Man City 4-1 Man Utd: David Moyes demands reaction from players

Manchester United manager David Moyes has demanded - and expects - an instant reaction from his players after the derby humiliation at Manchester City.

Moyes' first meeting with City since his appointment as United boss ended in a 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium.

"I've made the players aware of how I expect them to respond," said Moyes.

"If there was any group of players I would expect that from it would be Manchester United players. It is the way they have been brought up."

The Scot, who never won a Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Anfield in 11 years with Everton, said: "Every manager has bad days and bad results and I'm no different.

"I've been here with Everton many times and I don't think I have ever suffered a defeat like this."

Two goals from Sergio Aguero and one each from Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri gave City a 4-0 lead at the Etihad before Wayne Rooney's late consolation.

"We didn't start the game well," said Moyes. "I'm disappointed we didn't perform because there was no reason for us not to after a good result in midweek against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

"We were second to things in the first half especially, seemed to be a yard behind and we never seemed to get to the pitch of the game right from the off, which was disappointing because that's what we set out to do.

"It is one game. There are plenty more to come and plenty of time to fix it."

United were without Robin van Persie, who had a groin injury - but Moyes was delighted with the performance in defeat of goalscorer Rooney.

He said: "Robin is a huge miss for us but I thought Wayne Rooney was arguably the best player on the pitch.

"He certainly didn't deserve to play on the losing team. He was outstanding and back to as good a Wayne Rooney as I've seen for a long time."

Moyes has failed to emerge with a win from three key games in United's opening group of Premier League fixtures, drawing with Chelsea at Old Trafford and losing at Liverpool and Manchester City.

"We wanted to win more of those games," said Moyes. "We have to do that but maybe if these games were a bit later I might have had a better understanding of the players and the situation at the club.

"I think any manager taking over with the run of fixtures we have had would have found it difficult."