Erik ten Hag was plunged into his worst nightmare as Man Utd’s problems were exposed at Man City

Just when Manchester United thought it was safe to be positive again, just when we thought there was going to be a Manchester derby worthy of the name, this was a destruction so brutal, so one-sided, that Erik ten Hag was back in his worst nightmare came true.

If the United manager thought a 4-0 deficit before halftime at Brentford in August was a terrible anomaly, never to be repeated, then he was here in the same deep, dark hole just seven weeks later.

Only this time Manchester City threatened to make it even worse for the Dutchman. The fact that the final damage was only 6-3 was largely due to Pep Guardiola’s exciting side who took their foot off the gas in the second half and allowed three goals to distort the deficit.

When City beat United for six at Old Trafford in October 2011, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team were penalized for chasing the game with ten men. They were never in this.

Four wins in a row since the Brentford debacle had raised hopes that United were heading in the right direction under Ten Hag. Let’s not forget that the Dutchman arrived here as Premier League Manager of the Month.

But the green shoots of recovery were kicked so mercilessly into the Etihad grass that you wondered how much progress had really been made.

United’s fragile confidence crumbled in the face of City’s irresistible team performance and the individual brilliance of Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne.

Ten Hag made a bold team selection, picking just one defensive midfielder in Scott McTominay, perhaps hoping it would send a message to its players, but the decision backfired when United were overrun.

It took him an hour to end McTominay’s misery by replacing him with Casemiro, and 70 minutes to double down on the midfielders by sending Fred. United then trailed 5-1 and there were more empty blue seats than United fans in the away section.

The team selection allowed Christian Eriksen to start, but the Dane must also have had flashbacks to Brentford.

Inexplicably, he was left behind as Haaland’s marker as City’s prolific Norwegian headed the second goal.

Much was said in the run-up about Lisandro Martinez’s lack of height against Haaland, but surely Eriksen wasn’t supposed to pick him up at a corner?

‘Of course not,’ Ten Hag snorted indignantly, pointing to the fact that Raphael Varane had been injured seconds earlier.

Varane limped away before half-time after losing to Foden for the first goal and Haaland for the third.

Eriksen and Varane have been key figures in United’s revival. So are Martinez and Tyrell Malacia, but they were beaten to the limit for the fourth and fifth goal.

Malacia was addicted to the rest that had been booked. Diogo Dalot was shown a yellow card from referee Michael Oliver after 90 seconds, meaning both United fullbacks had been compromised in their efforts to stop the flow of City attacks down either flank.

None of Ten Hag’s players came out of this with any credit, except perhaps substitute Anthony Martial who led a pointless late setback.

It took Bruno Fernandes 39 minutes to fire their first shot of fury from 30 yards, and they never seriously tested City’s unknown defensive partnership, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji.

A revitalized Marcus Rashford didn’t put a glove on them. Former City player Jadon Sancho was completely anonymous and left the field crying with derision as Ten Hag made his fifth and final substitution.

That left Cristiano Ronaldo stewing on the couch. “I wouldn’t bring him in out of respect for Cristiano and his great career,” said Ten Hag, who clearly felt he was doing Ronaldo a favor.

Every United manager since Ferguson in 1987 has lost his first league derby against City, so Ten Hag is not alone in that regard. But the way this humiliation takes place is a huge step backwards that he could not have anticipated.