Premier League: Moyes wants United to hit City’s heights
MANCHESTER UNITED 0 MANCHESTER CITY 3
MANCHESTER United boss David Moyes conceded last night his team must aspire to match the level their “noisy neighbours” are at or risk falling behind the Premier League’s elite for seasons to come.
Two goals from Edin Dzeko and Yaya Toure’s late strike lifted Manchester City to second place, just three points behind Chelsea with a game in hand, and closing in on taking away United’s league crown.
United have lost 10 league matches this season, the most since the Premier League’s inception in 1992-93.
And Moyes acknowledges his team are a long way short of the level required to fight for trophies, with City their benchmark.
“We played a very good side, playing at the sort of standard and level we need to aspire to get to,” he said. “We need to play better, we need to come up a couple of levels and at the moment we are not there.
“We just didn’t do well enough on the night.”
In recent weeks City have struggled to replicate the free-scoring form shown in the first half of the season, which saw them surpass 100 goals in all competitions in record time.
However, five consecutive clean sheets has helped maintain their league form, and manager Manuel Pellegrini feels their solid platform will continue to edge City closer to the title in his debut season.
“I’m very happy with the defending, that’s five clean sheets in a row and we have a very balanced team at the moment,” he said.
“We know we can score lots of goals but we were compact and didn’t give them anything. We worked completely in attacking and defending.
“We have to play nine more games, so we can’t know how many points we need, but we must continue playing as we did.”
In a barnstorming start City took the lead inside 60 seconds when Dzeko finished from close range after Samir Nasri’s low shot had hit the post. It was the fastest goal scored by an opposition team at Old Trafford since the Premier League began, and only goalkeeper David de Gea stopped matters getting worse, palming away Dzeko’s effort at full stretch.
Dzeko doubled City’s lead on 56 minutes, stealing a yard on defender Rio Ferdinand to ensure he was first to meet Nasri’s corner and volleyed in at the near post.
In the final minutes Toure completed a miserable night for United, picking up James Milner’s deflected cross and firing low beyond De Gea’s reach.