Carrick says Man Utd won’t ‘overthink’ lacklustre draw with Sunderland

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·9. Mai 2026

Carrick says Man Utd won’t ‘overthink’ lacklustre draw with Sunderland

Michael Carrick was not overly fussed after his Manchester United side failed to impress at Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

The interim head coach named a rotated team that beat Liverpool on Sunday, with rare starts for Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee among the five changes to his lineup.

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The result was a disjointed performance that failed to test the Black Cats’ backline until the latter stages of the game.

A point was the least Sunderland deserved as the Red Devils missed an opportunity to seal third place in the Premier League table.

“It’s a tough place to come,” Carrick told Premier League Productions. “They’ve had a good record here all season. We’ll take the point, a clean sheet is always good to get.

“We’ve scored a lot of goals this season, it’s just one of those games. A decent enough point and we nearly won it at the end.”

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Carrick says Man Utd won’t ‘overthink’ lacklustre draw with Sunderland

Asked how the changes impacted the game, Carrick replied: “It’s one game. It’s the time of the season. We’ve done a lot of good work and some changes today and I thought the attitude to the boys was really good.

“Today is a positive result in terms of the point. Was it going to be a perfect game? We weren’t expecting a perfect game. It is what it is. It’s not something we need to overthink and it’s hard to be negative.”

Carrick was forgiving of the subpar performances from those players who came into the starting XI.

“They’re not on trial,” he said. “As a team we could have been a bit better but we know what the boys can do.

“Everyone has contributed in such a good way, I’m pleased with the overall connection, communication and willingness to work for each other today”.

With Champions League qualification already secured, Man Utd could be forgiven for taking their foot off the pedal in the final few weeks, but Carrick wants to finish the campaign as strongly as possible.

“We gave everything this week,” he added. “We’ve got our last home game of the season that we will work towards this week. We look forward to it. It’s important to finish the season strong and I think today is a positive note for us.”

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