Manchester United players get their egos cuddled often enough. They are praised for every good result as if each of them marks new dawn and the return of the Sir Alex Ferguson days, where most would consider themselves lucky to finish second behind The Red Devils. But for every false dawn, there is a rude awakening – like the one Erik Ten Hag and his player got at Etihad Stadium in a clash with ruthless Cityzens.Daily Mail’s football editor Ian Ladyman blasted the Red Devils because they didn’t show the work rate required to compete at the highest level. While Pep Guardiola’s team is backing up their supreme talent with matching work ethic – something that’s missing far too often in the red half of Manchester.”For some United players, the maximum effort continues to look like an option, particularly when things aren’t going well. Sadly there was more evidence of that here.”Summary of Manchester United’s defending: pic.twitter.com/SxlbfNnbKr— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 2, 2022 There will be bruised egos this Monday when United players arrive for training. How do you pick up yourself after conceding six goals? And how do you address the elephant in the room, i.e. Cristiano Ronaldo?After the Etihad fiasco, manager Erik Ten Hag said he would point out mistakes to his players.”I will show the team that we could have been on the front foot. In the first goal, we won the ball and could have created a chance and given it away. That is unacceptable. I am surprised we didn’t bring our new-found spirit to the pitch. We didn’t look convinced. I have to talk to my players and find out why. If you don’t fight – which we didn’t – you will have a problem against Manchester City.”##NAJAVA_MECA_6686238##Apart from City’s domination and two hat-tricks from Erling Haaland and Phil Foden, the main talking point following the derby is Ten Hag’s decision not to use Cristiano Ronaldo. The Dutchman later explained that he wouldn’t want to bring the Portuguese while the team was behind by four goals because he didn’t want to disrespect CR7’s career. But such an explanation enraged former Manchester United captain Roy Keane. After the Manchester derby, Keane slammed the manager’s treatment of Ronaldo, who was one of only four unused substitutes, including goalkeeper Tom Heaton.”I think Man United are showing disrespect to Ronaldo. I think he should have been let go before the closing of the transfer window. Okay, you’re the manager, you need options, but you don’t hold onto Ronaldo to sit on the bench. He’s one of the greatest players ever. If he’s sitting on the bench for United, week in, week out, it will get uglier. I think United have shown nothing but disrespect to Ronaldo. They should have let him go when the opportunity came. But to hold onto Ronaldo to sit on the bench. It’s ridiculous for a player of his stature. But top players want to play week in, week out. He did not return to United to sit on the bench in a derby game.”Six and the City! Nine goals, two hat-tricks and proper bangers at EtihadBruno Fernandes, who captained the team on Sunday, says the team has to look ahead and try to reproduce the performance from the second half at Etihad, in which they scored three goals.”I think the second half was much better. We kept control more. We controlled the game whenever we had the ball. We had to take some risks. And when we did, we scored straight away. We are really disappointed with the outcome. But now it is time to focus on the next game and we have to get back the performances we did before the international break. It’s all about belief and togetherness. This result mustn’t get us down. We need to improve for the future.”The feel-good factor from the win over Arsenal now seems long gone. Manchester United is a team still searching for their identity. One of the things they have to accept before they move forward is that they aren’t a top-class team. They have some fantastic players, a progressive-thinking coach and a passionate fanbase – but they must accept the truth that they’re not the best team in the world. They’re not even the best team in their city.
