{"id":855031,"date":"2026-09-21T04:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/855031\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T04:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:08:12","slug":"carrick-disputes-cunhas-claim-that-manchester-united-lacked-energy-in-fulham-draw-manchester-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/855031\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrick disputes Cunha\u2019s claim that Manchester United lacked energy in Fulham draw | Manchester United"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Carrick rejected the suggestion that his Manchester United<\/a> 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\u00a0minute \u2013 Matheus Cunha \u2013 was critical of his team\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

United were poor after the restart at 0-0, leading up to a disastrous Lisandro Mart\u00ednez own goal in the 63rd\u00a0minute, with Cunha saying they had to give more. \u201cIn the beginning of\u00a0the second half, Fulham<\/a> put in more energy than us and we cannot accept this,\u201d Cunha said.<\/p>\n

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 circum\u00adstances and he tried to \u00adhighlight the positives which he said took in the never-say-die spirit of his \u00adplayers. They fought until the end and were rewarded when \u00adCunha\u2019s shot from distance took a heavy deflection off the \u00adFulham defender David \u00adAffengruber to wrongfoot Bernd Leno.<\/p>\n

Carrick said he did not agree with Cunha\u2019s comment about the collective energy levels. \u201cI don\u2019t, \u00adparticularly,\u201d the manager said. \u201cThe way we finished the game \u2026 it didn\u2019t look like that for me. I was quite happy with the way we finished the game. We kept pushing. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s an issue, no.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response [to the own goal] was really pleasing \u2026 the way we went about trying to get back into the game. [We] kept the ideas, kept the patience, kept the real purpose to\u00a0it. We finished on a positive, which is a small step for us\u00a0\u2026 without \u00adgetting carried away it\u2019s a good step. We came to take three points but at least we\u2019ve taken something to build on \u00admoving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been pretty fine \u00admargins [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\u2019m not despondent and down because we\u2019re showing some good signs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A section of the United support booed Carrick\u2019s decision to \u00adwithdraw Kobbie Mainoo in the 80th minute; the manager sent on Mason Mount in his place. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be \u00adcertain reactions when you\u2019re \u00admaking changes,\u201d Carrick said. \u201cI \u00adunderstand. We\u2019re chasing the game and \u00adeveryone\u2019s a little bit emotional. I don\u2019t take any negatives or offence to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrick was asked whether he felt a certain deflation among the fans, who have been expecting a big season from United. \u201cIt\u2019s still a big season ahead,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a long season and you\u2019re going to have spells through it. That\u2019s part of the journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not playing it down. We wanted more points. I\u2019m not saying everything\u2019s great. I understand the frustration. But deflation is certainly not what we have within the club. The\u00a0players didn\u2019t have that on the pitch today and that\u2019s what will carry us through the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fulham manager, \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa, was unhappy with the officials and he claimed they did not want United to lose after what had \u00adhappened in the City game last \u00adSunday when Erling Haaland\u2019s \u00adwinner was allowed to stand despite his teammate, Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, being in an offside position.<\/p>\n

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Quick GuideNeville says United ‘absolutely pathetic’Show<\/p>\n

Gary Neville branded Manchester United\u2019s early second-half display against Fulham as the worst he had seen in more than 45 years. Reflecting on United\u2019s lethargic, error-strewn start to the half, the Sky co-commentator called the period \u201cabsolutely pathetic\u201d, saying: \u201cI\u2019ve watched Manchester United since the age of five and that\u2019s the worst 15 minutes I\u2019ve ever seen. I\u2019ve never seen such a lack of effort. What must Michael Carrick be thinking?\u201d Guardian sport<\/p>\n

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Arbeloa highlighted what he said was a soft free-kick in Harry \u00adMaguire\u2019s favour on halfway, which came 35 seconds before Cunha\u2019s equaliser. Maguire felt the contact from the \u00adFulham substitute, C\u00e9sar Palacios.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the fouls for them,\u201d Arbeloa said to Sky Sports straight after the game. \u201cYou can see before they scored, the foul against Maguire\u00a0\u2026 he\u2019s a guy who is 100 kilos. Every decision was for them. And I knew. I knew after the game against Manchester City that they [would not] let Manchester United lose here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arbeloa rowed back on his comments in his main press conference but still said he was \u201cnot really\u00a0happy\u201d. The referee, Peter Bankes, gave Fulham the benefit of the doubt in the 86th minute when a Mart\u00ednez shot hit Calvin Bassey\u2019s hand inside the area. Bassey did put his hand up but it remained close to his body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Carrick rejected the suggestion that his Manchester United players lacked physical fitness after they snatched a last-gasp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-855031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}