Is The Lesson Now Learnt?

As much as it pains me to say it, but we have absolutely no excuse for yesterday’s derby defeat.

We were warned in September when United scored in injury time at the end of the game to play to the whistle. There was a huge amount of controversy surrounding the referee’s decision to add on slightly more than the allocated time and City should have learnt from that.

But that lesson was not taken on board when we went back to Old Trafford in January for the League Cup semi-final. Losing 2-1 with a minute or so left should have been enough to send the tie into extra time and give us an opportunity to nick a goal that would have sent us to Wembley.

But slack defending cost us that chance and we were beaten 3-1 and out. Now anyone would have thought that we would by now have learnt to play to the end.

So why on earth did the City defence just switch off at the end of Saturday’s derby? It has been clear over the years that United play to the whistle, particularly when they need an equaliser or if there is a possibility of grabbing a winner, so why can’t City play to the end?

Three times this season they have beaten us and three times in the last minute. Is it possible that the lesson may just have been learnt?