United suffer crushing derby defeat

Sir Alex Ferguson tore into his Manchester United flops after their crisis season hit a new low with a crushing derby defeat.

Fergie branded his defenders "sloppy" and conceded the title race to Arsenal after this defeat left United 12 points behind the runaway Premiership leaders.

"This was a terrible result for us and nothing can mask that," said Fergie. "We were sloppy in defence and made too many silly mistakes.

"It's going to be hard to catch Arsenal now, so the most important thing for us is to just try and get our form back.

"We paid the price for defensive mistakes, but it's been like that for the last two months to be honest. We couldn't even do simple things like clearing the ball away."

This was the worst possible result for United after their Champions League exit to Porto. The FA Cup is now their only realistic chance of silverware - but they have to get past Arsenal in the semi-finals. This was only Fergie's third derby defeat in 24 games and United's worst loss to their rivals since a 5-1 hammering in 1989.

After this latest setback Fergie added: "City were far better than us and deserved the win.

"We've got two games before the semi-final with Arsenal and we have to make sure we step up a gear for that. The players have got to be aware of their responsibilities."

Goals from Robbie Fowler, John Macken, Trevor Sinclair and Shaun Wright-Phillips gave City their first home win for five months and their second at their new stadium.

Jubilant City boss Kevin Keegan said: "This was a fantastic result and just what we needed after the run we've been on."

The win, City's first at home since October 18, lifted them six points clear of the relegation zone.