Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini denied claims that his side lacks spirit.

The Citizens were hammered 4-2 by Manchester United in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford which was another negative result for the reigning Premier League champions.

After the disappointing performance, Pellegrini spoke of his side's current state of mind and insisted that there is still a strong bond within the playing group.

"There are lot of things that maybe the spirit of the team does not seem the real spirit, but we must try to continue playing the way we did for the first 20 minutes, it is the same team," he said.

Sergio Aguero had City ahead when he knocked in David Silva's low cross in the eighth minute before United piled on the goals through Ashley Young (14th minute), Marouane Fellaini (27th), Juan Mata (67th) and Chris Smalling (73rd) before Aguero became the quickest City player in history to reach 100 goals with an 89th-minute finish.