Roy Keane told Manchester United to ‘take their medicine’ and accept that Manchester City are miles ahead after a dominant derby win for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The visitors took the lead through Marcus Rashford, but this was a game that City dominated and ultimately ran out deserved winners thanks to a brace from Phil Foden and a third from Erling Haaland.
For former United midfielder Keane, he felt City were ‘playing’ with United as if they were a wounded prizefighter ‘in a boxing ring’.
‘I don’t want to be too hard on United because City were brilliant. They have shown why they are champions,” Keane told Sky Sports.
‘What City do is they discover all your shortcomings. There is no hiding place. It’s like a boxing ring. They wore them.
Manchester United were comfortably defeated by Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium
Phil Foden (left) scored twice in a man-of-the-match display as United struggled to cope
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‘The statistics show how dominant Man City were. (Erling) Haaland and (Kevin) De Bruyne were not at their best, but then Foden steps up.
‘I think it’s more credit to Man City than being too critical of Man United.’
He added: ‘Manchester United will have to take their medicine today. There still remains a question mark as to where this United team goes next.
‘In the last 25 minutes they couldn’t get close to City, who were playing with them.
“It was men versus boys in the end and they just kept at it. By the end you think there could be four or five.
“There are still question marks with this team and unfortunately also with the manager.”
Erik ten Hag wanted to pack the midfield and make United difficult to break down.
Fans ended the match criticizing the tactics, but another former United player felt it was the only way United could approach this match with a number of key players sidelined through injury.
According to Roy Keane, it was a display that raised many questions for manager Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag had tried to pack his midfield and make United difficult to break down for the hosts
Speak with Premier League productions, Paul Scholes said: ‘It’s probably the right result. Manchester City is currently a class higher.
“Man United knew they were likely to get beaten if they went head-to-head, so they came to make things difficult.
‘They don’t have the players capable of beating Man City at the moment.’