Manchester United kings again as Man City feel the blues

United are the kings of Manchester again. There can be little doubt after a demolition derby that emphatically demonstrated the winds of change that have been blowing through the city in recent months.

It’s an astonishing turnaround in a season that started with the Blue side of Manchester looking to build a dynasty and United needing to start again after their worst season in quarter of a century.

A £155m summer splurge seemed to be having little effect as the Red Devils struggled to adjust to Louis van Gaal’s ‘philosophy’ and the old order seemed firmly in place when the sides first met at the Etihad Stadium in November, with City winning courtesy of a Sergio Aguero goal.

It left United in 10th with just 13 points from their opening 10 games.

Fast forward five months and both sides look a shadow of those teams.

United have been slowly building up steam, culminating a run of six straight wins in the Premier League.

There were still plenty of raised eyebrows when, in February, Van Gaal claimed his side could finish in second behind Chelsea.

Now there is only Arsenal standing in their way to deliver on at the pledge.

How they’ve done it quite so dramatically is remarkable, even to the United manager, who, while never shaking his belief in his philosophy, expressed his shock and delight at how the fans had stuck with his side after some indifferent performances.

It was probably easier to envisage his side missing out on the top-four, grimly hanging around the final Champions League place, as they were, thanks partly to luck, the brilliance of David de Gea and the odd bit of quality.

And with a tricky run of fixtures to close out the season, it looked like Van Gaal’s ‘ass was going to get very twitchy’.

But that has all changed with the Dutchman finding a balance with a 4-3-3 system, which offers him the control of a game he desires with the attacking football demanded by the supporters.

What is also surprising is that Van Gaal has done it with David Moyes’ much-maligned signings becoming his most influential, while big money men Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao are left watching from the bench. Marouane Fellaini has gone from a clown figure, ridiculed by his own fans as much as opposition ones, to Van Gaal’s main man. A battering ram behind Wayne Rooney adding steel to a midfield that had looked flimsy for the 18 months with the more-than the odd moment of quality on the ground.

Juan Mata is able to offer his creativity from a ‘false wing’ position safe in the knowledge Michael Carrick is patrolling the space in the back four, silently snuffing out the start of any fires.

Not only that he has brought the best from Ashley Young and Chris Smalling — players, who looked unquestionably like they were heading out of Old Trafford. Young was non-stop against City, just as he has been in recent months, adding energy and danger as a constant outlet for the Reds.

Smalling has responded from his reckless red card in the Etihad derby with the best form of his United career marking him out as arguably the best English defender of the last few months.

It’s all a sharp contrast to City, who limped away from the derby, badly beaten and hoping that games run out before they are overhauled by either Liverpool or Southampton for that final Champions League place.

Yaya Toure shuffled disinterestedly around Old Trafford just as he on grounds up and down the country as the Blues wracked up a fourth successive defeat on their travels. Indeed, former United defender Gary Neville accused him of a dereliction of duty. But it’s easy to single out the Ivorian. City were limp and lifeless from back to front — a shadow of the team that had won the last four derbies dishing out embarrassing spankings on their last three visits across the city.

They looked like an old side, desperate for fresh energy and new ideas.

While a big summer is planned in the transfer market, it’s looking increasingly unlikely manager Manuel Pellegrini will be around to mastermind. A run of two wins in eights games and a Champions League humbling by Barceloan has put him under pressure.

If the City powerbrokers were wavering on the future of the Chilean, an abject and uninspiring could just be the final in the coffin for Pellegrini’s future at the Blues.