Herrera: Red Devils can’t go crazy after derby defeat

Jose Mourinho suffered his first Premier League defeat as Manchester United boss, but Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera admitted it’s the fans he feels sorry for.

In what was billed as another Mourinho and Pep Guardiola battle, it looked as though the latter had firmly got the better of his rival as Kevin de Bruyne’s cool finish and Kelechi Iheanacho’s tap-in after the Belgian hit the post put City in complete control at half-time.

But after City debutant goalkeeper Claudio Bravo dropped a free-kick, Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled a goal back.

That was before Herrera was introduced as a half-time substitute and although the Red Devils couldn’t find another goal, the midfielder insists it should be far from all doom and gloom around Old Trafford.

(John Peters/Man United for Getty Images)

“We lost the derby against our local opponents and our fans are going to face friends who are City fans. I feel sorry for them,” he said.

“We are trying to win every game but it cannot happen. We knew it [not winning] was going to happen sooner or later. Ideally it could have happened later but this is football and we are going to get stronger.

“City won the game in the first half. We cannot make excuses now. We just have to think about the next game and try to win at Feyenoord.

“We must look forward, be balanced in our minds and not go crazy – it’s only the fourth game of the season. But of course when you lose a derby against your local opponent it’s painful.

“The good things that I can take from this game is that even though it wasn’t our best performance we put them under pressure in the second half.

“They (City) wanted to finish the game from ten minutes after half-time, so we did some good things but we want to be champions and when you want to be champions you have to play well from the first minute.”

Herrera impressed pundits with his display when brought off the bench, and the 27-year-old is enjoying life under Mourinho.

“I know what the manager wants from me,” he added. “I am an energetic player, I can recover balls for the team, I can share my spirit with my team-mates and that’s what I tried to do. I’m going to be there when the manager wants me to play.”