Maybe they had Roy Keane on loop in the dressing room ahead of the game.
Maybe they were truly embarrassed after the deluge of criticism that followed their surrender on Merseyside at the weekend.
“These are the players who threw Jose Mourinho under the bus, and they’ll do it to Ole,” said Keane while suggesting there was a preponderance of ‘bluffers’ at Old Trafford.
There were no manager-throwers or bluffers in a red shirt last night. At least they were honest , for most of the time.
Alas, that is where the positives for Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer end.
There were no more.
Manchester Derby player ratings as Bernardo Silva shines while David de Gea flops
Take Manchester City’s second goal as a towering symbol of United’s current ineptitude.
Not long before Leroy Sane struck, Paul Pogba had an opportunity from a free-kick, 20 yards out and central.
He hit the wall at waist height.
Soon after, the hapless Fred the red passed to a blue shirt for the umpteenth time, Vincent Kompany sent a pass to Raheem Sterling, who advanced with unchallenged ease before setting up the Sane shot that humiliated David de Gea for the second time in just over 10 minutes.
From front to back, United and Solskjaer have issues – and De Gea at the back is one very serious issue.
It would now be a no-brainer to sell him for a huge fee... but only a no-brainer would buy him for a huge fee on his current form. Who would pay a fortune for a keeper who insists on throwing them in right now?
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Bernardo’s breakthrough came from a decent run and shot but, seriously, De Gea could almost have thrown his cap on it.
If his head has indeed been turned by Real Madrid or another, then march him out of the place.
You are certainly not going to pay him Alexis Sanchez wages, although the Chilean would have been proud of how De Gea kicked in Sane’s hit for City's second.
And De Gea is supposed to be one of the few world class players at Solskjaer’s disposal. That typifies the problems facing him.
Before being put to the sword in that spell early in the second half, at least United show suitable endeavour and commitment. But it would, of course, had been criminal if they had not.
Roy Keane accused Man Utd player of "cheating" in Man City loss
There was more United pressing in the opening 10 minutes, largely through Marcus Rashford, than there had been in the entire no-contest against Everton on Sunday. But they had nowhere near enough quality to compete with a City team that, quite frankly, was probably, for large parts of the game, as sloppy as we have seen as them for some time.
A truly elite team would have caused City severe problems, but this United are far from being truly elite.
Keane was being typically over-the-top and harsh when he said they would throw Ole under the bus and over-the-top and harsh to label them bluffers. The truth is that there are just too many at Old Trafford who are nowhere near good enough to pull United to City’s level.
It is as simple as that.
