United's resurgence silences the noisy neighbours (Part Two).

The blue moon is hiding behind a rising red tide for City.

Knowing how moody the weather can be in my favourite city, it could be a while before that moon surfaces again.

Ten coaches(yes, TEN) were part of the police escort of City fans that left Old Trafford yesterday.
That's ten coaches to go, er, where exactly?

Most Reds I know walk or catch a bus to the swamp when we play them away.

How could the club whose fans claim to be the true Mancunians (the same fans who insist Manchester is blue), be using ten coaches for a game at Old Trafford?

United are rebuilding and we all know that.
For a side in transition and bearing in mind how poor some of the football has been at times this season, Louis van Gaal has arrested a decline that so many people, as recently as five weeks ago, thought beyond him (you know who you are...)

LVG deserves credit for, if nothing else, giving Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini a purpose in this United side when both of those players (amongst a good few others) looked certainties to leave Old Trafford last summer.

They are now an integral part of LVG's “philosophy"- something nobody would have thought possible last August.
Around this time last season, City came to us and handed out as comprehensive a thumping as I've ever seen anyone give United (one of the most miserable days of my United-supporting life).
Numerically of course, the 6-1 was more comprehensive but anybody who knows football would be aware that the real leathering came from City last season.

They looked fitter, hungrier, stronger, quicker and more skillful than United.
It was a painful sight and they looked simply light years ahead of us that night.

A combination of United players buying into a new manager's ideas and style and City's players seemingly treating Pellegrini like ours did David Moyes last season meant that this fixture was a lot more balanced.

If you had said to me on New Year's Day that come mid-April we would sit four points ahead of City on equal games, I would've thought you'd overdone it the previous night.

Ultimately, for better or worse, United's main aim this season was to get back into the Champions League for next season.
A few weeks ago, with fixtures against Tottenham, Liverpool, City and Chelsea coming up (Aston Villa don't really count), no Red of my acquaintance thought that we'd take maximum points from games we've struggled in in recent times.

We're not quite there yet, but for it not to happen now would take a collapse to match that of Liverpool's last season.

We do not let this slip now...