MANCHESTER // Manuel Pellegrini conceded Manchester City have had a bad 2015 as their troubled year took a turn for the worse in a derby defeat.
City, who had won their four previous games against Manchester United, were beaten 4-2 at Old Trafford to record a sixth loss in eight games.
It was a setback that left Pellegrini complaining his players had only really performed for 20 minutes.
“We are not in a good moment,” the Chilean said. “We have a bad 2015 and a very bad week. I don’t understand why a team only plays so well in the first 20 minutes.”
Pellegrini felt his side’s heads dropped when they went two goals behind.
“Maybe it is something we can be concerned about,” he said.
“There are lot of reasons why maybe the spirit of the team is not the real spirit.”
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City took the lead through Sergio Aguero, whose late second was his 100th goal for the club.
But in between Ashley Young levelled and then crossed for Marouane Fellaini to put United ahead, Juan Mata ran on to Wayne Rooney’s pass to score a third goal that Pellegrini felt was offside and Chris Smalling headed in United’s fourth.
“We started very bad,” said United manager Louis van Gaal, who nominated Young as his man of the match. “But the second half was fantastic.”
It gave him, he said, his best feeling during his time in charge at Old Trafford.
United lead City by four points in the Premier League standings and Van Gaal said he believes they have shown they are the top team in Manchester again, citing a 4-3 aggregate score in the two teams’ meetings this season.
“This week the fans can go on the streets, hat up and say: ‘We are the better team because goal average is in our favour’.”
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