‘We kept pushing. I don’t think that’s an issue, no’
Matheus Cunha’s 89th-minute goal rescued point
Michael Carrick rejected the suggestion that his Manchester United players lacked physical fitness after they snatched a last-gasp 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday. The statistics showed the home side ran a collective 6.6km more than United, whose goalscorer in the 89th minute – Matheus Cunha – was critical of his team’s efforts.
United were poor after the restart at 0-0, leading up to a Lisandro Martínez own goal in the 63rd minute, with Cunha saying they had to give more. “In the beginning of the second half, Fulham put in more energy than us and we cannot accept this,” Cunha said.
The draw was not the result Carrick or United wanted after a week during which they lost the derby against Manchester City and exited the Carabao Cup against Brighton; both matches were at Old Trafford. Carrick will take it under the circumstances and he tried to highlight the positives which he said took in the never-say-die spirit of his players. They fought until the end and were rewarded when Cunha’s shot from distance took a heavy deflection off the Fulham defender David Affengruber to wrongfoot Bernd Leno.
Carrick said he did not agree with Cunha’s comment about the collective energy levels. “I don’t, particularly,” the manager said. “The way we finished the game … it didn’t look like that for me. I was happy with the way we finished the game. We kept pushing. I don’t think that’s an issue, no.
“The response [to the own goal] was pleasing … the way we went about trying to get back into the game. [We] kept the ideas, kept the patience, kept the real purpose to it. We finished on a positive, which is a small step for us … without getting carried away it’s a good step. We came to take three points but at least we’ve taken something to build on moving forward.
“It has been pretty fine margins [so far this season] that have flipped it [the wrong way]. I know we can do better, we need to do better at certain things. But I’m not despondent and down because we’re showing some good signs.”
A section of the United support booed Carrick’s decision to withdraw Kobbie Mainoo in the 80th minute; the manager sent on Mason Mount in his place. “There’s always going to be certain reactions when you’re making changes,” Carrick said. “I understand. We’re chasing the game and everyone’s a little bit emotional. I don’t take any negatives or offence to it.”
Carrick was asked whether he felt a certain deflation among the fans, who have been expecting a big season from United. “It’s still a big season ahead,” he said. “It’s a long season and you’re going to have spells through it. That’s part of the journey.
“I’m not playing it down. We wanted more points. I’m not saying everything’s great. I understand the frustration. But deflation is certainly not what we have within the club. The players didn’t have that on the pitch today and that’s what will carry us through the season.”
The Fulham manager, Álvaro Arbeloa, was unhappy with the officials and he said they did not want United to lose after what had happened in the City game last Sunday when Erling Haaland’s winner was allowed to stand despite his teammate, Enzo Fernández, being in an offside position.
Arbeloa highlighted what he said was a soft free-kick in Harry Maguire’s favour on halfway, which came 35 seconds before Cunha’s equaliser. Maguire felt the contact from the Fulham substitute, César Palacios.
“All the fouls for them,” Arbeloa said to Sky Sports straight after the game. “You can see before they scored, the foul against Maguire … he’s a guy who is 100 kilos. Every decision was for them. And I knew. I knew after the game against Man City that they [would not] let Manchester United lose here.”
Arbeloa rowed back on his comments in his main press conference but still said he was “not really happy”.