Having succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson as United manager this summer, Moyes has now seen the champions win just two of their first five league games, with his team suffering potentially costly defeats against traditional rivals City and Liverpool.
United, without groin injury victim Robin van Persie, were accused by Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany of not wanting to win the game as much Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
After suffering the ignominy of being outplayed and outfought by City, Moyes admitted that he told his players their performance was not up to standard.
“I’ve made them aware of that,” Moyes said. “But if ever there was a group of players I’d expect a reaction from it would be a group of Manchester United players.
“I think the way they have been brought up, the way they have been bred with the manager previously, they react, that’s what they do, and that’s what we will do here.I just told the players it the way I would have told players at any other club if I don’t think they are doing it.
“They are good players, good pros, and they know when they’re bang at it and when they’re not. We’ll make sure we react.”
Having surrendered the title to United last season – a campaign which included a 3-2 defeat against Ferguson’s team at the Etihad Stadium – City captain Kompany insisted that the home side were more determined to emerge victorious.
“Maybe the game meant a little bit more to us than for them,” Kompany said. “We were looking forward to this fixture. But it’s too early to say it’s a defining game. You make a statement over the course of the season, but it would be silly to give away three precious points.
“When we won 6-1 at Old Trafford I said we need to stay humble. It’s only three points, but it’s a good game to win and it gives the fans something to celebrate over the next few days.”
City manager Manuel Pellegrini, like Moyes taking charge of his first Manchester derby, maintained his unbeaten record against United following four draws while manager Villarreal. But after guiding his team to victory, the Chilean claimed that the result could be a damaging blow to United’s morale.
“It could be very big,” Pellegrini said. “Winning against Manchester United and the way we did is always important. It was a very important result. You normally don’t expect to win 4-1 against United, but the most important thing after the win is the way we played. Maybe United couldn’t play better because we played so well.”
United’s defeat, one day short of the 24th anniversary of a 5-1 defeat at Maine Road, extended their run of failing to score from open play in the league since the opening day victory at Swansea.
Wayne Rooney’s late free-kick, which made him the all-time leading scorer in Manchester derbies with eleven goals, was the sum total of United’s attacking play and Moyes admitted to being concerned by his team’s failure to create, and score, more goals.
“Yes, a little bit,” Moyes said. “I thought we created a few chances later on in the game, albeit the game was probably won by Manchester City at that point. There was no reason for us not to perform well today, but it’s one game, there are plenty more to come and plenty of time for us to try to fix it.
“I think our squad is really strong. Obviously you miss Robin van Persie, it’s a huge miss to anybody, but I thought Wayne could arguably have been the best player on the pitch today. He certainly didn’t deserve to play in the losing team, that’s for sure. I thought he was outstanding and it was probably as good a Wayne Rooney as I have seen.”
United face Liverpool at Old Trafford in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday and Moyes, who admitted he has not yet considered whether to rest players for that fixture, admitted Van Persie could feature against Brendan Rodgers’ team.
“I don’t think his injury is that bad,” Moyes said. “We felt he was going to make it but he just felt something in his groin.
“He’d actually done some training in the last couple of days but he just felt it when he made any sharp movements and didn’t want to aggravate it so we took that decision.”
United, without groin injury victim Robin van Persie, were accused by Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany of not wanting to win the game as much Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
After suffering the ignominy of being outplayed and outfought by City, Moyes admitted that he told his players their performance was not up to standard.
“I’ve made them aware of that,” Moyes said. “But if ever there was a group of players I’d expect a reaction from it would be a group of Manchester United players.
“I think the way they have been brought up, the way they have been bred with the manager previously, they react, that’s what they do, and that’s what we will do here.I just told the players it the way I would have told players at any other club if I don’t think they are doing it.
“They are good players, good pros, and they know when they’re bang at it and when they’re not. We’ll make sure we react.”
Having surrendered the title to United last season – a campaign which included a 3-2 defeat against Ferguson’s team at the Etihad Stadium – City captain Kompany insisted that the home side were more determined to emerge victorious.
“Maybe the game meant a little bit more to us than for them,” Kompany said. “We were looking forward to this fixture. But it’s too early to say it’s a defining game. You make a statement over the course of the season, but it would be silly to give away three precious points.
“When we won 6-1 at Old Trafford I said we need to stay humble. It’s only three points, but it’s a good game to win and it gives the fans something to celebrate over the next few days.”
City manager Manuel Pellegrini, like Moyes taking charge of his first Manchester derby, maintained his unbeaten record against United following four draws while manager Villarreal. But after guiding his team to victory, the Chilean claimed that the result could be a damaging blow to United’s morale.
“It could be very big,” Pellegrini said. “Winning against Manchester United and the way we did is always important. It was a very important result. You normally don’t expect to win 4-1 against United, but the most important thing after the win is the way we played. Maybe United couldn’t play better because we played so well.”
United’s defeat, one day short of the 24th anniversary of a 5-1 defeat at Maine Road, extended their run of failing to score from open play in the league since the opening day victory at Swansea.
Wayne Rooney’s late free-kick, which made him the all-time leading scorer in Manchester derbies with eleven goals, was the sum total of United’s attacking play and Moyes admitted to being concerned by his team’s failure to create, and score, more goals.
“Yes, a little bit,” Moyes said. “I thought we created a few chances later on in the game, albeit the game was probably won by Manchester City at that point. There was no reason for us not to perform well today, but it’s one game, there are plenty more to come and plenty of time for us to try to fix it.
“I think our squad is really strong. Obviously you miss Robin van Persie, it’s a huge miss to anybody, but I thought Wayne could arguably have been the best player on the pitch today. He certainly didn’t deserve to play in the losing team, that’s for sure. I thought he was outstanding and it was probably as good a Wayne Rooney as I have seen.”
United face Liverpool at Old Trafford in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday and Moyes, who admitted he has not yet considered whether to rest players for that fixture, admitted Van Persie could feature against Brendan Rodgers’ team.
“I don’t think his injury is that bad,” Moyes said. “We felt he was going to make it but he just felt something in his groin.
“He’d actually done some training in the last couple of days but he just felt it when he made any sharp movements and didn’t want to aggravate it so we took that decision.”
