Hard work the only answer to Man Utd woe - De Ligt

Matthijs de Ligt feels hard work is the only way for Manchester United to get out of their current cycle.

In terms of margin of defeat, United have not suffered a heavier derby loss than Sunday's 3-0 defeat by Manchester City since they were hammered 6-1 at Old Trafford in 2011.

It was yet another day when improvement in their overall play was overshadowed by the result, caused by a toxic combination of a failure to take chances and being too easy to score against.

"Do you see the difference? Do you feel like we're on the brink of that?" said De Ligt, when asked if the United squad were on the brink of gaining more confidence. "Hopefully, in the next game.

"We're working hard every day, so hopefully we can get there quickly.

"We have to improve as a team and hopefully get better but we have to prove it, otherwise it's no use."

United officials have repeatedly stressed they regard Amorim's appointment as a long-term project and nothing communicated in the aftermath of Sunday's loss is at odds with that.

However, with each damaging defeat, belief is undermined.

Few United supporters remained in the stadium to respond to the appreciative applause from the visiting players, who, it is clear, are hurting.

"I am feeling bad," defender Noussair Mazraoui told MUTV.

"I am disappointed in myself, in the team and disappointed for the fans that we couldn't bring the performance we did lately.

"A derby makes it more special and more emotional, so if you lose but you have played well and created the chances we have done in the last games, you can accept it.

"But this was just not good enough.

"It is hard to say [where specifically it went wrong] because you are always full of emotion straight after the game.

"I always try to calm down and try to analyse the game, otherwise, I will just point fingers and probably eventually it is not the guys or something that I point out now."