Just after Phil Foden had set Manchester City on their way to their damning 3-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday, fans could be heard chanting Ruben Amorim's name. At first it seemed that United's 3,000 visiting supporters were defiantly backing their coach, and yet it soon became clear that it was in fact City's fans who were doing the singing.
They were using the very same song United fans composed earlier this year, which claims that Amorim will "bring the glory days again" and "turn the Reds around" to laugh and mock the Portuguese. It was a stroke of genius from the City supporters, who used to be on the receiving end of such derision from their Red neighbours, and it is hard to disagree with them. The idea that Amorim is going to turn United around, on this evidence, is indeed laughable.
His side had their moments in the early stages of the derby, but in the second half the contest felt as one-sided as a bullfight. And with blood pouring from the tortured animal, the question is: When should they be put out of their misery?
Amorim made it clear yet again that he is not going to walk away and nor is he going to change his methods or alter his formation. He is going to die by his ideas. So Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his fellow directors have a choice: Either grin and bear the misery, which is becoming more and more frequent, or end the experiment now.
"When I want to change my philosophy, I will change. If not, you have to change the man," Amorim said. "I don’t believe in that or in the system or whatever, but I believe in my way and I am going to play my way until I want to change."
Amorim might be the only one believing in his way right now after United confirmed their worst start to a league season since 1992-93. That campaign had a very happy ending as United went on to win the first ever Premier League title, but do Ratcliffe and co. really believe that Amorim is about to do a Sir Alex Ferguson and suddenly lead United to the promised land? If so, then they are right to keep him in charge. But a lot has changed since that first Premier League season, and Amorim, as he keeps reminding us, does not want to change.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium…
Getty/GOALWINNER: Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland showed he meant business on Sunday when he volleyed just wide in the first minute of the game, and even before he did score early in the second half, he demonstrated a massive improvement in his link-up play, producing some nice combinations with Jeremy Doku, Tijjani Reijnders and Bernardo Silva.
After the break he did what he does best, monstering defenders with pace and power to score with ruthless efficiency. Haaland gobbled up Luke Shaw for his first goal and embarrassed Harry Maguire for the second, leaving Altay Bayindir completely helpless with both strikes. He did show some mercy to the goalkeeper in between the goals, hitting the post with the goal gaping after United's disastrous playing out from the back gifted City another chance.
Haaland's double took him to 15 goals in his last 10 games for club and country, while it also made him the joint-top scorer in the Manchester derby in the Premier League era, with eight goals in seven games. Success in this city now runs through the big Norwegian.
AdvertisementAFPLOSER: Ruben Amorim
While Haaland has averaged a goal in every Premier League home game since joining City, Amorim averages one point for every league match he has been in charge of United. That's 31 points in 31 games. Only eight of those have ended in victory for United, seven have been draws, and 16 have now been defeats.
In basic terms, whenever United currently play a Premier League game, the most likely outcome is that they are going to lose. Amorim did have the honesty to concede that his was "not a record you should have at Manchester United", though he caveated his admission by adding: "You have no idea what happened during these months."
The coach declined to say exactly what he meant, but he was effectively trying to shift the blame away from himself. A counterpoint is that he has been allowed to reshape the squad in a way that few other coaches have, urging the club to remove prized homegrown assets like Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford and three of Erik ten Hag's most expensive signings in Andre Onana, Rasmus Hojlund and Antony.
He has reshaped the squad but his team are serving up the same dire results, and rather than thinking of ways to adapt in a bid to get better results, Amorim is doubling down on his system and methods with little success.
AFPWINNER: Phil Foden
When Foden ruled himself out of contention for September's England squad with an injury, there was a serious danger of there being no players from Manchester available to start the derby. However, the midfielder proved his fitness just in time to earn a place in Pep Guardiola's line up for a game that matters the most to him. And, as he so often does in this fixture, Foden made his mark.
Upon scoring the opening goal, Foden flung himself into the crowd, and the moment had extra poignance on the day that City lost one of their most dedicated fans in Ricky Hatton. Foden admitted he had Hatton on his mind before the game and when he celebrated. "One hundred percent, I had extra motivation going into the game, it was for him and his family and for the people suffering right now," he said.
Guardiola praised his homegrown hero, who performed far below his usual level last season and whose start to this campaign has been blighted by fitness problems.
"We missed him so much and the season before he was the best player in the Premier League so we need him," the coach said. "Phil is the core, the heart of the club, from the academy and he loves City. To have him back is good news."
AFPLOSER: Benjamin Sesko
Benjamin Sesko had been conspicuous by his absence from the starting XI in United's opening three league games despite being the club's most expensive signing of the summer at £74 million ($100m). This, then, was his big moment, but to say Sesko did not answer the call would be putting it mildly.
He caused mild panic when he stabbed a shot at goal early in the first half, but it lacked the power to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma, and that proved to be the only positive thing he did. Sesko mostly looked lost as to what to do, not knowing where to run or how to try and get at City. The one time he did get behind the home defence when played in by Bryan Mbeumo, he used his arm to control the ball and still managed to overplay it, standing no chance of beating Donnarumma in the one-on-one.
Sesko's anonymous debut looked particularly bad when set against the performance of Haaland, especially given he has previously been spoken about in the same breath as the Norwegian given they both took the first big step of their careers at Red Bull Salzburg. And to make matters worse, at this stage he profiles as a downgrade on Hojlund after the Dane looked super-sharp while scoring on his Napoli debut.