Holland midfielder De Jong tackled his way to the man-of-the-match award only to see a vital point snatched from the Blues’ grasp and leave the way open for Tottenham to nip in.
But Nigel plans to be putting the bite on Europe’s elite after his World Cup campaign and insists that his hurting team-mates will be ready to duel with Arsenal on Saturday.
He said: “When you lose a big derby to a goal in the last 20 seconds, everybody is devastated in the dressing room. We can be angry or disappointed, but now we have to focus again.
“It wasn’t a good day for us. Of course, we kept believing that we could win, we had our chances. United played it very well and had more possession, but we had a couple of chances.
“The belief is always there that we can score against them - we’ve proved that already this season in the first three games. But if you don’t score you’re vulnerable at the other end.
“We’ll keep giving 200 per cent but we have to learn from that. We’ve a lot of young guys, but we do need to remind ourselves about these last-minute strikes.”
De Jong, yet to score in more than 50 City matches since signing from Hamburg, misfired with one of the Blues’ openings on Saturday but insists he will keep plugging away.
He admitted: “That isn’t my best ability and I’m trying to develop my shooting skills. Everybody knows I am the most defensive midfielder in the squad but sometimes you have to go on the attack. I’ll try in the last few games if I get the chance.”
