Manchester City keep them in their hands while they are not yet perfect

Manchester City did not make many mistakes last season, but they were in this fixture, and this year they want to be even better. So this afternoon, coasting at home against Manchester United

This 3-1 derby win unusual, comprehensive but not quite complete. City was the much better team, creating enough chances to win by a distance, barely giving a touch of the ball in an uneven second half. And yet even this did not look like City at their absolute best. It was not a perfect performance, because Anthony Martial scored from the spotlight after another Ederson misjudgement. It was not a 90-minute performance, because of how City dropped their intensity after a thrilling first 15 minutes.

But then when can they win their biggest game this comfortably, staying up at 12-point lead over their biggest rivals, how much does that matter?

It was impossible this afternoon of the spectrum of the 3-2 game here seven months ago. That should have been one of the greatest afternoons in Guardiola era. That afternoon, with the earliest title ever within reach, City played one half of the game of their lives, surged into a 2-0 lead and missed chances to go four or five up. That afternoon the fans started ole far too early, their over-confidence, and the United States.

All afternoon here, that mistake hung over Manchester City. Would they be complacent again? Would they be so sloppy? There was little prospect, given the difference in level between the two teams, of United out-playing City here. But there is always the possibility, of games, of City managing to beat themselves.

And when City has a brilliant start to make it happen, it feels like it's going to make the same mistake. That intense pressure they had applied to the world. It is a threat to the risky complacency of last season. Rather than pressing from the front they let United pass the ball. Rather than winning second balls they start to let United's midfield three assert themselves. Rather than tightening their hold on a game, they let it start to drift away from them.

That meant that second half of the first half was almost unrecognizable from its opening. It was a slower game, more even, more open. It made you wonder whether it was sharper, more ruthless side than United would have been able to take advantage. It was their counter-attacking was never enough to cut through Fernandinho, scurrying in front of City's defense, mercilessly shutting down every incursion.

So even though City got to half time at 1-0, it never felt like City at their best. It felt like a city team keeping something in reserve, or perhaps not being able to deliver their finest football. And even though Sergio Aguero scored their second soon after the restart, even though felt at odds with the run of the game. One quick sequence of United mistakes and successes, run together to produce a goal out of nowhere. The Ederson mistake and Anthony Martial penalty was even more surprising and even more out of place.

Everyone knew that this was the crucial spell in the game. Remember that last year Paul Pogba's opener, pulling it back to 2-1, was followed by 16 minutes. Once hit on their glass, City lost their bearings and were hit twice more. The challenge for the city. Not to let one goal become three.

And this was the point when the city started to play something closer to their best. The final 30 minutes, after Martial's goal, were the most one-sided spell of the game. United never looked like equalising, and when Ilkay Gundogan came into midfield, they could barely get a touch of the ball. City grabbed back hold of possession and with United opening up, they could cut them open on the break. There were 44 passes in the move before Gundogan swept in the crucial third.

That level of control and calm, not letting the opportunity get to them, not losing sight of their plan, was exactly what City did not manage to do in April. But on Sunday they considered making the same mistake twice, and then quickly decided against it. The players looked at their mistakes, and they were true to their word.

In that sense it was like the 0-0 draw at Anfield, another city where messed up last year. This time they went into the air, weathered the storm, frustrated Liverpool and Riyadh Mahrez they would have won 1-0.

If they are going to focus on this issue, they are going to have a lot of attention. Even in their pursuit of perfection, even after 100 points, they look like a team still making small forward steps.

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