Carrick defends Man Utd players after disappointing draw with Spurs

Michael Carrick has insisted he does not feel let down by his Manchester United players despite their frustrating 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

United were forced to settle for a point against Spurs despite leading against ten men after Rodrigo Bentancur’s red card, but Carrick defended his players and said mistakes are part of the game.

“I don’t feel let down,” Carrick said.

“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.”

Carrick also admitted he is unhappy with United’s points return so far, however, and stressed the need for improvement.

“I’m not happy with the amount of points we’ve had so far, there’s no hiding from that,” he said.

“It could have been different for a couple of little things but the reality is the reality, we know we need to put things in a positive direction quite quickly, that’s pretty clear.

“We’ve got to be a bit more streetwise in moments, a little bit more stubborn and stronger.”

Despite the disappointing result, Carrick said his belief in the squad remains unchanged.

“Sometimes you have a real patch where things are going against you and don’t work out as you want them to but that’s part of the challenge, working through it.

“We kind of found a way through it today but then came out the other side right at the end.

“It doesn’t change my belief or confidence in the players. We’re a really good team and capable of being a really good team.”