• Premier League

Moyes' mistakes hit him hard

David Moyes has been left hurting by the mistakes he has made in a dismal first season at Manchester United.

United are seventh in the Premier League before tonight's derby against Manchester City at Old Trafford with their title defence a fading memory.

The club have won just once, losing seven times, against teams in the top nine in the league, and Moyes has conceded the record isn't good enough.

"They have definitely hurt," Moyes said of the "punches" he has taken this season. "They have hurt more because I joined Manchester United with big expectations myself - that I was coming to the winning football club.

"I've got a winning mentality and that's what I wanted to do, so I'm disappointed with myself and I'm disappointed that we've been unable to do that. But it has not been for the want of trying, that's for sure."

Liverpool are the latest team to leave Old Trafford with all three points after securing a 3-0 win earlier this month.

West Brom, Everton and Newcastle all ended long waits for victories at United this season, while Tottenham also shocked Moyes' side as they had to roll with the blows.

"Look, it wouldn't be right to say that there are things you wouldn't maybe look at in a different way," Moyes, who was criticised for clearing out United's backroom staff when he joined, said. "I've looked back at many things and I think most of the things we've carried out, we would continue to do so.

"I move on, but the first thing you always do is look at what you've done yourself and then move on and see if it's something I maybe could have done better.

"As it has been, we've not had the [good] performances as regular as I wanted and that's where we need to find that consistency where we can do that.

"It's important to win all the games. Big teams or small teams, you want to win them all. But we want to beat the top teams as well as the bottom teams."

Moyes has had to discipline defender Chris Smalling after the defender was pictured out in the early hours of Sunday but, after wins against Olympiakos and West Ham, is relatively bullish about his team's prospects.

He warned Manuel Pellegrini that the manager's boast about there being only one club in Manchester now could come back to haunt him.

Moyes also defended United's performances against title-chasing City, Liverpool and Chelsea this season, denying his side had been "flooded" in midfield against all three.

United lost home and away to Liverpool as well as suffering defeats at Chelsea and City.

"At half-time against Liverpool I think they had 240 passes, we had 240 passes; we had 51 per cent possession, they had 49 per cent possession," said Moyes.

"If you actually look back statistically, I don't think we've been absolutely dominated. We've lost the games - it depends which way you look at it. If you're going to tell me now that the stats were way in favour of one team I would probably show you that wasn't the case - that a lot of them were very, very equal."

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