Spineless United hit by derby day Blues

Man City 3 Man Utd 1

The only problem, with a present like this, are the chances of the veteran manager being around to reap the benefits.

United have suffered bigger defeats this season, their previous prior to Saturday a 4-1 reverse at Middlesbrough in late October. They have suffered bigger derby reverses, by 4-1 as recently as two seasons ago. But few defeats on Fergie's watch can have been as shambolic and spineless as their surrender at the City of Manchester Stadium.

City's former England winger Trevor Sinclair, who declared before the game that scoring in a derby was better than sex, started the rout in the 31st minute.

But it was one simple sentence from Sinclair after the game that neatly summed up the depths to which United have sunk.

"I don't know that the fear element with United is what it was in the nineties," Sinclair declared.

That is putting it kindly. United, the self-styled biggest club in the world, have become just another decent Premiership side. Decent, but very beatable, as City devastatingly proved.

Sinclair swept in Stephen Ireland's neat threaded pass as United appealed for offside and, seven minutes later, Darius Vassell finished clinically after an astute pass from Andy Cole.

In between, David James made his one real save of note from Wayne Rooney, who summed up United's frustrations with a late first half booking for dissent.

Matters worsened before they improved for United. Cristiano Ronaldo launched himself at Cole's knees in the 66th minute, an assault that rightly earned him a red card despite failing to make contact.

United actually improved after being reduced to 10 men, Ruud van Nistelrooy controlling a Ryan Giggs chip superbly and firing home to give them hope in the 75th minute.

But Robbie Fowler completed the scoring in the third of four added minutes, a devastating shot after City converted a four-on-two break for a scoreline that might have been somewhat flattering - for United.

Still, Ferguson has made an art form this season of the diversionary comment and, predictably, laid the blame for United's ills at Bennett's door.

It was an argument that failed to take into account an appalling debut from French left-back Patrice Evra, substituted embarrassingly at half-time, and an almost laughably bad performance from centre-half Mikael Silvestre whom, Ferguson revealed, was only selected because he could converse in the same language as the debutant.

Ever loyal, Ferguson's assistant Carlos Queiroz echoed the complaint about the officiating. "The first goal was offside and the second half I think bad decisions from the referee cost us.

"I'm not saying City didn't play well, but those mistakes didn't help Manchester United get back in the game and it might have been a different result.

"I think the referee should have paid more attention on the first goal because that created an imbalance in the game."

For City manager Stuart Pearce, aided by a superb display by centre-half Richard Dunne, as well as Sinclair's man-of-the-match performance, the victory ended a sequence of just one point from the previous dozen.

"When you wash away all the derby hoo-ha and nonsense that goes with it, that was an important game for us," said Pearce. "The players had their backs against the wall and came out and delivered.

"People didn't give us much chance today, they were talking about us as if we're Burton Albion. But we're not Burton Albion, we've got some great international players in this team."

Burton Albion? Now there's a thought, with the non-league team United's next opponents in Wednesday's FA Cup replay, a match that suddenly looks a lot more difficult for Ferguson than it did one week ago.

Opta Fact: Only Spurs have managed to score more than one goal in the Premiership at Eastlands this season.

Opta Fact: This was United's first defeat in their last 12 Premiership games.