About an hour into play at Old Trafford on Sunday, everything seemed to be trending in Manchester United's favor. Phil Foden's 23rd-minute red card meant they were up a man against bitter rivals Manchester City, to the point that they had seized control of the game. They were racking up shots – seven, to be exact, Marcus Rashford's free kick from close range just before the break getting them incredibly close to the game's opening goal.
City, meanwhile, had been limited to a single shot after the red card that clocked in at just 0.03 expected goals. Then the inevitable happened: Erling Haaland scored. The goal was not without controversy, so much so that it took a VAR check that lasted long enough for the commentators to poke fun at singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher for celebrating Haaland's strike long after the offside flag went up.
Gallagher was justified in more ways than one, though. Not only did the referees decide Semenyo's pass resulted in a deflection that rendered obsolete questions on whether or not Haaland was offside, the goal offered a stark reminder that for all their attempts to appear normal in the last decade and change, United remain a deeply flawed team. Erling Haaland scores against United with City down to 10 men! pic.twitter.com/pWgwXMR4gi In the 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, United have been worse than they were on Sunday and even in defeat, they played with a sense of competency.
The cautious optimism caused by last season's third-place finish and a quiet but solid summer of business, though, will take a pretty significant back seat after their 1-0 loss to City. They may feel somewhat hard done by the fact that they have one win in four games to start the Premier League season but on Sunday, their limits were fully exposed to the point that it would not be hard to believe that another rough season awaits the Red Devils. Foden's red card livened up a dull game to some degree, though the stretch between that decision and Haaland's goal was on trend with United's performance before the sending off.
Carrick's side were the aggressors to start, taking three shots while City had just one to show for their efforts and just before Haaland scored, United had 10 shots to City's two. There was one problem – 0.31 expected goals from 10 attempts is not exactly impressive, a signal that the Red Devils did not have much of an answer for City's defensive shape. The visitors had essentially dared their opponents to do something with all of their control, City coach Enzo Maresca betting smartly that they would not be able to.
United entered the weekend as one of the league's better attacking sides but just three games into the season, it was hard to know much value to place into their output – they opened the campaign against newly-promoted sides Hull City and Ipswich Town, as well as a clash against perennial mid-table side Everton. City would naturally make for a much different test and against a high-quality defense, United's talented but non-elite attackers struggled to break through. They had their moments, including Bryan Mbeumo's stoppage-time effort that forced Gianluigi Donnarumma to make an important save.
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