Carlos calls for a rapid response

Carlos Queiroz is urging the United players to prove their worth this week - and demonstrate the derby defeat was a rare abberation.

"It’s important to show in the next game at home to Arsenal that this result was a one-off," said Carlos Queiroz, speaking to MUTV in the absence of Sir Alex Ferguson.

"We need to show we’re ready to fight for the championship until the end of the season. We have a long race in front of us. On Monday we start again with the strong belief that we are still a good team."

Carlos cited Manchester City's tactics, and the wrong approach from United, as decisive factors in the defeat.

"That combination cost us - the counter-attacking attitude of City and the way we approached the game. I don’t believe we played in the right way. We had no tempo, no inspiration. We started the game with some anxiety, we tried to win the game too early against a team that is always well organised.

"It was not our day from an individual or collective point of view. It was very disappointing."

The assistant manager pointed to key players being away on international duty as another reason for a less than impressive performance by the Reds.

"We don’t usually like to emphasise these things but we had seven or eight players playing 90 minutes on Wednesday night.

"We cannot talk about that as an excuse but in my opinion, the players were affected. It always happens when the players play friendlies during the week - every time they come back they’re affected. Our players, especially some of our best players, were not sharp."