Manchester United players must be honest with themselves like Nemanja Vidic used to be in order to bounce back from their defeat at Manchester City.
That's according to United great Patrice Evra, who pulled no punches as he said the players 'bottled' the trip to the Etihad Stadium. United went into Sunday's derby with confidence after beating Liverpool and Arsenal in a four-game winning streak but they were soon brought down to earth.
Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scored hat-tricks as the Blues hit their neighbours for six, with Anthony Martial's cameo the only positive for Erik ten Hag as his two goals saved his side some face. United must recover quickly with a crucial month of fixtures still to come in October and Evra says the players should follow the example of his former teammate Vidic.
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"The players have to be honest with themselves, their teammates, the manager and say they were scared and they bottled it," he told Betfair. "They didn't believe in the plan and they should admit it. Afterwards, the manager will know which players he can go to war with again.
"It's fine to admit it. I remember Vidic wasn't having great performances, he went to see Ferguson and said that he needs to train more because he wasn't at his usual level, then he didn't play a few games and Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling played. But, he had that honesty and this is Nemanja Vidic I'm talking about. So, they just have to be honest and then they can get over it.
"If nobody is honest with themselves after this game we are in big trouble. If they start to find excuses, I'll be worried that we'll be right back to where we were at the start of the season. It's all about honesty. We are fighting for the top four, but we will have to fight for every ball.
"United, can't look at themselves as beautiful. Maybe they were too confident before the game. This team has to play under pressure with their backs up against the wall, when they have that pressure, that's when everyone performs well. I think Ten Hag is going to have to remind them that they have to fight in every game. Against Liverpool and Arsenal they didn't dominate the match but they had that fighting spirit and an amazing counterattack.
"Some things like this happen in football. When we lost 6-1, I promise you the next day it was over and past us, we knew that everything City did was perfect. I remember we played Roma in the Champions League and we beat them 7-1. If you ask Sir Alex Ferguson, he will say that this was the only game in his career where everything went 100% to plan. This can happen."
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