‘We’ve lost one game, alright?’: Carrick bristles as TNT Sports reporter questions Man Utd ‘character’ | OneFootball

Michael Carrick didn’t take at all kindly to the “character” of his Manchester United players being questioned after they lost 2-1 to Newcastle on Wednesday.

Carrick had overseen six wins and a draw as interim manager, leading United into third place in the Premier League, before his nadir at the helm at St James’ Park.

United went behind when Antony Gordon converted from the penalty spot after Bruno Fernandes had tripped the Newcastle winger in the box but hit back quickly when Casemiro headed in Fernandes’ free-kick.

Newcastle were already down to ten men after Jacob Ramsey, who had already been booked for an early foul on Casemiro, was very harshly adjudged by referee Peter Bankes to have dived in the box.

The visitors failed to take the most of their advantage in the second half and got exactly what they deserved in the 90th minute when substitute William Osula scored one of the goals of the season, cutting in from the right touchline and curling the ball gloriously around Harry Maguire and into the far corner.

It was a lethargic and uninspired performance from the Red Devils, who have shown their fragility in recent weeks despite maintaining their unbeaten record under Carrick, and Paul Scholes took to social media to make his feelings on the downturn abundantly clear.

We can’t imagine Carrick will be too impressed upon hearing the thoughts of his ex-teammate, just as he didn’t enjoy Jules Breach’s questioning after the game.

Breach asked: “You’ve shown so much character in your games, why was that lacking?” Carrick swiftly responded: “It wasn’t. It wasn’t.”

An uncomfortable silence followed by Breach pushed Carrick on what he felt was lacking in the performance

Carrick added: “It’s easy to feel that just because you don’t win a game of football. Just general things, the quality.

“We’ve lost one game, alright? We haven’t played well enough, but in the grand scheme of things, we’re in a decent position.”

Carrick did though confess that his side were a way short of their best and was “bitterly disappointed” by their failure to “kick on” after Newcastle had gone down to ten men.

He said: “We’re not happy with the way we played the game.

“The way it panned out, it was in our hands largely, but credit to Newcastle. We navigated to a position where we felt we should kick on. We didn’t, really, so bitterly disappointed. I don’t think it was the 10 men; we just didn’t play well enough, and we can’t make excuses.

“Tonight is hurtful, but we’ll be back for the next one. You’ve got to get back at it and work hard and do the things to win the games we’ve won. We’re a good team, and we’ve got good players; tonight just wasn’t for us.”

Chelsea’s comfortable victory over Aston Villa and Liverpool’s shock defeat to Wolves on Wednesday means Manchester United in third and Liverpool in sixth are now separated by just three points in what is shaping up to be quite the battle for Champions League qualification.