A sad tale of 2 once mighty clubs in 1 city. The derby was awful

I sat listening to Bruno Fernandes post Manchester derby getting more depressed the longer he spoke.

We’d all just witnessed the poorest game between United and City I can remember. And I can go back a long way.

I’ve watched games between the two from the mid-60’s. Worked on them as a commentator/reporter during a spell at Picadilly Radio and fronted the host broadcasters coverage of dozens of them.

I’ve watched a fair few in the last decade or so while I’ve been working for beINSPORTS and never have I seen one as bad as that one yesterday (Monday).

Fernandes was waxing lyrical about how well he thought United had done Really? In what area? I watch football to be entertained - to be excited - to ride a wave of drama whoever it is playing - to see goals. There was none of that.

Those two yesterday mustered one shot each on target in nearly 100 minutes of football. And there was Fernandes talking nonsense about how well he thought United had done and how Amorim tells his players they’ve got to ‘suffer’ if they want success. Suffer? The only people suffering yesterday were the ones watching - including those poor soles demonstrating about ticket prices at Old Trafford at the end. In general they are right - specifically they were right about the game. It was dreadful.

As City went backwards and sideways - and United stood off too scared to win the ball back - I thought I was watching a testimonial for Kevin de Bruyne. It was no faster than the recent legends game I saw clips of at Anfield. It was walking football.

It was months ago I called City’s demise. Guardiola fell asleep at the wheel celebrating that fourth successive title. He should’ve ripped his team apart after the third. They’re a shadow of what they once were.

If I was in charge at City I’d invite him to announce his resignation. They need to go in a different direction now. They need fresh blood, a new start and I don’t think he’s the man to deliver it.

Apart from his usual post match appearance on the pitch looking for cameras, I thought he looked totally disinterested yesterday. Perhaps he was just bored like the rest of us - but I’m afraid the football he’s convinced most judges is ‘the right way to play’ can be deadly dull.

City were lucky. United should’ve had a pen in the first 12 seconds. I don’t blame John Brooks for getting it wrong. He couldn’t make an accurate call from where he was - but VAR could. I’m afraid Paul Tierney - fresh from his disaster at Anfield last Wednesday - got it wrong. What was he even doing in the VAR seat anyway after the mess he and Sam Barrott made at Anfield?

Garnacho was fouled on the line. As we all know ‘on’ the line is ‘in’ the box. Tierney panicked and went with the on-field decision, making his mind up instantly. At the very least he should’ve invited Brooks to have another look at it.

An instant decision on something as critical as that - yet they took 4’50” to disallow a Spurs goal v Saints. It’s nonsense.

Why am I not reading about that incident today? There’s only two reasons why - because the PGMOL have succeeded in bullying U.K. broadcasters into toning down criticism or because those same broadcasters aren’t doing their jobs properly.

As for United - I stand by my call at the start of the season the team needs £1b of investment. Amorim says he’s not interested in signing big names. That’s just as well because they can’t attract them anymore.

Liverpool are running on empty. They’ll get the points they need at Anfield, but they’re making hard work of a shoe-in. If there had been a challenge of any kind this season they might be a little concerned - but there hasn’t been.

Fulham were good. They deserved the win and it could’ve been worse for a Liverpool. Fulham should’ve had a pen before Mac Allister scored. Kelleher recklessly threw himself at Pereira in the box, but nothing was given. When we asked the matchday centre why not they told us ‘both players arrived in the same space at the same time’. Yea? The generally happens when penalties are conceded. Honestly - you couldn’t make it up.

And the same people had no idea that van Dijk should’ve gone. They didn’t see his deliberate elbow in the second-half. I know that because they asked us what time in the match it occurred.

Keith Hackett agreed with me about the pen and so did the Fulham boss Silva. The cameras showed him remonstrating with the 4th official but he didn’t make much of it after the game because in the end it didn’t matter.

As for Hackett - the former PGMOL chief - he wrote a really good piece about van Dijk in The Telegraph. He thought he should’ve gone as well and went on to ask - in that piece - if officials are now intimidated by the Dutch defender.

He analysed about half a dozen of van Dijk’s indiscretions and his article ended like this ‘there is no doubt as far as I am concerned this player has become a serial offender and match officials are failing to apply appropriate sanctions’.

Poor Ange. 4’50” to find a way to disallow that goal at Spurs. He’s right about VAR. Operators are out of control. If you can’t see what you’re looking for after 60 seconds - move on. Stay with the on-field decision. It’s a joke.

That followed delays of 3’27 and 2’38” at Ipswich - a whole lot more time than they spent looking at the Garnacho incident - and 2’36” at West Ham as Evanilson scored for Bournemouth.

A couple of things here - my mate at beINSPORTS is convinced they created these delays so they can tell us how well their new semi-automated system works next week (he’s got a point) and I wonder how much the delays are responsible for so many of the muscle injuries teams are sustaining? My guess is a fair few.

The next time I write it will be after the introduction of the long awaited semi-automated offside tech. We’re not using the tried and tested system that works in the CL and WC. We’ve developed our own with Apple and Genius Sports.

It was tested recently in the FA Cup and led to that eight minute delay at Bournemouth - before it was abandoned. Howard Webb had better pray it works now - or I’m afraid he will have to go.