Mancini feels Man Utd are still the 'better' side

Roberto Mancini refuses to be carried away after Manchester City thrashed bitter rivals Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday.

"I still have big respect for United and for their squad. There are still four or five teams who can win the title and the season is long," said the Italian insisting City had not overtaken United as the Premier League's major power.

The margin of defeat was United's worst at home since 1955 and the first time they had conceded six at Old Trafford since 1930 as City ran riot, with Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko scoring twice and Sergio Aguero and David Silva completing the rout.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson confessed this was the "worst day" of his career but Mancini told the BBC: "United are still one yard above us and we can only change this if we win the title. After that it might be different but until then United are better than us."

Mancini also insisted that Balotelli, in the headlines after a firework went off inside his house on Saturday morning, can become one of the top three players in the world.

"If we want to talk about Mario as a football player, I think we can put him in the first five players in the world. The problem is that he is young and can make mistakes," he said.

"I hope for him, and for football in general, that the day will arrive when Mario changes his mind completely because after this he will become one of the best three players in the world like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo."

Mancini, who had been praised by Ferguson for the manner in which he tackled Carlos Tevez, appeared how his tactics paid off.

"If we had played with (defensive midfielder) Nigel de Jong, we would have played with only one striker and I wanted to play with two strikers," he said after starting with Aguero, Balotelli, Silva and James Milner all start.

"I watched three or four games United had in the last month and they conceded a lot of chances. Also we started the season with two strikers and played very well," he explained.

He did not read much into the margin of victory in a bid to refocus the attention of the side to win the Premier League title.

"I am satisfied because we beat United away. I don't think there are a lot of teams that can win here. This is important for our squad and I am happy for the three points, but in the end it is three points - we don't take six points."