Don't be fooled by the scoreline, United got off lightly against City in the Manchester derby

“Is it their fault? Is it my fault? It’s my fault because I’m the manager and it’s my choice.”

Jose Mourinho accepted the blame for United’s derby day debacle on Saturday but not before throwing his players under the bus. You can be sure that it will be a long time before one of the chief culprits of that display, 23-year-old Jesse Lingard steps onto that hallowed Old Trafford pitch again.

For the first 42 minutes, United were abject, all over the place and played like a Sunday league team going through the motions. For a team boasting of the world’s most expensive player and one of the most expensive squads in football history, they went through several shades of bad, ranging from mustard to pigeon droppings, all on a brand new white shirt.

The home team looked like schoolboys overawed by the occasion, unable to get a foothold of proceedings (read 40% possession at home) and overrun by their noisy neighbours. City had the majority of possession as they controlled the game in the first half and rightly deserved their two goals.

Change of personnel costs United dearly

United lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as expected. What was not expected, however, were the two changes on the wings – Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. While Lingard had not faced a single minute of Premier League action this season, Mkhitaryan, injured while on international duty, looked like he was rushed back into the squad sooner than expected as the otherwise brilliant Armenian looked sluggish and short on ideas when on the ball.

It came as no surprise when both players were hooked at half-time, with Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera the substitutes. Lingard was poor, losing the ball on many an occasion, unable to trap the ball and having a total of 13 touches in the entire half, unable to contribute to the play in any way.

There seems to be a general consensus that Mkhitaryan, last season’s Bundesliga Player of the Year, will get better as soon as he is allowed the time to fully integrate with the squad but at 23, Lingard can no longer call himself a United youth product. Both Anthony Martial, 20 and Marcus Rashford, 18, are younger and highly rated and Lingard’s time at United looks to be drawing to a close.

Jose gets his tactics wrong

The Red Devils started the game with the same formation that they had started the last three league games with, the 4-2-3-1. However, this proved to be United’s undoing as Marouanne Fellaini and Paul Pogba were over-run by City’s midfield trio of Fernandinho, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in the first half, as there was too much ground for the United duo to cover.

With Pogba, there are a number of positions that the versatile Frenchman can play in but defensive midfield is not one of them. City wingers, Nolito and Raheem Sterling, played narrower in the first half as the home team lost the decisive battles in midfield, Wayne Rooney as no. 10 was expected to drop deep and help out defensively but was unable to do so effectively.

Ander Herrera’s introduction at half-time ushered in a change of formation to 4-3-3, as the Spaniard held fort with Fellaini, dousing out fires all over the pitch while Pogba was given the licence to roam forward more freely in the second half. The Pog was not great on the day, but his second half showing was markedly better than his first half anonymity.

Herrera, almost tellingly, had 40 touches of the ball in the second half, second only to David Silva on the pitch who had 44. The Special One's changes had been effective but had come a little too late.

Mourinho’s biggest mistake comes back to haunt him

The 2015 Bundesliga Player of the Year looked on a different plane as compared to his successor. Kevin De Bruyne was magnificent, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck as he covered every blade of grass on the pitch. Brought from Belgian side Genk by Andre Villas-Boas for Chelsea in 2012, Mourinho sold De Bruyne to Wolfsburg just two years later after the midfielder made only three appearances for the Blues. A brilliant 18 months with the German club later, the Belgian returned to England with Manchester City and appears to be their most important player, even more so than the suspended Sergio Aguero.

United’s midfield and defence found it very difficult to stay with De Bruyne, who ran the show, starting off as a deeper no. 10, an all-pitch central midfielder, gliding past those in red easily, not giving them a moment of peace. Five teammates had more touches than the Belgian, but the 25-year-old had the most important touches in and around the penalty box.

His first goal was pure nonchalance, robbing Daley Blind as the Dutchman stood there dumbfounded looking like he had his candy stolen from him and then finishing with ice-cool precision past the best keeper in the Premier League, making it seem like a routine training exercise.

His second involved the aforementioned Dutchman and Lingard as his quick turn inside the box left the pair with twisted blood before unleashing a daisy-cutter of a shot which rebounded off the post to give Kelechi Iheanacho the easiest of finishes.

And he had just started. After Iheanacho was withdrawn in the second half, De Bruyne shifted into a false nine role and looked like he he had been playing there his entire life, linking up with substitute Leroy Sane who set him up, only to hit the post.

While the majority of De Bruyne’s contribution was centred around the United box, his opposite number Wayne Rooney could barely make any impact near the City goalmouth. If he can stay fit, the Belgian is the best player in the league and is an absolute delight to watch.

Bravo’s calamitous debut

Possibly the only blot on the perfect away performance, Claudio Bravo’s debut was disastrous as the Chilean spilt a perfectly catchable free kick from Rooney into the path of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who gleefully accepted the gift with open arms.

In his attempt to play his way out of the box, the City stopper had a few close shaves due to his heavy touches inside his own box. Guardiola prefers his keepers to be sweepers, but his new keeper’s indecision would not have gone down too well with El Pep.

Where do the two teams go from here?

The initial optimism around Old Trafford has been dampened, much similar to the atmosphere at a bachelorette party with the real cops present. Mourinho will go back, hopefully assess his and the team’s shortcomings, pick up the pieces and try and stitch together a decent run in the league and Europe, while hoping City slip up.

The worry for Jose is that while he decided to splash the cash on Paul Pogba, Guardiola has built half a team within the same means. Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan and Sergio Aguero will make this side even stronger and they are definitely a notch above United who were thoroughly second-best on the day.

City and Pep will march into Europe with increased vigour and optimism and given the size of City’s squad this season, there is nothing out of the Citizens' reach. They are early contenders for the Premier League and possibly the Champions League on the evidence of this match. Watch out for Kevin De Bruyne, if he can remain fit, who knows; a potential Ballon d’Or may be in the offing.