Carrick defends Man Utd after Everton draw, insisting their four-point Premier League start is “not that bad” despite late defensive lapses

Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick defended Manchester United’s start to the Premier League season on Sunday, September 6, 2026, after Everton fought back twice to secure a dramatic 2-2 draw at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool.

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Carrick’s side appeared to be heading for victory after Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring shortly after half-time and Benjamin Sesko restored United’s advantage in the 88th minute.

Everton, however, produced a late response that denied United all three points.

Tyrique George reduced the deficit with a powerful strike before Ainsley Maitland-Niles struck again to earn Everton a share of the points.

The result leaves United with four points from their opening three league matches, following an encouraging start against newly promoted Hull and Ipswich.

Despite the late collapse, Carrick refused to view the opening weeks as a crisis.

“It’s not that bad,” Carrick said. “We’ve got that close to coming away with three points today, that’s football, there are moments we can deal with a bit better, but we’ll be fine.”

United’s defensive record, however, remains a concern.

The Red Devils have conceded twice in each of their three league matches so far, raising questions about the decision to prioritise midfield reinforcements during the summer transfer window.

Youri Tielemans has started the last two matches, while Andrey Santos was dropped to the bench and Carlos Baleba was unavailable through injury.

Carrick acknowledged that United must improve defensively if the club are to turn promising performances into victories.

“Obviously we can’t ignore it,” Carrick said. “We need to concede less goals to give us a better chance of winning games, but we’ll certainly look at that and keep improving.”

The United manager also pointed to the quality of Everton’s goals, noting that both came from long range.

“I think there’s obviously things we need to get better at as a team,” Carrick said. “There’s been two strikes from distance really, two really good strikes from their point of view, that sometimes they fly in the top corner and more often than not they probably don’t.”

The defensive uncertainty comes with a demanding fixture on the horizon, as United are scheduled to face Manchester City at Old Trafford next weekend.

For Carrick, one of the more encouraging developments has been the return to form of Marcus Rashford.

The England international’s future at United had appeared uncertain after falling out of favour under former manager Ruben Amorim. Rashford subsequently spent the previous two seasons on loan at Aston Villa and Barcelona.

Carrick has welcomed the forward back into his plans, and Rashford again provided an attacking threat against Everton despite failing to find the decisive final touch.

“He’s done ever so well since he came back. He looked really sharp again today and dangerous,” Carrick said.

“That final moment didn’t quite drop for him, but nevertheless I thought he created really good opportunities and gave us a big threat throughout the game really.”

For United, the draw represents another missed opportunity rather than a disastrous beginning.

Carrick’s side have shown enough attacking promise to suggest that improvement is possible, but the repeated defensive lapses will need urgent attention before the visit of Manchester City.

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With only four points secured from three matches, the next few weeks could provide a much clearer indication of whether Carrick’s confidence is justified.