His manager and his team-mates were forgiving and understanding but Ederson was left “angry, disappointed and frustrated” by his Manchester derby mistakes.
The Manchester City goalkeeper, a paragon of excellence during his three years in England, was at fault for both of Manchester United’s goals in their 2-0 win, with Anthony Martial’s shot squeezing under him before his injury-time throw was intercepted by Scott McTominay, who struck from 40 yards.
Manager Pep Guardiola refused to blame the Brazilian, a view midfielder Ilkay Gundogan shared, but the German revealed the goalkeeper’s angst after arguably the most demoralising of his 121 City appearances.
“He’s angry, disappointed and frustrated, but it’s always about how you get out of it,” Gundogan said.
“It’s normal. At the end, you are a human being. Even though we are at the top level, we all make mistakes. Eddy has been crucial in so many games for us, and he is allowed to make mistakes. Unfortunately, this time they were punished, very crucially for us.”
Gundogan expects Ederson, aided by his colleagues, to respond with a return to form. “He will deal with that situation very well,” he added. “He has all of our support and I’m sure he will do much better in the next games.”
Gundogan was upset instead that referee Mike Dean awarded a free kick for his challenge on what he felt was a histrionic Bruno Fernandes, which then allowed United’s January signing to set up Martial’s opener.
“There was frustration about the free kick before the goal – it was not at all a foul,” insisted the City player. “I just touched the ball and he goes on the floor, shouting. I don’t even know if the referee saw it or just had a feeling that it was a foul. That was very disappointing for me, to be honest.”
In contrast, United defender Luke Shaw praised Fernandes, who has made an immediate impact in his brief United career. In five league games, he has scored two goals and registered three assists and the Englishman feels the Portuguese’s willingness to gamble has added creativity to United.
"At times we know he's going to lose possession, but we need those sort of risk passes that are going to unlock defences,” Shaw explained.
"He's been a brilliant signing so far and he's already come in with a few assists and a few important goals. Long may that continue. We will keep pushing him because there's so much more from him to come."
Shaw admitted he was surprised by McTominay’s late strike. The midfielder is scarcely renowned for scoring long-range goals and Shaw’s initial reaction was that he should instead look to use up time.
“In my head I was like 'why is he shooting? Run it in the corner!’” he said. "I think it topped off such an amazing game and a result I think we deserved.”
City are likely to finish second while United are in a tight fight for a top-four finish and Shaw claimed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had more hunger.
“It was so important - not just, you know, the points but the magnitude of the game and how big it is to everyone in this city,” he said. "I think if you look at it, maybe we wanted it more. I felt like we wanted it more.”
United are now unbeaten in 10 games, conceding only twice, and Shaw, part of that resilient rearguard, took encouragement from their defensive record. He added: "We're shutting sort of shop and keeping clean sheets, which is a very good positive, so we need to keep going."
