Nemanja Vidic labels Manchester United defeat to Manchester City as 'horrible'

The Red Devils' captain saw his side concede four goals at the Etihad

Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic has admitted Sunday's loss at Manchester City was a painful experience.

Vidic was part of a United side that suffered their worst defeat at the Etihad Stadium since 2004.

The magnitude of the loss at one stage looked like being so great manager David Moyes admitted he was forced to make a defensive substitution purely to try and keep the scoreline respectable.

It certainly does not reflect well on Moyes that United suffered such a heavy defeat so early in his reign, and has seen them pushed out to 9-2 third favourites to retain their Premier League title.

Vidic insists there is no added significance to the result because a new man is in charge, pointing out United lost similar games during Sir Alex Ferguson's time in charge as well.

But the Serbian did not enjoy the experience one little bit.

"It is horrible to lose the derby game," he said.

"It hurts. Trust me, no-one will want to remember this.

"It doesn't matter whether we are losing or winning you will always go back to that question, is the manager good? Are the players good?

"I am not looking at it that way at all.

"This is a club that has a history. This is a club that has players who have won so many titles and the players are all national team players. There is so much experience.

"This loss has hurt but the most important thing the new manager and the old manager said was that you have to bounce back and win the next game."

Moyes had expressed confidence both Vidic and Rio Ferdinand would have no problem both completing their first three-match stint in a week alongside each other since 2004.

The pair found it a struggle though, as did Chris Smalling at full-back given the lack of cover he received from Antonio Valencia.

In midfield, Marouane Fellaini was a huge let-down, completely overshadowed by Yaya Toure, whilst United failed to relieve the pressure long enough to exert any of their own on the City back four.

"We cannot be sad and feel sorry for ourselves," said Vidic.

"We cannot afford to do that.

"We have to stay true and improve certain things and then win.

"From the first minute they tried to be aggressive. They had more possession and we didn't really get in the game from the first minute.

"This is what we have to learn."

Vidic rejected Vincent Kompany's claim City wanted victory more.

Instead he focussed on that disastrous spell either side of half-time that brought goals for Toure, Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri and left United fearing an even worse defeat than the 6-1 hammering inflicted on them at Old Trafford two years ago.

"It was a bad performance in terms of our concentration in the last minute of the first half and the beginning of the second," he said.

"The timing of those goals didn't give us a chance. That was the worst aspect. It is the worst time you can lose goals.

"You lose belief when goals go in at these times."

A sizeable number of United fans are beginning to question Moyes.

Yet too much has been invested in the Scot, not least Sir Alex Ferguson's reputation given Moyes was his choice, for even a flicker of doubt to be felt amongst the Old Trafford hierarchy.

It is beyond question though that the early months of the transition have not been as smooth as United would have liked given their failure to strengthen during the transfer window and now damaging defeats to City and Liverpool.

And Moyes' assessment of the rationale behind Tom Cleverley's introduction in place of Ashley Young yesterday told its own story.

"We had to make sure it didn't get any worse," he said.

"Were we really going to score five? Probably not. We had to make sure we tightened up."

Having also masterminded a rather tepid draw with Chelsea, a first victory over top-line opposition cannot come quickly enough.

And, as luck would have it, he gets another chance on Wednesday when a Liverpool side bolstered by the return of Luis Suarez, head to Old Trafford in a Capital One Cup third round tie that has taken on far greater significance than usual.

"It is how we respond," said Moyes.

"That is what we do here. We move on. It is only one game.

"I always knew any manager would have found it tough given the first six games we have had.

"But we are ready to go on and I look forward to the next one."

PA