Sport

‘Rooney was outstanding’: Moyes tries to take positives from Manchester United’s devastating derby defeat

By Tom Belger

Manchester United manager David Moyes has urged his side to put yesterday’s devastating 4-1 defeat to derby rivals City behind them and move on.

Goals from Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and two from Sergio Aguero gave City a 4-0 lead at the Etihad after only 50 minutes.

Wayne Rooney’s late free kick added a little respectability to the scoreline but Moyes knows the performance was nowhere near good enough.

The United boss told Sky Sports: “We’ll get better it’s a long season to go, so we’ll put this behind us and we’ll move on.

“We didn’t play well, they were better, they started much stronger, and much quicker than us.

“I think they got a grip of the game very early on and we never really got to grips with the midfield players in the early part of the game. We had to be stronger but we weren’t.”

Moyes’ attention now turns to United’s Capital One Cup game against Liverpool on Wednesday and Moyes is keen to put yesterday’s result behind him.

“You try and win the next game, nothing changes, we’ll be doing everything we can to win the next game.”

One positive Moyes took from the game was the effort of inform striker Wayne Rooney.

“Wayne Rooney’s performance was outstanding today he didn’t deserve to be on the losing side today,” he said.

Rooney’s late free kick means he becomes the highest goal scorer in Manchester derbies – though it will be little consolation to Reds fans.

United now play Liverpool at home in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday followed by West Bromwich Albion also at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Moyes is confident United will turn things around and get their season back on track. However the Scot will be sweating on the fitness of leading scorer Robin Van Persie who missed yesterday’s game with a thigh injury and is in doubt for the Liverpool game. 

Image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks.

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