Michael Carrick has insisted that Manchester United remain in a good position despite suffering the first defeat of his interim reign.
Manchester United lost 2-1 at Newcastle on Wednesday night, with William Osula’s 90th-minute winner sealing success for the home side at St James’ Park.
Carrick’s side produced a poor performance and failed to take advantage of Jacob Ramsey’s first-half red card for the Magpies. Despite their man advantage, the Red Devils were second best and struggled to get their frontline into the game.
After a first league defeat since December, Carrick claimed there are lessons to learn for his team in the chase for Champions League qualification.
“It was just the quality and the performance; it wasn’t character or wanting to win or anything like that. It’s easy to throw that in, just because you don’t win a game of football.
“Credit to Newcastle, they deserve to win tonight, so it hurts me to say that, but that’s how it was, and we need to get back to working and be better for the next game.
“There’s lessons in it, and we need to learn together as a group. We’ve got time to look at it and improve.”
Carrick issued a sharp response to one journalist who questioned the club’s character in the after-math of their setback at St James’.
“We’ve lost one game, alright? So, we haven’t played well enough, but, in the grand scheme of things, we’re in a decent position, you know? So, tonight hurts because we don’t like losing games, but we’ll be better for the next one.”
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