Michael Carrick played down concerns that Manchester United‘s poor start to the season has been caused by a lack of fitness within the squad.
United needed an 89th minute equaliser from Matheus Cunha to salvage a 1-1 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday after Lisandro Martínez knocked the ball into his own net to stake the hosts with a lead.
Afterwards, Cunha said Fulham’s players “put in more energy” at the start of the second half before taking the lead.
But Carrick insisted fitness is not an issue, despite data from the game showing that Fulham’s players covered an extra 6km.
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“It didn’t look like that to me,” Carrick said after being asked about Cunha’s assessment. “I was quite happy with the way we finished the game. I thought we finished the game really strongly actually and we kept pushing.
“So I don’t think that’s an issue, no.”
The draw at Fulham leaves United on five points after five games — their worst start to a Premier League season since 2014 — and in 12th place in the standings.
Carrick admitted the start to the campaign is “not ideal,” but praised his players for finding a way back at Craven Cottage when it looked like United would suffer a third damaging defeat in a week after exiting the Carabao Cup at the hands of Brighton on Wednesday.
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“That’s a big thing, without getting carried away with it, because we’ve taken a point and we wanted to win, but it’s part of learning as a group,” said Carrick. “How we respond, what it looks like moving forward, what our reaction is, all that. That’s part of growing as a group.
“Definitely today it could have gone in a different direction — 100% it could have. I was really pleased with the response and I think that’ll help us a lot moving forward.”
United not head into an extended break for the FIFA international window and do not play again until a home match against Tottenham Hotspur on Oct. 10.
