Two contrasting philosophies, a clash of styles, possession against directness, attack against defence – all that discussion and, in the end, very little of it meant anything. Manchester City fundamentally are just better than United.

Much of the pre-match talk had surrounded whether José Mourinho would send his side out to attack, given how his own side look better chasing games and the lingering suspicion that City, impressive as their defensive record appears, can be got at if teams could get through their press. Which is fine but, as Mike Tyson said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

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To get at City, you have first to get the ball, and for long spells United simply could not do that. When Bernardo Silva shot wide after 75 seconds, no United played had touched the ball. Other than David de Gea taking a goal-kick, the first touch from a United player came after 117 seconds as a dropping ball rolled down Marouane Fellaini’s shoulder. When David Silva put City ahead after 12 minutes, City had completed 96 passes to United’s five, and had enjoyed 91% of the ball. In Paul Pogba’s absence Mourinho had packed his midfield with snarl and muscle, Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera flanking Fellaini, but these dogs of war – two Great Danes and an annoying yappy terrier – having been let slip were left chasing aimlessly, snapping hopelessly at passing bluebottles.

This was perhaps intended to be the equivalent of the “trivote” Mourinho liked to field at Real Madrid, a defensive block designed to sit in front of the back four, a mighty breakwater to disrupt the waves of the City attack. But it didn’t. Or at least not consistently. City went round it with Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling, and through it thanks to the silver triangle at the front of the team – Bernardo, David Silva and Sergio Agüero’s new hair.

Those opening 12 minutes were stunning, as complete a demonstration of superiority as is possible at this level. But what was strange was that, after the goal, City’s level dropped. Pep Guardiola blamed his side’s attitude, pointing to a failure to press and a lack of purpose in possession, almost as though they were slightly awed by their own superiority in the early stages, surprised perhaps by how straightforward it was – leading to a loss of focus and a tendency to overcomplicate.

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Whatever the reason, United did, briefly, begin to disrupt them. There was an attempt to press, the front three of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard closing down Ederson and the two full-backs when the goalkeeper had the ball. But pressing does not come naturally to this United side. In truth, so ill-constructed is the squad that nothing does, the tension between the instincts of the manager and the capacities of his squad all too evident.

Because the midfield did not close up with the forward line, because United were not compact, because there was space behind that initial line of the press, it was relatively simple for Ederson, a very good long passer, to loft the ball to City midfielders. That same lack of compactness was in part responsible for City’s second goal. When Lingard miscontrolled De Gea’s clearance and was dispossessed, Agüero found himself in the sort of space he had been denied for most of the first half. His response was brutally clinical, a one-two with Mahrez that left Victor Lindelöf looking sluggish before an emphatic finish.

But the real evidence of City’s dominance, of the extraordinary harmony of managerial vision and the players available (however they may have been acquired) came in the final stages. The needless penalty had let United back into the game, and raised memories of how City had squandered a 2-0 lead in the derby last season to lose 3-2. But City, after a couple of jittery moments, refused to be haunted. Their response was to end the game as they had begun it, with a triumphant expression of their philosophy.

The decisive goal was no rapid counter, hitting the space behind an overcommitted United. It followed a glorious 44-pass move, a rhapsody of guardiolisme.