Manchester United suffered a horrific defeat to Arsenal at the weekend. In the first 20 minutes, the Gunners went 3-0 up.
For the first half, it was as though Louis van Gaal had started in a 4-0-0-1 formation, rather than his usual 4-2-3-1. Arsenal were able to assault the Red Devils’ defence without any attempt from the midfield to prevent the attacks.
It was a shambles. Speaking the MUTV, Michael Carrick, who started in the Arsenal game, had this to say:
“We just didn’t start well enough, or quick enough, and conceded goals,”
“When you concede goals at this level then it makes it difficult to come back. I think we improved as the game went on, but it just wasn’t good enough from us.”
“We are bitterly disappointed and will probably beat ourselves up about it over the next few weeks, but we’ll come back looking at the bigger picture.”
“It’s a setback, but we’re still up there and just need to take this one on the chin, take whatever criticism comes our way and come back stronger.”
“It was certainly a bad day,”
“But as players and coaching staff we’ll analyse it and come back better.”
“I am hoping it’s a one-off, as there’s been no sign of that recently. We’ve been pretty good consistently, which is why we’re in the position in the table.”
“We’ve had a decent start to the season. We have got plenty of time to put this right and there’s still a long way to go.”
Despite the terrible start, Carrick was encouraged by the second half:
“We just gave them a bit too much space and they played well and it came off for them,”
“We did too many things wrong; you could go on forever talking about why things didn’t work, but we just didn’t start well enough, conceded the goals and gave ourselves too much to do.”
“In the second half we came out believing that we could get one goal and that get ourselves back in the game.”
“It was a big ask, to score three, but if Martial’s chance had gone in just before half-time it gives us a better chance, but it was a good save.”
“Second half we came out and were better, but we didn’t score and the longer it went, it was pretty much game over.”
“We want to bounce back and we are going to have to wait a while to do that. The last international break came after the Swansea game, so we’ve just got to go away, refresh and come back stronger again.”
Manchester United’s weaknesses were completely exposed by Arsenal, and the only redeeming factor about the second half was that they didn’t concede any goals. They played as though it was still 0-0.
United will look to improve on their performance with an away trip to Everton, after the international break.
One reply on “Michael Carrick is “bitterly disappointed” ”
LVG ‘s team selection and tactics were at the heart of the problem and he needs to carry the can for it. As usual, he puts all the blame onto the players and that isn’t good enough. The way he lined up the midfield, played right into Arsenal’s hands.
For a coach who supposedly likes to operate with a small cohesive squad, he certainly does a lot of chopping and changing (regardless of injuries). United rarely show cohesion and rhythm, not to mention pace, and the disjointed effort at the Emirates was quite predictable once the the starting lineup was announced.