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City destroy United, hand Fergie his worst defeat

Comment: 0 October 24th, 2011 by: admin

Old Trafford was the scene of a brutal massacre Sunday as its Manchester United were disemboweled with a humiliating 6-1 defeat by archrivals Manchester City.

The result would go into the Red Devils’ history books as one of the worst results in the team’s more recent history.

The thrashing began with a 22-minute goal set up by James Milner and netted by controversial striker Mario Balotelli, who 36 hours earlier was forced to flee from his house after accidentally setting it on fire.

The two players again paired up to see Balotelli score another goal by the 60^th minute.

Already scurrying to counterattack, the Red Devils saw their chances for a win slip away as Sergio Aguero netted a goal by the 69^th, making it an impossible 0-3.

A glimmer of hope came for United, as well as the silenced crowd, in the form of a goal by Danny Fletcher, giving the Red Devils their first response 9 minutes before the end of regulation time.

Unforgiving, City claimed the match’s dying minutes with 3 more goals – 2 by Edin Dzeko, 1 by David Silva.

United, left with only 10 men after Jonathan Evans was sent off in the 47^th minute, saw their defence disintegrate with every conceded goal.

City’s win further cements their place as the new Premier League table rulers, widening the gap between them and United from 2 points to 5.

United, who remain in second place, were spared from crashing to third as Chelsea’s loss to the Queens Park Rangers on the same night kept the Blues at bay trailing the Red Devils by one point.

The match’s unexpected result came as a massive blow for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who described it as his worst experience in 25 years.

‘I’m shattered,’ mused the manager yesterday.  ‘I can’t believe it.  It was an incredible disappointment, our worst ever day, the worst result in m y history – ever.’

Ferguson added that such a result never materialised even during his days as a player.

‘It was hard to believe we were 1-0 down but that’s retrievable,’ he recalled.  ‘[Evans’] sending off was the killer blow.  After that, we kept attacking.’

Ferguson furthered, criticising what he interpreted as his men relying on the club’s history of impressive comebacks.

‘It’s all right playing the history books but common sense has to come into it,’ he commented.  ‘When we went to 3-1, 4-1 we should have settled for that.  We kept attacking when we should have just said “We’ve had our day.”

‘But our two full-backs were playing like wingers.  At times it was two versus three at the back.  And that was suicidal, crazy.’

For City manager Roberto Mancini, the tricky part of the post-match statement would have involved keeping the euphoria in check, which he managed.

‘I’m satisfied because we beat United away and I don’t think there are a lot of teams that could win [at Old Trafford],’ he said.  ‘But in the end, there are only three points – we don’t take six points.’

He furthered to insist that United’s ‘mentality’ deserved recognition.

‘We should appreciate the mentality United have,’ he commented.  ‘United are too strong for this [to affect them].  They know, like me, there are only three points and this is only one game.’

Ferguson, who earlier described the current City squad as ‘all talk’, noted that Sunday’s defeat ‘will make an impact on the players.  There’s a lot of embarrassment in that dressing room and quite rightly so.’

Before Sunday’s pummelling, United’s biggest loss in the hands of City was a 5-1 road defeat in 1989.  The thrashing reportedly led Ferguson, already the squad manager at the time, to fretfully bury his head under a pillow.

The 1-6 score last Sunday was a slight way away from United’s worst overall record of 0-7 in a second division match against the Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931.

It was also one City point away from their worst home defeat of 1-7 back in 1901.

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