Sir Alex Ferguson lost his first derby game away to Manchester City too, in September 1989, by a humiliating 5-1 scoreline that later prompted him to make a rare confession of vulnerability. He said that afterwards he went home to bed and felt, as he walked the streets of Manchester over the next few days, “like a criminal”.
Nasri was the player in the corresponding fixture last season who had faced accusations of cowardice after ducking out of the way of Robin van Persie's late, decisive free-kick. Now he could be seen shadow-boxing by the corner flag. City had outfought their opponents in every department, from A to Z, and the bruises will take a long time to heal for the team beaten to the point of humiliation.
Manuel Pellegrini's side won with such remarkable, carefree splendour it felt as though the team in United's colours had no actual plan or idea about what this fixture is supposed to signify.
David Moyes now knows how the pre-knighted Alex Ferguson felt on that day at Maine Road, almost a quarter of a century ago, when United's manager of the time talked about going home and lying on his bed with a pillow over his head. At the height of this ordeal, Moyes's name reverberated around the stadium. Unfortunately for him, it was the home crowd serenading his appointment as Ferguson's successor.
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