Carrick Disappointed But Remains Positive

Manchester United suffered a disappointing ending to a strong Europa League performance on Thursday as Anderlecht equalised in the 86th minute to cancel out Henrikh Mkhitaryan's goal.
 
Michael Carrick admitted the team controlled the quarter-final first leg in Brussels but got too comfortable and failed to kill off the match, as Leander Dendoncker headed home with the hosts’ first attempt on target.

United's captain on the night nevertheless felt there were positives to take from the match and is confident of completing the job in next week’s second leg at Old Trafford. 

"It's bitterly disappointing," he said. "We need to be more ruthless – it's as simple as that. I thought we played well in the first half but we were too comfortable.

"We need to get ourselves in a better position to make it easier for ourselves. We’re getting in some great positions to make that final pass. One-nil would have been fine and a draw isn’t the end of the world but at the same time we’re better than that.

"We’ll take the draw and take it back to Old Trafford and we’ll have to do it all over again. We're still in a good position going into the second leg, but it's just frustrating."

United dominated possession and chances at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium but only converted one of 16 shots on goal – Mkhitaryan’s close-range finish 10 minutes before the break after Marcus Rashford’s effort was parried.

"If we were struggling, there would have been a bigger problem to solve but there’s a lot of positives to take," reasoned Carrick. 

"We need that little bit of edge to take us to the next level to be successful. "I’m sure we’ll get there. We’ve got the players to do that. We'll stay positive and look forward to the next game, play well and hopefully go through."

United next face leaders Chelsea in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday and Carrick insists "anything can happen" as Jose Mourinho’s men return to the quest for a top-four finish.

"We’re not getting carried away but if we played our best there could be a chance," Carrick said. "We can look to do something similar [to the performance at Anderlecht] but obviously get the goals as well."

Carrick was speaking to MUTV and BT Sport.