• Premier League

Rooney blames defence for derby woe

Wayne Rooney has criticised Manchester United's back four for their defending in their 4-1 derby defeat by Manchester City on Sunday.

Rooney scored United's consolation goal but only after Manchester City had struck four times and the England international was annoyed by the way his side failed to contain their local rivals.

Rooney branded the City goals "sloppy" and felt the timing of them was as disappointing as the manner.

He told MUTV: "It's not nice to lose to City by four goals to one. To lose by any score is bad, so we're all really disappointed."

"The way we conceded the goals, one just before half-time and two straight after, is not good enough. We know we have to improve on that, to stop giving these sloppy goals away and capitalise on some of our good play."

Rooney felt Yaya Toure's goal on the stroke of half-time was pivotal before City secured victory when Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri scored in the first five minutes of the second half.

He added: "It was a blow [City's second] but we still thought we could get back in the game. We've been two down many times before and we came out at half-time ready to get the first goal and that would have been game on. The way in which we conceded two goals so quickly killed the game.

"We knew at 4-0 that we obviously weren't getting back into the game but we had to keep fighting and pressing, trying to make a game of it to show the fans, and ourselves, the pride we have as footballers as it's never nice to lose."

"I thought during the last 20 minutes we played some good stuff. Had we done that earlier there might have been a different outcome, but it was too little too late."

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