Man Utd 0-2 Man City: ‘Something simply has to change at OId Trafford – but will Solskjaer be there to do it?’

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set himself up for a fall before this derby meeting with Manchester City by boldly claiming Manchester United were the biggest club in the city and probably the world.

Solskjaer may be right in his calculations by some measure but certainly not when it comes to the not insignificant matter of actual football.

And how United’s hapless manager hit the ground with an almighty thud as he and his team were outclassed and embarrassed by a far greater margin than this relatively slim 2-0 scoreline suggests.

Given United’s current form, while recalling how they were humiliated 5-0 by Liverpool in their last Old Trafford league game, it might be suggested Solskjaer is guilty of lobbing bricks at his rivals from the Premier League’s largest greenhouse.

It was a judgement that borders on delusion given United’s reduced circumstances and, to put it bluntly, neither Solskjaer nor Manchester United are in any position to be making ambitious proclamations of this kind in the direction of Manchester City.

This may not have been a repeat scoreline of that Liverpool humbling but when judged on the gulf between the sides, the managerial and coaching qualities of the two managers and the current status of Manchester United when set alongside those clubs they aspire to rival, this was every bit as bad and chastening.

Liverpool declared at 5-0 against Manchester United and spared them further punishment. Manchester City were able to do something similar at 2-0 and it was only down to keeper David De Gea that the result did not end up in the realms of an even bigger thrashing.

This was one-sided in the extreme. Manchester United actually had more shots at David de Gea than they did at Ederson. It was that bad from Solskjaer’s perspective.

It makes the 3-0 win at Tottenham last week, amid the dying embers of Nuno Espirito Santo’s tenure, look very much like an exception to the rule as United head into the international break with one win from six league games and four points from a possible 18.