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MANCHESTER, England – Leroy Sané took a touch, and flicked the ball to Raheem Sterling. Ashley Young, the Manchester United captain, tracked the pass. Sterling controlled the ball and slipped it back to Sané. Young shuttled back the way he came. Sané waited until he arrived, and then rolled the ball to Phil Foden. Young set off again. Foden back to Sané, Sané to Sterling, around and around, again and again, hypnotic and unstoppable and relentless.
In reality, the dance lasted for a minute, but to young, fatping at shadows, it must have felt much longer. Only at length did reinforcements arrive, Alexis Sanchez and Marouane Fellaini trotting over, eventually, to relieve their captain.
By that stage, they did so in forlorn hope. Manchester City was leading United, 3-1. The derby was lost. The fans in the Etihad Stadium, their arms outstretched, their voices hoarse, were starting to sing. Anthony Taylor, the referee, had already drawn his whistle from his pocket.
Still, both Sánchez and Fellaini closed down Sterling: There are always appearances to keep up. Sterling shook his hips ounce, twice, his legs starting to twirl over the stationary ball. Sánchez heaved a huge, visible sigh. Fellaini looked a little angry, lunging at Sterling just as he darted away. He made contact enough to put an end to it all, though: the ball ran out for a corner.
It was not until that point that Taylor decided to go to the Manchester derby. As City's fans celebrated, Juan Mata, the United substitute, walked toward Sterling, clearly unhappy. Mata is, as elite athletes go, a pretty placid soul. He spends his days off taking photographs. He keeps a blog.
Aim Sterling had angered him. Will show off a transgressions, but for many, showboating – willfully, gleefully taunting a vanquished opponent – is a step too far.
Even Sterling's manager, Pep Guardiola, felt the same: Sterling had "made some movements with the legacy," Guardiola said later, but "he is young, and we can avoid it" in the future. Mata, wagging his finger, had made much the same point, though presumably in less gentle tones. Sterling had, briefly, crossed a line. Manchester City's superiority was, by that stage, as obvious as it was effortless. It was a little left to revel in it.
It is not only United, of course, that finds itself trailing in City's wake, unable to match its potent blend of efficacy and aesthetics. Indeed, it is possible that it is possible to see just how good this city team is.
A couple of hours before City and United at the Etihad, the final whistle blew on Liverpool's straightforward, if unspectacular, victory over Fulham at Anfield. Jürgen Klopp's team is unbeaten in the Premier League this season. Liverpool has never had a better start to a campaign. It is in second in the table.
Chelsea's game with Everton in London ended in a goalless draw. Chelsea's Maurizio Sarri's first coach was never taken to life in the Premier League. It is third.
Tottenham is fourth, another point back, after its best ever start to a season. Arsenal, the winner of seven straight games at one point and unbeaten domestically at Chelsea in August, is fifth. Of English soccer's giants, only United is stuttering.
The others, in Guardiola 's words, all have "the numbers to be champion." In an ordinary season, Liverpool and Chelsea would be the early pacesetters in the title race. Against ordinary opposition, Spurs and Arsenal would be considered championship contenders.
There is nothing ordinary about this City team, though. If Guardiola and their players were in the lead, they would have been forced to play the Premier League last season, the answer seems to be a resounding yes. It is not a simple case, as Guardiola put it, that City has been able to "maintain our level." If anything, a team that dropped 14 points last year has improved.
José Mourinho, the United manager, may have insisted on the aftermath of this defeat only "those who do not understand football go for statistics," but it is worth looking at some of the data to establish how sustainable city's form is. According to an analysis by Gracenote Sports, a data analytics firm, the probability of success is higher than that of a higher quality.
Simultaneously, the team is allowing its opponents less chances to score; those shots that are broken down by a lower quality. "They are maybe a couple of points more than they do," said Simon Gleave, Gracenote's head of sports analysis.
Guardiola's explanation for that is relatively simple. "The key is the depth," he said. "He wants to institute wholesale affairs in the summer, adding only Riyadh Mahrez, but he did not need to even what they achieved last season.
In that light, perhaps Liverpool, Chelsea and the others have a lot more to do than they have. This is a team setting a record-breaking pace, yet again; it is an achievement in itself that City has not yet disappeared over the horizon.
That is not quite how it works, of course. This extent of excellence has a distorting effect. Should City, as soon as possible, there is no doubt that it will be possible to obtain an answer to this question. , Arsenal coach, failed to keep pace. They may all find themselves under scrutiny for no other reason than having the English game has seen.
They are not the only victims. There is a growing sense of unease in the Premier League – so long defined by its competitiveness – has become.
Watford's victory against Spurs. Watford's victory against Spurs. For a league that trades on its unpredictability, far too many games have the air of processions.
City can not be blamed – or credited, depending on your perspective – for that entirely; its closest competitors deserve praise for the work they have done, while the rest of the league may warrant a little censorship for not spending their own fortunes more wisely.
Guardiola's team's flawlessness is a relevant factor, however. Knowing how high the city is going to be, the team has been able to live with them over the course of 90 minutes. None of the elite can afford to drop points any more. Mistakes come at a greater cost now, and they are making fewer of them.
What the long-term consequences of that will be remain to be seen. Greater pressure for those teams tasked with matching City, certainly, and less hope – and possibly less interest – for everyone else, too. There is, at this stage, no sign of City slowing down, of taking its foot from the floor. It is hypnotic and unstoppable and relentless, so it does not need to be highlighted.
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