For so long, Manchester United had kept humiliation at bay. They had given it a fright when Marcus Rashford scored a wondrous goal early in the game and then they had warded it off with some desperate defending even as Manchester City equalised and took the lead in the second half.
Erik ten Hag and his team knew that many people were watching the Manchester derby out of a morbid fascination to see just how badly United would be beaten and just how comprehensively City would outclass them. And so they took some pride in the fact the margin of victory had not turned into a cricket score.