There have been a number of false dawns at Manchester United over the last 13 years, a number of occasions when it felt as if the cloying, demeaning, desperate purgatory of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era might finally be drawing to a close.
The night when they won the Europa League under Jose Mourinho in Stockholm in 2017 was one of those moments. The night at the Parc des Princes in March 2019 when they overturned a first-leg deficit to beat PSG in the Champions League Round of 16 was another.
Maybe this will just be another of them. Maybe this afternoon of glorious pandemonium at Old Trafford and the giving of thanks for a magical 90 minutes in which United played Manchester City, their tormentors for much of the last decade, off the park will be a prelude to more misery.
On Saturday afternoon, that didn’t seem to matter. It was enough for United fans to revel in the moment and dream that this performance in the 198th Manchester derby, which christened the first game of Michael Carrick’s caretaker reign in gold, might be the forerunner of something wonderful.
For one afternoon at least, for one afternoon when United cast away all the gloom and the pain of the Ruben Amorim era and the infighting and the pessimism and the feeling that this angst would never end, it felt amid the tumult as though the home supporters had got their United back.
Manchester United triumphed 2-0 over Man City in their first match under Michael Carrick
The new interim head coach tasted victory for the first time in front of a buoyant Old Trafford
For Pep Guardiola, Manchester City lost another chance to close the gap on leaders Arsenal
This 2-0 victory, which could easily have been 5-0 or 6-0, was a wonderful catharsis for United fans and a rousing triumph for Carrick, who had been mocked by many in the build-up to this match. Roy Keane even wondered whether Carrick’s wife, with whom he has tangled in the past, might give the team talk. Carrick won that battle, too.
It is just one game but Carrick’s management of it was flawless. He courted controversy by leaving out Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko and playing Kobbie Mainoo but all his decisions worked perfectly. Mainoo and Casemiro were the bedrock of this brilliant United display in holding midfield.
Bruno Fernandes was sublime, too, as he is so often is. Amad Diallo was superb on one side of the front three and Bryan Mbeumo, also back from the African Cup of Nations, led the line brilliantly. United dominated Pep Guardiola’s side in every aspect of the match.
The result dealt a grievous blow to City’s title hopes. They had drawn their last three Premier League games before this and had already slipped six points behind Arsenal. They played like shadows of the great City teams who won four league titles in succession under Guardiola. It is hard to see them overhauling Mikel Arteta’s side now.
Some had feared that all Carrick would bring to United was a dead cat bounce but this inspired, organised, coherent performance looked more like a cat leaping on a hot-tin roof. Their energy and their urgency overwhelmed City.
Carrick made five changes to United’s previous starting line-up, including springing surprises by leaving out both Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko and including Kobbie Mainoo. As a way to make yourself popular with United fans and spark their imagination after so long in mothballs, Mainoo’s inclusion was a brilliant move.
Not that it dampened the initial enthusiasm of the visitors for the task that lay ahead. They were relishing it. City fans wasted no time expressing their glee at the chaos that has enveloped United anew in the last fortnight. ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning,’ they yelled at Carrick as he stood on the touchline just after kick-off.
Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring for United on his return from the Africa Cup of Nations
Patrick Dorgu doubled Manchester United’s lead after starting the match as a left winger
But United nearly silenced them in the second minute. Bruno Fernandes swung over a corner from the United left deep to the back post. Harry Maguire climbed above Erling Haaland and thudded a header against the face of the crossbar from point-blank range. He should have scored.
City struggled to settle. Max Alleyne, their young centre back recalled from a loan at Watford, got his feet in a mess and almost left a backpass to Gianluigi Donnarumma short. The goalkeeper rushed from his line and scythed it clear just in time.
When City launched their first attack, Diogo Dalot was booked for raking his studs down the shin of Jeremy Doku. The replays were not pretty but a caution was the correct decision even if City fans bayed for worse. Luke Shaw was booked soon afterwards for upending Rodri.
Midway through the half, United came close again. Fernandes played a brilliant first-time pass to Patrick Dorgu, who controlled it on the edge of the City six-yard-box and then angled a volley towards the bottom corner. Donnarumma got down quickly and repelled the shot with his knee.
City continued to look edgy at the back. United continued to swarm them. Rodri lost concentration and played a backpass straight to Fernandes. Fernandes tried to play in Bryan Mbeumo but Abdukodir Khusanov read the pass beautifully and intercepted it. Soon afterwards, Amad Diallo had the ball in the City net but had strayed marginally offside.
Five minutes before the break, the same fate befell United. Fernandes raced free, took a long ball down flawlessly, sidestepped Donnarumma, sat Nathan Ake down on his backside and then stroked the ball into the net. Old Trafford went wild. A late linesman’s flag ruined the celebrations.
Guardiola brought Rayan Cherki on for Phil Foden at the interval but United began the second half in the same vein. Dalot slid the ball across the face of the six-yard-box, just out of the reach of Mbeumo, Dorgu and Fernandes, who all flung themselves at it.
United got a reminder of the need to be vigilant when a careless pass from Dalot allowed City to free Haaland on the right side of the box. Haaland had barely touched the ball in the first half but his shot was arrowing towards the corner until it was blocked by Lisandro Martinez.
United kept City’s attackers – namely star man Erling Haaland – quiet throughout the contest
Amad Diallo was electric and showed what the team was missing while he was away at AFCON
United were still the better team and they were still making the better chances. Diallo cut in from the right and unleashed a rasping left-foot drive that Donnarumma did well to palm away. The ball fell to Casemiro and it seemed he must score but when he tried to dink the ball over Donnarumma, the Italy goalkeeper stopped it with his trailing foot and then denied Casemiro a second time.
Donnarumma is no stranger to fine saves but he punched the air in celebration of this one. A couple of minutes later, he was at it again. A clever cross from Fernandes reached Mbeumo at the backpost and his acrobatic attempt to turn it in wrong-footed Donnarumma. He re-adjusted and clawed it away.
But the next time United attacked, City had no answer. No escape. Fernandes led a lightning counter-attack, Diallo and Dorgu made fine decoy runs and when the United skipper played the ball into Mbeumo, he let it run across his body and then rifled a low left-foot shot past Donnarumma’s left hand.
It was no more than United deserved. In fact, United deserved a second. And they got it. Fourteen minutes from time, Cunha, who had just come off the bench, escaped down the left and pulled a superb cross back from the goalline. Dorgu anticipated it, got to it ahead of Rico Lewis and clipped his shot in off the post.
United were rampant now. Defeat was turning to embarrassment for City. Early in added time Cunha broke free down the right and squared for Mason Mount to tap in. A VAR check ruled it out for offside but by then, United’s fans really didn’t care. It felt as if they had got their team back at last.
