Goading Manchester United and slamming Pep Guardiola - ex-Man City star can't make his mind up

Didi Hamann just can’t seem to make his mind up this week, but maybe that’s all part of the art of being a Twitter provocateur.

On Monday, when SPORTbible declared it "official" that the 2007/08 Manchester United team had been voted the best Premier League team of all time, the ex-Manchester City and Liverpool midfielder wasn’t having any of it.

"We beat them twice with City, they can’t have been that good," he harrumphingly quote tweeted, referring to the Blues’ unforgettable double over Sir Alex Ferguson’s title-winners under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Well, unforgettable unless you’re a particular type of SPORTbible enthusiast, anyway.

But Hamann isn’t just here for the needle. After United produced the latest instalment of their acclaimed DIY comedy series Downing Tools After Half-Time with Ralf Rangnick, he was all sympathy.

"Manchester United have gone beyond a joke," Didi tweeted after the Reds’ 1-1 draw at Burnley, channelling his inner Morrissey.

"Feel for the fans who’ve been put through nine years of misery since Sir Alex left, they deserve better.

"Always looked up to them, not for a while."

It’s safe to say the City and Liverpool fans who make up the bulk of any Didi Hamann Twitter Venn diagram did not necessarily share the sentiment.

For starters, United have actually won trophies during this supposed fallow period. When Hamann was arguably City’s best player in that stirring 2-1 win at Old Trafford in February 2008, they had not won so much as a raffle on the other side of town since 1976. And the trophy drought still had a little over three years to run.

It’s a curious mix of views and the same can probably be said for Hamann’s standing with the City fanbase as a whole.

Some of that is down to remaining