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By IAN LADYMAN Published: 05: 30 AEDT, 16 December 2024 | Updated: 08: 49 AEDT, 16 December 2024 259 View comments They did their best here for Pep Guardiola. They sang for him before kick-off. They hung a huge banner carrying his name, face and list of achievements over the lower tier of the huge stand opposite his seat in the dug-out.   This was a show of loyalty and support as pre-orchestrated and deliberate as anything we have seen during Guardiola’s gilded tenancy at the Etihad Stadium. It spoke of a deep love but also a deep need. But then, like it always does, it all came down to the football. The football always speaks for a manager. It always speaks for his team. And the hard, stark and almost unpalatable truth of this conversation is that by the end of this extraordinary Manchester derby, Guardiola – perhaps the greatest coach of his generation – looked ever more like a man being dragged down in to an abyss from which he may never crawl out. By 6. 30pm on this dank, damp Manchester afternoon, City had been beaten once again. Beaten up by a cosh that had their own name on it. Self-harm triggered by self-doubt and a lack of confidence and belief so deep and so obvious it now asks grave questions of Guardiola and his capacity to recover from a run of results that now stands at one win in eleven games. Afterwards, with the Manchester United celebrations still raging in an away dressing room down the corridor, Guardiola sat in front of the media and declared himself not good enough. He didn’t really mean it. But he said it anyway. A scrambled quote from a scrambled mind. Amad Diallo scored a 90th-minute winner as United beat City in Sunday's Manchester derby United had been losing until the 88th minute until a burst of brilliance from star man Amad  United manager Ruben Amorim pictured (right) embracing City boss Pep Guardiola after beating him in his first ever Manchester derby We have not seen him like this during his many years in England. Guardiola endured a difficult debut season back in 2016/17. He ended it winless. But that was quite clearly a period of difficult acclimatisation and nothing more. This is not like that. That felt like a bit of a tricky beginning. This is starting to feel like the start of an ending, one that may well be with us quicker and more dramatically than any of us could ever have imagined. Guardiola has a new two-year contract at the Etihad but pay no heed to that. When he feels it is time to go, he will go. He did it in 2014, walking away from Barcelona after four years left him emotionally spent. If he feels it is right, he will do so here too. Guardiola is not the kind of man to wait until he is asked. And we are not there yet. Not today. Not even after this. But City are not a group of players who look like finding their true selves any time soon. The opposition were modest here. Desperately so. Ruben Amorim’s United were competitive and in the game at a goal down with two minutes left but at that stage they had mustered just a solitary shot on target. That is what they are. Yet City lost to them. They fell at their feet. By full-time they looked like road kill and afterwards the utterances of Guardiola’s players spoke of the problems within. Bernardo Silva – with six Premier League titles to his name – accused his team-mates of defending like under-15s in the final moments. Phil Foden – last year’s double Player of the Year - was no more complimentary when he spoke to the BBC. These are the give aways, the noises a ship makes not when it’s listing but when it’s sinking. So only results will save Guardiola now, from ignominy of ongoing and unexpected failure. And from himself. For 50 minutes, City were actually winning this game. That already feels strange, given what unfolded. They were one misplaced back pass away from a result that would have been barely deserved but that would have given City and Guardiola the kind of breathing space every manager needs occasionally. Amad's late winning goal came just moments after he had won a penalty kick for his team United captain Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty to draw United level in the 88th minute Man City defender Josko Gvardiol (centre) had scored the game's first goal in the 36th minute United were dealt an early injury blow when Mason Mount (right) was forced off the field Mount received a hug from United manager Amorim as he departed after less than 15 minutes They hadn’t played well. Not by any stretch. But United remain largely pliable opposition and a derby win looked as though it would deliver relief from the slog of poor form for a few days at least.   City’s goal had arrived from a short corner in the 37th minute. Kevin de Bruyne delivered a deflected cross and Josko Gvardiol headed in. It was the only notable moment of a truly desperate first half. United were without Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho – decisions made by Amorim on the back of poor training application among other things – and lacked a little direction on the counter. At this stage young Amad Diallo looked dangerous as he always does but was also struggling to stay onside. Amorim’s frustrations at that were clear. Later, with the game drifting, Bruno Fernandes missed a great chance when played through by Rasmus Hojlund. It was the move of the match but Fernandes lifted the ball wide and that seemed to signify the end of United’s interest in the game. But this is not the City we know or recognise. This is vulnerable City. Anxious City. Human City. And just when they were within sight of a hot shower and a break from the stress of it all, they fell apart. Matheus Nunes – playing out of position at full-back – delivered a back pass straight to Amad in the 87th minute. Then – trying desperately to atone – he hacked his opponent to the floor. Fernandes put away the penalty. A draw would have been all a bit ‘meh’. Both teams would have taken it, though. A draw is never a bad result in a derby. But when Lisandro Martinez lifted a hopeful through ball over the City back line in the 90th minute, the home team went full panto on us. Goalkeeper Ederson should have stayed on his line but didn’t. So when Amad lofted the ball over him, he then had something to aim that.   United goalkeeper Andre Onana was well beaten for City's opener and he barely even moved Sunday's game became rather heated at times, which is not unusual for a Manchester derby Rasmus Hojlund (left) and Kyle Walker (right) were both booked after they went head to head Man City manager Pep Guardiola (centre) pictured giving instructions to No 9 Erling Haaland Guardiola's City side have now failed to win in 10 of their last 11 matches in all competitions The 22-year-old’s side foot volley from an angle was expertly applied in the pressure of the moment but still Gvardiol should have cleared it from the line. But he didn’t. The Croatian somehow managed to step over the ball and with that it rolled across the line and in to the net.   Amad is a fine player. A reason to be cheerful for Amorim as he plots a route forwards. His had been a super piece of skill. But the drama of this picture was not to be found in the emergence of a new footballing life force but the inexorable retreat of an old one. As Guardiola left the field at full-time, he took off his coat and tucked it over his arm. He looked like a man coming in from a bad day at work, tired and worn down, and in need of a lie down and a cup of tea.   And that is precisely what he is. Except you don’t get to rest for long in football. Football requires you to get up, face forwards and fight for another day. And Guardiola will do that today and the next day and the one after. It’s in his nature. But for how long? At the very least it’s an increasingly pertinent question to ask. MAN CITY (3-2-4-1):  Ederson, Walker Dias,  Gvardiol, Gundogan (Savinho 89), Bernardo, Nunes, De Bruyne (Kovacic 68), Foden, Doku (Grealish 77), Haaland Subs not used:  O'Reilly,  Stones,  Simpson-Pusey, Mc Atee,  Mubama,  Ortega Goal: Gvardiol 36 Booked: Walker Manager:  Pep Guardiola  MAN UNITED (3-4-3):  Onana, Maguire, Martinez, De Ligt (Yoro 79), Dalot, Fernandes, Ugarte , Mazraoui (Antony 78), Hojlund (Zirkzee 78), Mount (Mainoo 14), Amad (Lindelof 90) Subs not used:  Eriksen, Casemiro, Bayindir,  Malacia Goals: Fernandes 88 (pen), Amad 90 Booked: Hojlund Manager:  Rubem Amorim Referee:  Anthony Taylor Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group