Manchester United 3 Manchester City 1To plagiarise the late Vince Lombardi: "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."

When Manchester United lost at Maine Road last season Alex Ferguson quoted the NFL coach in a dressing-room rage that inspired his players to turn an ailing season upside down. Perhaps it is time for Kevin Keegan to swot up on some of Lombardi's famed one-liners.

Manchester City are spiralling towards a relegation battle and there is clear evidence to suggest Keegan has lost the motivational powers that always concealed his other failings.

For 15 minutes at the start of the second half Keegan's men teased everyone into believing this could be a contest. Shaun Wright-Phillips scored with a diagonal shot through John O'Shea's legs and, briefly, United invited trouble by defending too deeply.

Yet it was not that short, ultimately inconsequential period that will linger in the minds of City's followers. The abiding memories were of those moments when they must have squirmed in their seats as the team in blue seemed to lose every header, every tackle and every second ball and, quite frankly, did not look too fussed about it. It was here that City reminded everyone that the only thing they have in common with their neighbours is the first letter of their postcode and that, whatever Keegan mistakenly believes, Manchester's clubs will never be on the same level while he and Ferguson are the respective managers.

There was the jaw-aching embarrassment, for instance, of seeing O'Shea nutmeg Sun Jihai not once but three times. There was Joey Barton punting a free-kick into the South Stand and Nicolas Anelka glaring at his team-mates - mostly Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman - with the withered look that detective constables usually reserve for the worst type of offenders.

The worst indictment of Fowler is that this was actually an improved display from him. He still looks out of form and out of condition. Fowler has apparently been ordered to shed some excess pounds but, if that is the case, it has been on the Atkinson diet - that's Ron Atkinson.

As for McManaman, his time in Spain has clearly educated him how, when things are not going well, to deflect attention elsewhere. His performance was one of I-know-best hand-signals and general posturing. At the end, he left the pitch with his arm round Barton's shoulder like a father educating his son.

Barton, a spiky Scouser, should have reminded him that (a) McManaman losing possession precipitated the move from which Paul Scholes made it 3-1 and (b) the people of Liverpool do not appreciate a big-time Charlie.

At present, Keegan stands accused of muddled man-management and alienating his players. Certainly there are too many stories of player unrest and dressing-room factions for them all to be untrue. Anelka is alleged to have punched a reserve player in training and, along with several others, to have lost faith in the manager. The Liverpudlians are said to have ganged up against the Frenchmen. One player suspects Keegan will "be out before Christmas". And so on. Keegan repeatedly referred to a "lack of confidence" and admitted there had been internal problems. He then pointed out that when he played for Liverpool, not all the players liked each other. "They don't need to be going for dinner together," he said. "We weren't all great friends at Liverpool." Perhaps it is a good job there are so many restaurants in Manchester.

How City's manager must envy United's spirit of togetherness. Every player bar Tim Howard ran to the corner flag to celebrate with Scholes after his deft header had converted Gary Neville's cross for the opening goal. His second was similar in many respects, ghosting between two players to head in another cross from the right, this time from Kleberson.

Scholes also instigated the move that led to Ryan Giggs crossing for Ruud van Nistelrooy to make it 2-0 with a cushioned header, but Keegan will have had kittens about the mix-up between Barton and Richard Dunne that gave him the ball in the first place.

United will now turn to Rio Ferdinand's Football Association hearing on Thursday and Friday over his missed drugs test, while City's next date is a home game against Leeds next Monday.

If the winless run extends to nine games, Keegan will face the sort of pressure that Gerard Houllier is under.