Manuel Pellegrini is too straightforward a manager for mind games, he is probably just being honest, but the Manchester City manager ramped up the pressure on his opponents in the buildup to Sunday’s Old Trafford derby by insisting Manchester United have been title contenders ever since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down.

“Every year that United did not win the title I think they were able to do it,” Pellegrini said. “Even when they finished seventh they started out with the squad that were champions the previous season, so you cannot say they did not have a chance.

“United is a team that every year tries to bring in better players, to spend money, to be a big team. Of course, it is not easy when you have to replace a manager as experienced and successful as Sir Alex Ferguson, but United have not suddenly turned into a team that sells its best players. They always want to win the title and they are a strong team every year. It is not always possible to win the title in England, even with a good team, but United have always been in with a chance and, of course, that is the case this season.”

It is difficult to disagree with that analysis, even if the same logic could just as easily apply to Arsenal, Chelsea and City themselves. Yet United have not commonly been viewed as genuine contenders since Ferguson departed and things began to unravel almost immediately under David Moyes. As Pablo Zabaleta puts it none too delicately: “United were winning for many years but in truth have been struggling for two seasons now. They are still a big club and we have to respect them, but there are now two successful clubs in Manchester.”

Manchester United have not been struggling that badly. They qualified for the Champions League last season and managed to beat City 4-2 in the Old Trafford league meeting. But whereas City have strengthened since, started well and when everyone is fit have a side capable of outgunning most domestic opponents, the impression is that United are taking a more leisurely approach to regaining the supremacy of old.

Not only does Louis van Gaal keep preaching patience and pointing to his three-year plan, there is little pattern to be discerned from United’s results this season. They seem to be taking only small steps forward, when they move forward at all, and sometimes, as at Arsenal a few weeks ago, everything Van Gaal has put in place appears irrelevant when exposed to the pace and ingenuity of the best the Premier League can offer.

It is true that United bounced back after that defeat with a convincing 3-0 win of their own at Everton in the next match, though that result had more to do with the home side’s inconsistency than any sudden improvement in the visitors. After all the money they have spent United should be able to beat Everton, but to be blown away within half an hour at Arsenal suggests that not quite enough has been happening on Van Gaal’s watch to start agreeing with Pellegrini’s assessment just yet.

In fairness, Van Gaal will admit as much. He says he still needs to find more quick, creative players, despite signing two highly rated ones at considerable expense over the summer. Since then Memphis Depay has found himself dropped on occasion while Anthony Martial, ostensibly United’s most successful capture, has been shifted out to the wing to allow Wayne Rooney to take the leading role in the middle.

Martial must have been doing something right at centre-forward – he scored goals and won the player-of-the-month award for September – so why shift him? “It depends on who we are playing, and how I choose to set up the team,” Van Gaal explained. “Also we have different gameplans for different matches, so sometimes it is a new position for Anthony. That is the whole procedure we go through. Anthony is still looking for his identity, his own playing style. Young players are not normally consistent and that’s why I ask for time.”

Should United end up with some silverware on the sideboard at the end of the season Van Gaal will doubtless be congratulated on his thoroughness. If they do not, he is likely to be accused of overcomplicating matters. Martial has been surprisingly consistent for a 19-year-old in a new country and, though he has not exactly been wasted on the left, he would surely have a better chance of finding his own playing style if he was left in roughly the same position for a period of time.

Listening to Zabaleta on the subject, one might easily form the conclusion City would be happy to see Martial deployed on the wing. “I have been very impressed by his performances so far,” City’s right-back said. “He has had a big impact already and he has the potential to be one of the best strikers around if he continues like that. United have brought in some good players.”

So they have, but it is Van Gaal’s almost random way of rotating them that is the difference between the two sides in Sunday’s derby. When Sergio Agüero and David Silva are fit, which currently they are not, there is little doubt or argument about what constitutes City’s best team. While Pellegrini might shuffle players according to form or make minor tactical tweaks in certain games, supporters have a fairly clear idea of the lineup they are likely to see for any given game.

Van Gaal, on the other hand, still appears to be trying different options to come up with his best team, which after almost 18 months in the post could be considered indecisive. Decisiveness is supposed to be Van Gaal’s whole shtick but sometimes he gets it plain wrong, as with his tactics at Arsenal. This is a manager who is not easily satisfied – Van Gaal refused to describe last season’s 4-2 win over City as his favourite memory to date, claiming he would rather pick a game where United played well for the whole 90 minutes. Then, quite tellingly, he could hardly think of one. Liverpool, he suggested in the end, even though Brendan Rodgers’ dispirited side were hardly the most intimidating of opponents.

City go into Sunday afternoon’s game as favourites and deservedly so. They are above United in the table and have scored more goals than anyone in the Premier League. The question is what do United go into the derby as: title contenders or a team still in transition? Van Gaal talks of time and future signings, as if there is an unlimited supply of both at his disposal. A few more adverse results could quickly change that impression. Manchester is now the football powerhouse of the north. Liverpool and Everton are on the outside looking in. For this derby the real Manchester United need to make themselves known.