“Hurts me to say that”: Michael Carrick delivers brutally honest verdict after Newcastle loss | OneFootball

Manchester United caretaker boss Michael Carrick has admitted that his players were simply not good enough against Newcastle, and that is why they suffered a loss at St James’ Park.

United defeated

Carrick was handed his first defeat since he was named Ruben Amorim’s temporary replacement in December last year.

Heading into the meeting with Newcastle, Carrick was on an impressive run of seven unbeaten games. He led United to six victories during his streak.

There was a lot of confidence that United would make it eight games unbeaten but these hopes were rocked in stoppage time of the first half when the Magpies were awarded a penalty after Bruno Fernandes was deemed to have fouled Anthony Gordon inside the box.

Gordon stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake despite Senne Lammens diving the right way.

United were given a lifeline when Newcastle were reduced to ten men, Jacob Ramsey seeing red for a second bookable offence. The Red Devils capitalised moments later as Fernandes made amends with an exquisite delivery for Casemiro, who headed home to make it 1-1 just before the half-time whistle.

However, United were uncharacteristically devoid of energy in the second half, despite enjoying the numerical advantage.

The team’s performance lacked the sort of urgency and intensity that has defined their play under Carrick. The Red Devils were made to pay in the 90th minute when substitute William Osula beat Tyrell Malacia and curled the ball into the back of the net.

United remain in third position in the Premier League table, but they failed to close the gap on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Nottingham Forest.

After the final whistle, a disappointed Carrick spoke to TNT Sports and shared his thoughts on the performance and the result.

Carrick’s verdict

Carrick said [as quoted by BBC Sport], “We are not happy the way we played tonight. The way the game panned out we had it in our hands largely but credit to Newcastle and they way they approached it, we knew it would be tough but we navigated the game to a position where we could kick on but we didn’t.”

“Bitterly disappointed really.”

“I don’t think it was the 10 men, we just didn’t play good enough. We can’t make excuses for that. We all take responsibility for that.”

“It was just the quality of the performance, it wasn’t character or wanting to win, it’s easy to throw that just because you don’t win a game of football.”

Carrick continued, “Newcastle deserved to win tonight, it hurts me to say that. That is how it was. We need to get back to work and be better for the next game.”

“We’ve lost one game, we haven’t played well enough but in the grand scheme of things we are in a decent position. Tonight hurts but we will be better for the next one.”

“You have to get back at it, work hard and do the things we did to win the games we’ve won. We can do that, we are a good team, tonight wasn’t for us.”

“We have to learn from it and get better for it. We had a lot of praise lately and the boys deserve it, this doesn’t change how we approach the next game. We’ve got everything to play for.”

United are next in action on Sunday, March 15, when they host Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

Featured image George Wood via Getty Images

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