Michael Carrick has said he is "not hiding" from Manchester United's poor start to the Premier League season after they failed to beat the league's bottom side for the second consecutive game. Dominic Solanke's injury-time header for 10-man Tottenham cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo's opener, leaving United with six points from their first six league matches.
That is their worst start to a league campaign in 40 years, and pressure is mounting on Carrick after United conceded to teams with 10 men in two successive Old Trafford league games. Supporters booed the team off against Spurs, and the head coach acknowledged frustration is building while demanding improvements.
Carrick calls for resilience
"I'm not happy with the amount of points that we have so far," Carrick said. "I'm not hiding, there's no hiding from that. I think it could have been different for a couple of little things here or there, but the reality is the reality, we've got to accept it. We need to put things in a direction, in a positive direction quite quickly, that's pretty plain."
He added: "We're more than capable of doing that. Just got to be a little bit more streetwise in the moments and a little bit more stubborn and a little bit more stronger in seeing out certain things. But we've been in good positions at times, other times we haven't done well enough, but sometimes you have a real patch when it is going against you and things don't work out as you'd want them to work out."
Pattern of late concessions
United have now failed to beat Manchester City and Tottenham at Old Trafford after the opposition had a man sent off. It is three games under Carrick in total, after Newcastle were reduced to 10 men at St James' Park last season, only to score a last-minute winner.
"Different types of goals, but it's definitely something where, 10 men or not 10 men, if we're ahead in the game, we've got to see games out," Carrick said. "Whether that's taking the ball, whether that's controlling the game a little bit more, looking after the ball better in their half and around their box and pinning them in a little bit, or whether that's defending moments better. Certainly, we need to improve that."
