United seem to accept mediocrity under Amorim, how long can this go on?

Perhaps the best that can be said of Ruben Amorim's Manchester United is that you know exactly where you stand with them.

- Jonathan Wilson

Perhaps the best that can be said of Ruben Amorim's Manchester United is that you know exactly where you stand with them. It's 10 months since he was appointed but he is yet to win back-to-back league games. Having beaten Burnley last time out, amid scenes of revealing euphoria, they were never going to win at Manchester City.

Which must have been a relief for City, who had lost two of their first three games this season for the first time in 21 years. There was, for them, particularly after half-time, a pleasing sense of normality returning. Rodri, shaky early on, began to dominate as he used to before his knee injury, while there were fine performances from Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Phil Foden.

City may have been the dominant side in Manchester for the past 12 years, but this was the first real battering they had dished out in the derby since the 6-3 in October of 2022-23. And yet, while City were entirely in control by the end, slicing United open on the break again and again, it had not begun like that.

United, though, have become one of those sides who will eventually offer up chances; all opponents have to do is wait. United's attacking is ponderous and still very heavily reliant on individuals - the save Gianluigi Donnarumma made diving to his right was the result of Bryan Mbeumo's technique in volleying a deep cross rather than any subtle interplay.