Peter Schmeichel slammed three Manchester United stars as Manchester City cruised to a derby victory over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side at Old Trafford. Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions piled the pressure back on Solskjaer with a routine 2-0 win on Saturday.

Eric Bailly scored an early own goal after attempting to block a cross, and another defensive mix-up involving David de Gea, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire allowed Bernardo Silva to double City’s lead on the stroke of half-time.

While neither side scored after the break, Manchester City were by far the superior side and secured the three points having restricted the Red Devils to just one shot on target.

Manchester United legend Schmeichel defended De Gea’s performance and focused his criticism on Maguire, Shaw and Bailly as his former club endured another dismal afternoon.

“The second goal was a terrible goal to concede,” five-time Premier League winner Schmeichel told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“David de Gea couldn’t do anything initially, but my god, what are Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw doing on the back post?

“They should clear the ball. Maguire and Shaw both leave it, they both have the chance to clear it, thinking that either the keeper is coming out for it or that it’s going out for a corner. Oh my god!

“David de Gea couldn’t do anything about the second goal, it should have been cleared. The defending, I mean…

“Man City have been far, far superior and it could have been four. There’s a lack of willingness to do what you have to do – closing down, stop the crosses, the passes, it’s not happened.”

On Bailly, Schmeichel added: “We talked about this pre-game – what version of Eric Bailly will turn up today?

“He got away with a couple of similar situations on Tuesday, this time he didn’t. To allow City to get the cross in when you have seven players in the box is not good enough.

“Two players at the back post could have scored if Bailly didn’t touch that anyway, but Bailly should have easily cleared that for a corner.”

Manchester City’s impressive victory sees them climb to second in the Premier League, two points behind Chelsea who have a game in hand.

Solskjaer’s United, who have now lost four of their last six league games, stay fifth but will likely drop down the table by the end of the weekend.

• Tell / Metro report