Michael Carrick reaction: What did the Man United boss say after a chaotic start and dramatic draw against Spurs?

It was a game of two halves – or three periods, as it were – as Manchester United probably deserved their 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, but the manner in which it happened will drive Michael Carrick crazy for the rest of the weekend.

MEN UNITED 1-1 SPURS — Updates, highlights from Saturday’s game

Below is the latest reaction from Michael Carrick, speaking after his side were beyond shocking for 60 minutes at Old Trafford, only for Bryan Mbeumo to save the day with a fantastic goal and Rodrigo Bentancur to seal the deal with a header over Luke Shaw minutes later. It looked like three points in the bag for Man United, until Dominic Solanke headed in the equalizer in added time.

This result constitutes Manchester United’s worst start to a league campaign in 40 years (12th place, six points).

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Michael Carrick reaction: What did the Man United boss say after a chaotic start and dramatic draw against Spurs?

“We were mixed (in the performance). A mixed game. We found the first half difficult, it was a difficult first half for us and you could see it just wasn’t quite there, there was no clicking in the little bits of the game, we were getting caught on the ball at times, a bit late with the press, we were leaving spaces. There were a number of things, really. We progressed through the game in the first half and we are came out much better in the second half. Much, much better in many different ways, to be honest There were so many different things that we needed to improve on and, to be honest, we did as the game went on. It’s a game we should kill (at 1-0), and we didn’t. We probably turned the ball over a little too easily at times and that leaves the game open, and it’s obviously a bad goal that kind of sums things up. Very disappointed to be in such a position and not to come away with the match.”

On the improvement of the second half: “I just thought in general, really, there were a number of things in the first half that we wanted to improve on and look at. Like I said, towards the end of the first half we were starting to look like ourselves and we weren’t like that earlier in the game. Certainly in the second half, I think in general everything went up a level and we looked a lot better for that.”

On Solanke’s equalization: “It’s disappointing to concede like that. No goal is good to concede. It’s another late goal that we managed to concede in different ways. We have led games, not to take all the points and everything looks very different, everything seems very different. We are making it a little more difficult for ourselves, but a goal is a goal. You have to accept that. We can defend the whole phase much better as a team and be much more stubborn and ruthless when seeing the game is finished.

On Bentancur’s red card: “I was just trying to get our players away from it, really, because it can escalate quite quickly. From what I saw on the touchline, it looked like a red card. I just wanted to get our players, especially Luke, away from it as quickly as possible. That’s all.”

On Mbeumo’s goal and performance: “Bryan did a great job. It was a fantastic finish again, he’s obviously played different roles for us but we know what he offers. He’s got good quality and obviously the more goals he scores the better. He’s doing really well for us.”