The Football Insider with Mikael Silvestre: Big challenges ahead for both Manchester clubs

In Premier League history there is no worse time to be a football fan in Manchester than right now – whether you are a Red or a Blue.

Manchester United is a football club that is broken from top to bottom and it is not just on the pitch where they are a million miles away from challenging for the title.

They don’t have the quality of squad and they don’t have the structure in the club that the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal have. The 3-0 beating they took from Bournemouth is just the latest demonstration of this.

The only way forward is to use this season to start again, play attractive football for the fans and get results when they can – such as the recent Derby win over City – to give supporters something to smile about now and then.

They did create chances in this game which is some form of comfort but they lost to the better team and I am afraid that is going to happen more often than not in the coming weeks and months.

Over at the Etihad the outlook isn’t quite as bleak, but I have never seen in my footballing life a championship-winning side fall so fast and so far as City have this season.

They look like they have no clear tactics, are losing challenges all over the pitch and in the final third have no ideas on how to get the ball in the back of the net.

The only target for them now has to be top four and I am sure Pep Guardiola is already looking to next season and what needs to be done in terms of squad rebuilding to get them back to the dominant side they have been.

There is no doubt the players look tired but that aside there is no reason Erling Haaland should still not be scoring regularly and at the back they look like they will concede when a team attacks.

Aston Villa are a decent side but City allowed them to play and if you do that in the Premier League you will lose – there are no easy games.

So is it all doom and gloom in Manchester?

The positive for me is that both teams have managers who are totally committed and will not rest until they get it right.

• Chelsea held by Everton in goalless draw at Goodison