Manchester United suffered a humiliating defeat during last weekend’s eagerly anticipated Manchester derby.
The Red Devils fell to a damaging, but all too familiar, heavy defeat against their noisy neighbours. Pep Guardiola’s Citizens ran out 6-3 winners with attacking duo Phil Foden and Erling Haaland both netting hat-tricks.
Even though the Red Devils’ next match is in the Europa League and will take place in Cyprus against Omonia, manager Erik ten Hag can not look forward without looking back.
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Speaking in the build-up to Thursday’s European clash, as quoted by Simon Stone, the former Ajax boss, when quizzed on the impact last Sunday’s result has had, said: “Thank you for the lesson Pep. We have to understand we have to do much better.”
It is impossible to disagree with ten Hag’s assessment. United were outclassed from the first whistle to the last during last weekend’s derby, and the scoreline, which although saw them score three, flattered the red half of the city. The rivals’ matchup was a non-contest.
Nevertheless, looking to return to winning ways, failure to beat Omonia and put in a good performance will probably see ten Hag come under some early managerial pressure, and rightly so.