When Manchester City beat United on their own patch in September the pundits and fans alike were absolutely dribbling with glee about the wonderful new world of Pep Guardiola.
Not only was he making the Premier League a one-horse race but he was raising the bar of the entire competition.
So when we saw this headline today in The Guardian, we dwelled for a moment on what a wonderfully unpredictable game football is:
Pep Guardiola’s poor buys and endless tinkering take toll on Manchester City
Yes, we all got carried away by the early weeks of his reign. But this sort of headline was still impossible to fathom in those heady days of autumn when Pep couldn’t do anything wrong.
And TFF thinks that the hyperbole is still too great here.
Yes there have been one or two purchases who haven’t fully justified their price tags. Most notably Claudio Bravo who seems to be a definite downgrade on a Joe Hart in decent form.
But others have done ok. Nolito is a good squad player who most Premier League squads would love to house.
Leroy Sane is going to be a top player but needs time. Gundogan may have been a questionable buy only because of his fitness record.
And Gabriel Jesus is another who will surely be a leading light in world football.
Meanwhile John Stones still makes mistakes but so did Rio Ferdinand at United and he became pivotal to the most successful period in their history.
The reality is that Manchester City will be in the title race in May.
They have had a dip and others are yet to suffer that fate. But it happens to the very best teams.
So let’s not pour too much scorn on Pep and Manchester City just yet.