Source: Daily_Mail
MARTIN SAMUEL on the Manchester derby: Carlos too good for sorry City
Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Porto. It has not been hard to give Manchester United a game at Old Trafford of late.
They are a team with a lot on their plate: history in the making in Rome and a third consecutive Premier League title to be won, perhaps against Arsenal on Saturday.
So what to make of the wasteland between the Manchester clubs yesterday? This was trailed as the upset waiting to happen, the finaltwist in the title race. Derby games have unstable properties and ifany club were likely to knock United's procession off course, it waspresumed to be their rivals from across town.
Manchester City, sadly, did not have it in them. In horse racing parlance they stayed on, one pace.
They were not disgraced, but not greatly encouraged either. United, two goals up at halftime, were secure when derby football usually moves the favourites out of comfort zones into a world of unpredictability and levelled pitches.
