Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City: Statistics & Post-Match Quotes

MUFC PLAYER STATISTICS

* David de Gea (goalkeeper): 8/14 passing (57%), 2 goals conceded, 1 save

* Rio Ferdinand (right-center-back): 27/32 passing (82%), 0 chances created, 4/6 long balls, 0 tackles, 0 interceptions, 8 clearances (4 effective), 0 shots blocked, 0 fouls

* Phil Jones (left-center-back): 28/32 passing (88%), 0 chances created, 5/5 long balls, 8 clearances (6 effective), 0 shots blocked, 1 foul

* Rafael (right-back): 25/34 passing (74%), 1 chance created, 1/5 crosses, 1/3 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 1 successful dribbles, 2 tackles, 3 interceptions, 2 clearances (1 effective), 2 shots blocked, 1 foul

* Patrice Evra (left-back): 22/30 passing (73%), 0 chances created, 1/4 crosses, 0/1 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 1 successful dribble, 3 tackles, 3 interceptions, 6 clearances (3 effective), 0 shots blocked, 1 foul

* Michael Carrick (central-midfield): 37/41 passing (90%), 0 chances created, 1/1 crosses, 4/5 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 0 successful dribbles, 1 foul won, 6 tackles, 3 interceptions, 0 shots

* Ryan Giggs (central-midfield): 34/45 passing (76%), 0 chances created, 0/2 crosses, 6/9 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 0 successful dribbles, 0 fouls won, 2 tackles, 2 interceptions

* Danny Welbeck (right-winger | substituted off 80'): 19/25 passing (76%), 2 chances created, 0/1 crosses, 1/1 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 1 successful dribble, 0 fouls won, 2 tackles, 1 interception, 2 shots (2 on target)

* Ashley Young (left-winger | substituted off 90'): 26/40 passing (65%), 2 chances created, 2/6 crosses, 4/5 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 1 successful dribble, 2 fouls won, 1 tackle, 0 interceptions, 3 shots (1 on target)

* Wayne Rooney (striker | substituted off 85'): 22/33 passing (67%), 2 chances created, 0/5 crosses, 4/4 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 1 successful dribble, 1 foul won, 0 shots

* Robin van Persie (striker): 15/21 passing (71%), 4 chances created, 4/7 crosses, 0/1 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 0 successful dribbles, 3 fouls won, 4 shots (1 on target)

* Antonio Valencia (right-winger | substituted on 80'): 4/4 passing (100%), 0 chances created, 1/2 crosses, 0/0 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 1 successful dribble, 0 fouls won, 0 tackles, 0 interceptions, 0 shots

* Javier Hernandez (striker | substituted on 85'): 0/0 passing (0%), 0 chances created, 0/0 crosses, 0/0 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 0 successful dribbles, 1 foul won, 0 shots

* Shinji Kagawa (attacker | substituted on 90'): 1/1 passing (100%), 0 chances created, 0/0 crosses, 0/0 long balls, 0/0 through balls, 0 successful dribbles, 0 fouls won, 0 shots

POST-MATCH QUOTES

Sir Alex Ferguson | MUFC manager (courtesy of MUTV)

(Overall thoughts...) "We played well, no question about that, we played some good football. It’s a shame to have lost [after 18 league games unbeaten], particularly in a local derby game because you always want to win those. We’ve got seven games to go and it’s a healthy lead. But we’re not taking anything for granted. We just have to kick on. The most important thing is to try and win our next game. We’ve got Stoke City on Sunday and it’s a match we want to win and the performance tonight is a good indication."

(More thoughts on the game...) "I actually thought we controlled the game in the second half. A lot of these big games need a goal to open up and it opened up well in the second half, when I thought we played really well. It was a very intense game, both sides were really committed, there wasn't much in it."

(On Sergio Aguero's impact as a substitute...) "They brought on Aguero who's always a threat and maybe we can look at ourselves for the space we gave him for his goal but nonetheless he is a good finisher."

(On Phil Jones' performance...) "He was tremendous. He's a fantastic player, the boy. He's not had a lot of football at centre-back but today he's come in, into a difficult situation when some of the other centre-backs are injured, and, like we expected, he was very good."

(On other players who performed well...) "There were some terrific performances tonight – Robin van Persie was fantastic – so there were a lot of pluses in that respect."

(On the injuries to his squad...) "We’ll have to assess the centre-backs [Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, and Chris Smalling] as the week goes on. We’ve got six days until the Stoke game. Ashley [Young] obviously may be out. It looks a bad one – not serious – but I think he’ll miss Sunday’s game. We’ll have to hope we can get the centre-backs fit, particularly for the Stoke match because we know what it’s going to be like down there.

Phil Jones | MUFC defender/midfielder (courtesy of MUTV)

(Overall thoughts...) "There were a few sad faces in the dressing room after the game because it’s not one you want to get beat in. But we’ve got to keep our heads up. We’re still in a fantastic position. The title race is not over but we’re in a great position and the lads deserve an enormous amount of credit for putting us there. Hopefully we go [to Stoke City] on Sunday, bounce back like we always do and go on to win the league."

(On whether or not he should be credited with United's goal...) "It’s irrelevant, to be honest. If I score or not, I’m not bothered as long as we win so… we’ll wait and see."

(On the team's response after going down...) "We’ve done that every time we’ve been a goal down this season. We’ve responded well. We don’t want to be in that situation but when it does happen we do brilliantly to get back in the game. We did that again and we were full of confidence and had the upper hand and we got stung by a late goal. It was a very open game from the start and both teams were attacking. We played some good stuff at times but it wasn’t to be."

Roberto Mancini | MCFC manager (courtesy of City's official site)

(On the win...) "This win changes nothing because the title race is finished now, but it was vital that we won for the second position. We proved we shouldn't be 15 points behind, but they have been more consistent and won a lot of games whereas we have probably given away at least 8 points in games we dominated and that has cost us this season."

(Overall thoughts on the game...) "The goal we conceded was poor but after that, we focused and didn’t take any risks. We kept the ball well and responded well after United equalised and played better than they did. But we are happy because we played good football and played very well which is the most important thing. We deserved to win this game but we deserved to win the derby at the Etihad, too. Tonight we were the better team and won, in December we were the better team but lost – that’s football."

(On what the priorities are for the remainder of the season...) "We want to finish the season strongly and this win puts us seven points clear of third with a game in hand so we should be okay. There is still another seven games left but the gap between us and United at the end doesn’t mean very much because they could win it by one, ten or 18 points – it won’t change a thing. We are at least equal to United this season but they have scored more goals and I think that is the only difference this season."

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