(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
It would not be a stretch of the imagination to say Old Trafford is currently a footballing utopia for the millions of Manchester United fans across the world.
In one of the most highly anticipated, hotly disputed, evenly matched, incredibly dramatic Manchester derbies in decades, none other than Michael Owen stepped up in the 96th minute to hit the most dramatic of late winners to give United the bragging rights in a 4-3 victory Saturday.
Before the big game, the blue poster with the famous words of "Welcome to Manchester" accompanied by that picture of the ex-Old Trafford hero Carlos Tevez sparked Sparky (Mark Hughes) and Sir Alex Ferguson into their usual war of words.
It was the perfect setup to what pundits said was poised to be one of the most evenly contested derbies in recent decades.
And in the highly anticipated game itself, Manchester United were set up for the perfect game when Wayne Rooney danced through Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott to slot past Shay Given and give the home side a brilliant 1-0 lead with just two minutes on the clock.
It was a goal that emphasised the defensive frailties of Manchester City, as the Blues' defence just looked like money splashed all over the place.
A lack of communication and understanding between right-back Micah Richards and his £16m and £24m teammates in the centre of defence highlighted the need for these Manchester City players to "gel as a team" quickly if they are to achieve success.
All was looking good for United; they seemed slightly the better team, were looking comfortable in possession, and were causing City quite a few more problems.
But then in the 16th minute came the moment in which Ben Foster showed his true colours.
The ball came to Foster just outside of his area, and he attempted to turn inside and pick the ball up. Unfortunately, this allowed Tevez to nick the ball away from him on the left-hand side of the area and pass to the unmarked Gareth Barry, who had the simple task of slotting the ball into an empty net to level the scores at 1-1.
It was a mistake of indecisiveness that showed exactly why he is not yet ready for an England call-up. Imagine Foster being that indecisive in a World Cup quarterfinal against Brazil? England would stand no chance.
And in the build up to the goal, Anderson showed why he has not yet stepped up to the plate at Manchester United.
The young Brazilian was standing right next to Barry in the build up, and his late reactions and lack of effort allowed the England star to slot home completely unmarked.
Throughout the game, there was one word which completely epitomised Anderson: slack. Slack defending, slack passing, slack shooting, slack heading, and slack in his efforts to win the ball as he needlessly gave away free kicks and unnecessarily got booked.
After the break, United set the tone for what would become one of the greatest second-half periods in the history of Mancunian derbies.
The sometimes underrated Darren Fletcher proved why he is a vital asset to the Red Devils, this time not by making superb tackles and brilliant passes, but by heading home a looping Ryan Giggs cross three minutes after the interval, giving United a precious 2-1 lead.
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