opinion-dividing goal. Young was involved once again, crossing from the left channel towards Marouane Fellaini at the far post. The controversy comes with the fact that Fellaini did appear to have at least part of his body offside, although whether or not he was offside doesn’t change the amount of space he had to take the header which fooled Joe Hart and gave United the lead.
City could have been finishing the half with 10 men, after Vincent Kompany took out Daley Blind late in the first 45 minutes, with his studs catching the Dutchman’s leg. Despite the protests, Mark Clattenburg consulted with his assistant and decided to only give a yellow card, a decision which provoked arguments amongst supporters, and rightly so, for it could have been argued either way. Despite the yellow and the subsequent risk of a red, Kompany was taken off with an apparent injury at half-time, being replaced by Eliaquim Mangala.
The Blues managed to hold out for almost half of the second period before conceding a third, although it almost seemed inevitable. Again, there was controversy, but despite that it showed United’s superiority in the game. Mata was put through on goal despite appearing to be offside by a couple of yards, yet it wasn’t picked up on, and Mata went on to put the ball through Hart’s legs and increase the lead to two goals.
Six mintues later, Chris Smalling managed to make sure of the three points with a header thanks to a free-kick from Ashley Young, getting his second assist of the game – and this time, there was no hint of offside. Once again, there was far too much space for the United man, giving him time to head past Hart and secure the derby win for the Red Devils.
Aguero managed to nick a second goal as a consolation late in normal time, with it being his 100th City goal since he signed in 2011, after Zabaleta played a ball back to his countryman from the by-line, which allowed Aguero to hit past De Gea, via the keeper’s hand and the post to decrease the lead to two, although with very little time left to get any more.
If nothing else, the loss has confirmed just how poor this season has been. Getting automatic Champions League qualification looks increasingly unlikely, and we could even be just four points ahead of Liverpool if they win on Liverpool. However, the club will be hopeful they can win enough of their remaining fixtures to secure a play-off spot in next season’s Champions League. As for Manuel Pellegrini, after Sunday it looks like his days are even more numbered than they already were, although if he does leave he’s unlikely to leave before the end of the campaign. Hopefully, we can put this loss behind us and go into the consecutive home games against West Ham and Villa with a more positive attitude.
