City lost 2-0 at Old Trafford, following goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.
“We played some good stuff and losing hurts us and the supporters but you have to get over it and you have to become stronger through adversity,” he told the Manchester Evening News.
“It is important to learn from such games. They scored two goals, made things difficult for us and so we take the lessons from it and move on.
“United showed us respect because they picked all their best players in the squad.
“They knew we could be a threat and couldn’t take us lightly but that is the difference at the moment between United and other teams, not just us, they have terrific strength in depth.”
He continued: “We were a completely different side than in my first derby earlier this season and I think United can get used to us getting better and better and some great clashes in seasons to come.
“We had a lot of possession and a lot of good combinations to our play on Sunday.
“We made time to construct the game but we couldn’t put a goal on the board first which might have made it a different contest. I doubt City have very often had so much of the ball in a game at Old Trafford.
“As a club and a team we are making progress and this season is just the beginning. Credit United for the win but in years to come there could be a different story to these games.
“The competition is going to get tougher for them. The difference was not that great.
“I am not saying we deserved to win or anything, and they won 2-0 which is a pretty clear result, but we had our chances in the game.”
