Did he learn nothing from the triumph against adversity of the basketballing goat?

“AGAIN?”

No reader, that is not the response of my wife as I shoot off out the door yet again, or the little sprite that lives inside the mechanism of the supplementary online bank app I refer to as my “beer account” as the Apple Pay comes out for the 9th time before midday. This was actually the response of the nice lady on the Trans Pennine Express when she enquired where I was off to after I couldn’t resist stopping her trolley to have a bit use of my beer account.

Just as a quick recap, this was game number four of five against Man City this season.

All matches will have taken place in a fifteen week period since late November and by the time we’ve had the FA Cup tie. one quarter of United’s matches in 2026 will have been against Manchester City.

Of course, there remains the possibility of the Champions League, with Qarabag now comfortably beaten and Barcelona or Chelsea in the next round, the draw on Friday will reveal whether Man City might be waiting should we get as far as the semi-final (oh, behave!) but for now, we were indeed playing Manchester City again.

I would consider this trip old school. Having a bimble round the city, bit weekend away and heading to the game with minimal expectations was the stuff of the Ashley era, but to be fair our form at the Etihad has never really moved on from those dark days. There was a bonus for me here, as circumstances meant I brought my 11 year-old son Blake to only his second ever away game. This meant that instead of cruising round bars I spent Friday playing a Ghostbusters game at something called Immersive Gamebox, then catching a movie about a goat that plays basketball. Times they change.

The modern, more spacious Etihad is the type of ground I feel more comfortable taking Blake to, over some of the disasters waiting to happen in the Prem, but there is the caveat of the game being ominous. It’s a sign that Blake is getting older and more aware that, when I asked him for a score prediction he has moved on from his youthful leaning towards happy Newcastle wins and gave a straight up “about six nil to them?” Did he learn nothing from the triumph against adversity of the basketballing goat?

I also had due cause for pessimism, of sorts. This time last year we faced a near identical situation, heading to Anfield two weeks before facing Liverpool in the League Cup final. Eddie Howe approached that game perfectly, keeping his cards close to his chest and using the match to prep a game plan for the bigger match. While it’s an imbalance to compare a last 16 tie with a final, the FA Cup means so much for the rest of the season that the tie at St James’ Park holds enough importance that I would have welcomed a repeat of this approach.

It didn’t feel like Eddie was standing down, with his only change being a slightly less offensive switch, with Barnes benched and Ramsey occupying a central role. The game seemed to be to limit Man City playing through but after ten minutes of being run ragged it felt like the plan needed to go out the window. This was exacerbated in the 14th minute when Marmoush broke with United trying to push forward and fed O’Reilly, whose low shot went inside the post despite Pope getting a hand to it. It didn’t seem the most powerful effort and Pope might wonder if he could have kept it out.

This was the jump start United needed and suddenly we had a decent bit of possession. Gordon looks to be playing with confidence after his midweek hatful and his run and shot brought a smart save from Donnarumma. Then a Tonali corner was half cleared as far as Lewis Hall, whose shot took a useful deflection to beat the Italian number one and draw United level. Two goals to celebrate here in the same month, we’re getting spoilt.

The relief did not last. Erling Haaland was once again well marshalled by Dan Burn and drew another blank against Newcastle. However, his run out wide and subsequent brilliant cross was an unexpected example of wing wizardry. O’Reilly was not well watched and had a fairly free header to reinstate the home lead.

We thought we’d levelled up again as half-time drew in, Burn got on the end of a Tonali free-kick to head past Donnarumma. The linesman’s flag went up slightly belatedly and you had to fear the worst from the away end. A lot of soft decisions had been going Man City’s way, with the five yellow cards we left with well over the top, so fear of being done by another set of hopeless officials was real. It turns out that Dias actually pushed Burn into the offside position, which for my money should mean the goal counts, or at the very least give something in our favour. This was not to be of course.

Photo by Jamie Smith via The Mag

Throughout the second half United gave as good as they got against the lofty opposition, with Hall’s effort into the side netting fooling a few to my left, but some decent possession and solid approach play yielding little else in the way of chances.

Injury time saw a couple of incidents as Pope made a decent double save from Haaland and Foden before piling forward for a last ditch corner he wasn’t far off connecting with. Ultimately though, we once again leave here empty handed.

I choose to focus on the many positives.

As I said, this was a chance to prep for that FA Cuo game, and O’Reilly’s runs from midfield need snuffed out. The welcome return from the bench of the rampant Joelinton could be key here, as his midfield bullying led to plenty of chance creation (and the standard booking of course). He needs his minutes managed with a view to being ready to boss that cup match. Gordon, Ramsey and Elanga all showed some positive signs and overall Man City were sweating on this narrow home win. I doubt they’ll be as focussed on the cup and hitting similar levels in a fortnight could see a happier outcome.

In the meantime, the fog is starting to clear a bit. A run of five straight home games beckons, which can be a platform for moving up the table as well as potential progress in the cups. Getting this one out of the way with some encouragement sets the next three weeks up neatly, off the back of the trio of wins that preceded it.

The exuberance of youth was not dampened by the scoreline though, as Blake highly enjoyed his venture to different surroundings, using the safe standing as effective monkey bars and recording an on-the-spot video message to his own team (hello to Westerhope United U12 Silvers). He then watched open mouthed as a smaller child in front saw Joelinton gracefully acknowledge the sign asking for his shirt. This led to two requests from Blake: to bring a similar request to a future match (not sure I’m agreeing to that) and to request a return trip to an away end against “someone bad” so he can experience a win after seeing a pair of losses here and at Chelsea in his first trip (I didn’t have the heart to tell him away wins are impossible to guarantee). I will think of something I’m sure.

Photo by Jamie Smith via The Mag

Time for Howe to earn his way. With the Qarabag tie dead, the week can be used to prepare accordingly for the visits of Everton and Man U, and with today as a reference point, this can build into that cup tie I keep bringing up. Big few weeks ahead, let’s be on it on the pitch and in the stands.

You can follow the author on BlueSky @bigjimwinsalot.bsky.social