Michael Carrick insisted that there were positive signs from Manchester United’s 1-1 draw at Fulham after Matheus Cunha saved his side from a third successive defeat on Sunday. Carrick’s men were moments away from a fourth loss in their turbulent start to the season when Cunha’s deflected effort spared their blushes.
United had fallen behind to a farcical own goal from Lisandro Martinez, whose miscued clearance deflected into his own net in the 63rd minute. With just one win from their five Premier League games, United head into the international break in disarray. Their lack of drive and desire at Craven Cottage was especially noticable compared to second-from-bottom Fulham’s work rate.
United only started to press hard after Martinez’s own goal, but remarkably Carrick was adamant that he had no complaints about their hunger. Asked if United were passive, he said: “I didn’t think we were. Did you think we were? Football is a difficult game. “We controlled a lot of the first half. It’s the Premier League and you will have spells where you don’t have it all your own way.
“To expect total dominance for the whole game, I don’t think anyone gets that in this league.” Beaten by Manchester City in the Premier League last weekend and Brighton in the League Cup third round in midweek, Carrick’s team could not afford another by the banks of the River Thames. That they came so close to losing again underlined the extent of their malaise.
Carrick tried to remain upbeat, claiming that United did enough to take all three points. “I thought we should have won the game, I thought we created enough to win the game. The goal we did concede is one of them goals. The boys could have thought ‘it is one of those days’ but