Manchester United's best player in Man City defeat shows how much work Erik ten Hag has to do

Manchester United headed into the clash with Manchester City full of hope rather than expectation.

The opening 10 minutes suggested we could be in for a good game with United starting on the front foot and Rasmus Hojlund causing some early problems. But once City had navigated their way through the early storm, the points were only heading in one direction.

Erling Haaland's brace and Phil Foden's close-range strike were enough to see off a beleaguered United who were run ragged by a City side that was far superior. A truly damning indictment came when it was time to award the Man of the Match award for the Reds - a dubious honour to say the least.

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Ultimately, there was only one player who deserved the accolade and it was rightfully awarded to Andre Onana. If it wasn't for the Cameroonian, United would have been further behind at the interval and perhaps on track for another mauling at the hands of their noisy neighbours.

Of course, it is pleasing to see Onana performing admirably after a tough few months but on an afternoon where he conceded three, he should not have been in the equation for the award. However, his outfield teammates put up little competition.

United rarely threatened Ederson's goal and the closest the hosts came to scoring was just before the break when Scott McTominay was denied by the Brazilian. The Reds were second best but the scoreline could have been much worse.

The gap between United and City remains seismic and the game on Sunday proved it. Clearly the Erik ten Hag project is light years behind where Pep Guardiola has his City side right now but the worry stems from a lack