Carrick: We All Take Responsibility

Manchester United vice-captain Michael Carrick insists that everyone at the club should take responsibility for the current run of defeats, following the 2-0 loss to Stoke City on Boxing Day.

Goals from Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic condemned United to their fourth straight loss and Carrick believes it’s the responsibility of the whole club to turn the recent disappointing form around.

“As a club, as a group of players, the staff and the manager; everyone is in this together. We have to stick together and win football matches. We all have to take responsibility for that, we are all in it together," he told Sky Sports.

“We are on a horrible run, it’s a horrible feeling, it hurts a lot and it’s hard to take. We are not playing well enough as a squad, we take responsibility for that, it has to be a lot better. When you are on a bad run, it’s tough, it’s hard to take.

“This is Manchester United we are playing for, it’s a special club and it's a privilege to play here - we need to do better, it’s as simple as that.”

Commenting further, Carrick admits the current spell is difficult to stomach, but says the squad must stay focused on turning things around, starting in the next game against Chelsea on Monday.

“For me I look at myself and say that I can do better. It starts from within; everyone must do that, we need to stick together and we need a win," he insisted. "You can single anybody out when you are in these situations, but the only way to get through this is to work hard, stick together and keep believing it will turn for us, and it has to turn for us in the next game.”

On where things went wrong at Stoke, the experienced midfielder believes the Reds' start to the match cost United at the Britannia Stadium.

“It was a tough game. We gave ourselves too much to do in the end," he admitted. "It was a bad first goal to concede and Stoke is a tough place to come - they have a good team. To start like we did, to go two down in the situation we are in is tough. We had chances in the second half, but it didn’t go for us.”