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Lesson to be learned from the Manchester derby

This season you can also play live, legendary football with Heineken Star Player. Play live with every UEFA Champions League match on TV and anticipate the outcome of live match moments to score. See video at the end for more information.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the atrocity which occurred on Sunday at Old Trafford, many solutions have been touted in order to prevent such a massacre happening in the future. However the loss itself wasn’t a massive surprise as we’ve lost our way in recent weeks and it is up to us to resurrect our season once again.

Although many people will point the finger of blame at Jonny Evans for his sending off as the beginning of our downfall, he was only partially at fault. Yes, Mario Balotelli outwitted him at the back but his dismissal was more the symptom than the cause of our loss. The main reason for our substantial defeat has been the lack of discipline by Patrice Evra.

His football, since the Champions League final of 2009, has been patchy and last Sunday, he was terribly exposed by the movement of City and David Silva’s passing. Four of the six goals conceded came from our left flank and the French left-back was neither here nor there as our rearguard simply disintegrated. The problem with left-back is, we have nobody else ready to step in for Evra. Therefore in January, we should be avidly pursuing a left-sided defender.

Besides Evra’s and Evans’ errors, the rest of our loss could be put down to pure bad luck. With Tom Cleverley unfit, we were seriously overpowered in midfield and the absence of Nemanja Vidic in central defence left an unfulfillable void in our backline. Therefore there is no need to mass panic although our Achilles heel at left-back needs immediate attention.

Before you go watch Manchester United visit Goodison Park and then host Otelul Galati at home for some Champions League action, watch Clarence Seedorf, Gianluigi Buffon, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Patrick Viera recreate some of the historic moments of the competition:

This message was brought to you by Heineken, sponsors of the UEFA Champions League, but it contains our writer’s opinion.