Casey Stoney responds to Manchester United mauling in WSL derby

Manchester United manager Casey Stoney was left lamenting her side's defending following their 3-0 loss to rivals Manchester City on Friday evening.

Having conceded twice from set pieces during last weekend's surprise loss to Reading, United were again outdone by a corner as Lucy Bronze gave City a 1-0 first half lead.

The Red Devils then failed to clear and played themselves into trouble in the build up to Lauren Hemp doubling City's advantage, before Caroline Weir wrapped up the win with a wonder goal.

"You don't get the basics right, you're going to get punished," Stoney told United's officialTwitter account at full time. "Another set piece, poor second phase; you've got to have more desire to go and win the ball than they have. They had more desire to win the ball in our box which is disappointing, that should never happen.

"Second goal, we nod it down to them in our defensive phase and put them back on the attack, and actually we should have probably defended the first phase better.

"And third goal we don't secure the ball - listen it's a great finish, you can't take anything away from the finish but I don't think we got our basics right.

"Lot of lessons for us but it doesn't change our ambitions of finishing in the top three. Don’t forget we never had any aspirations to win the title from the start of the season, but qualification for the Champions League is still very much in our hands."

Leah Galton had half a chance for United in the first half but opted to cross instead of go for goal herself, while Christen Press was twice thwarted by Ellie Roebuck in the second half - and Stoney rued her side's decision making in possession.

“We made the wrong decisions when we were on the ball, and in the end the game has got away from us," she added (via the FA.com). "We didn’t put the pressure on enough, but I won’t use the cold weather or the conditions as an excuse for that.

“It’s about needing to improve, though. That final touch, that final ball, wasn’t really good enough tonight.”