Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has made his expectations clear with three demands after his side were held to a 1-1 draw by Tottenham Hotspur.
Another disappointing result
United’s awful start to the season continued as they were denied a victory by 10-man Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Dominic Solanke scored in stoppage time at Old Trafford to lift the North London outfit off the foot of the Premier League table. United looked on course to end a three-game winless streak despite being largely second best, after Bryan Mbeumo swept home in the 73rd minute of proceedings.
The Red Devils would have been even more confident after Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off for headbutting Luke Shaw five minutes later. But they did not kill off Tottenham Hotspur and were punished for it as Solanke stunned them with a header into the bottom corner.
The result means United have fallen to their worst league start since 1986/87, with just six points in six games. United remain 12th in the table, having won just one game this term.
Carrick spoke to the media after the final whistle and demanded that United do three things: be more streetwise, be stubborn and be stronger.
Carrick’s demands
He said, “I’m not happy with the amount of points that we have so far. I’m not hiding, there’s no hiding from that.”
“I think it could have been different for a couple of little things here or there, but the reality is the reality, we’ve got to accept it. We need to put things in a direction, in a positive direction quite quickly, that’s pretty plain.”
“We’re more than capable of doing that. Just got to be a little bit more streetwise in the moments and a little bit more stubborn and a little bit more stronger in seeing out certain things.”
“But we’ve been in good positions at times, other times we haven’t done well enough, but sometimes you have a real patch when it is going against you and things don’t work out as you’d want them to work out.”
The United boss continued, “That’s part of the challenge of working through it, and we kind of found a way through it today to then come out the other side right at the end. It doesn’t change my belief or the confidence in the players, you know.”
“We’re a really good team and capable of being a really good team, but we’ve obviously got to start getting more points on the board, that’s for sure.” Asked about dropping points against 10 men yet again, Carrick remarked, “Different types of goals, but it’s definitely something where, 10 men or not 10 men, if we’re ahead in the game, we’ve got to see games out.”
“Whether that’s taking the ball, whether that’s controlling the game a little bit more, looking after the ball better in their half and around their box and pinning them in a little bit, or whether that’s defending moments better. Certainly, we need to improve that.”
He stressed that he does not feel let down by the squad. “I don’t feel let down.”
“You can make mistakes and things go against you. I’ve made mistakes in games and it’s not so much letting everyone down.”
“We’ve all got standards and they know, they hold their hands up when something goes against them, so it’s not like everyone walks off into the distance tonight and everything is left on me. It’s not that at all. The players care for sure and I think you can see that with the way the game developed.”
“It was a challenging period at times in the first half and for them to work through that shows how desperate they are. I don’t feel let down by them for making a mistake. We’ve just all got to try and be better and it’s on me to help them get through it.”
On Carlos Baleba, who finally made his United debut, and the boos from the crowd, Carrick said, “When things aren’t quite going to plan, I understand the reaction at times. Obviously, it hurts, it hurts a lot. It’s not nice to go through, but sometimes you have to go through it. I care as much as anybody about this place, so sometimes you could say too much because then it overspills.”
“But it’s coming from a good place, really, and I understand it. But it’s not nice to have to go through that. I thought the players dealt with it well, to be honest, and used it, especially coming out in the second half. Even before the changes, you could see that we were starting to look more like ourselves.”
“We just had to make changes to try and freshen up that little bit more, which we got the benefit of, and it made a difference.”
“I think you can get that from a new signing, something fresh, I understand that. He did well, it was good to have him on the pitch. I think he helped, certainly helped.”
United are next in action on Tuesday when they go away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Featured image by Carl Recine via Getty Images
