Maguire admits Man Utd played into City's hands during dismal 4-1 derby defeat

Harry Maguire delivered a frank assessment of Manchester United's dismal performance in the Manchester derby, admitting their inability to keep the ball cost them the game.

Trailing after just five minutes to a Kevin De Bruyne goal, United rallied and drew level midway through the first half through Jadon Sancho's brilliant finish.

De Bruyne put the Premier League champions back in front shortly afterward, before the wheels completely came off in the second half with City toying with United as Riyad Mahrez scored twice.

Ralf Rangnick's men were never at the races after the break, something Maguire attributed to United's failure to find spaces in behind City's defence.

'We had good belief at half-time,' the Manchester United captain told MUTV.

'We played the first half well, like I say, it was probably a 50-50 game in terms of both teams playing aggressive, both teams playing on the front foot.

'But the difference was, when we won the ball back off them in the first half, we were clean, we were good in transitions, we got on the counter-attack, we punished them a lot of times with finding good balls out wide and we kept the ball in their half.'

While United were well in the game despite being 2-1 down at half-time, their second half performances was utterly abysmal as they never even manage to lay a glove on City.

Guardiola's men thoroughly outclassed their rivals, finishing with 24 shots to United's five and 10 attempts on target to United's two. In the last 15 minutes, City had 92 percent of possession, prompting an exasperated Gary Neville to accuse United players of 'throwing in the towel' and 'giving up' in the face of the task ahead of them.

'Ninety-two per cent possession for City? They [United] have given up,' the former United right-back said while on co-commentary on Sky Sports.

'I get the fact that it's hard, they are playing against a top team but they are walking around the pitch. It's nowhere near good enough.

'I don't think the scoreline it's the problem, it's the response to going 3-1 down that's been the biggest problem for me. They have absolutely thrown the towel in.'

Maguire acknowledged United had played into City's hands by giving the ball away too cheaply in the second half and invited pressure they could not sustain.

'The second half comes and any time they put us under pressure we gave away the ball far too easily,' he added.

'It enabled them to control the game through possession and it made it difficult for ourselves to get up the pitch, and obviously they did what they do in terms of keeping the ball and they did that well in the second half. For me the most important thing is that we've got to look after the ball better.'