Carrick admits Manchester United are hurt by Arsenal defeat

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick admitted that the side are really disappointed by the defeat at Arsenal and it will take them a while to recover.

United travelled down to North London top of the Premier League table. However, they didn’t play like that and were destroyed in the opening 20 minutes of the game where the hosts scored three times.

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Chilean international Alexis Scnahez netted twice while Mesut Ozil also scored as the German destroyed the United defence throughout. It was a horrible game to watch for United fans and one they can only hope the side learn from with Louis van Gaal angered by the display.

United didn’t play like they have in recent weeks with Anthony Martial the only bright spark. And Carrick, who started in midfield, struggled himself to make any impact and admitted after the game the start was key.

"“We just didn’t start well enough, or quick enough, and conceded goals,” he told MUTV, as reported by manutd.com. “When you concede goals at this level then it makes it difficult to come back. I think we improved as the game went on, but it just wasn’t good enough from us.“We are bitterly disappointed and will probably beat ourselves up about it over the next few weeks, but we’ll come back looking at the bigger picture. It’s a setback, but we’re still up there and just need to take this one on the chin, take whatever criticism comes our way and come back stronger.“It was certainly a bad day,” he added. “But as players and coaching staff we’ll analyse it and come back better.“I am hoping it’s a one-off, as there’s been no sign of that recently. We’ve been pretty good consistently, which is why we’re in the position in the table. We’ve had a decent start to the season. We have got plenty of time to put this right and there’s still a long way to go.”"

The three goals in the first half effectively killed off the game and it was a shock as Van Gaal’s side have been good with the ball. The Red Devils weren’t even allowed a chance on the ball as Arsenal pressed and forced United into mistakes.

That resulted in sloppy goals being conceded at the back but United did improve as the game wore on. The second half was encouraging as United got on the ball but they failed to create any good chances – apart from Martial’s strike in the 44th minute.

And Carrick believes that the side will bounce back with the international break helping the side refresh themselves.

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"“We just gave them a bit too much space and they played well and it came off for them,” he continued. “We did too many things wrong; you could go on forever talking about why things didn’t work, but we just didn’t start well enough, conceded the goals and gave ourselves too much to do.“In the second half we came out believing that we could get one goal and that get ourselves back in the game. It was a big ask, to score three, but if [Anthony] Martial’s chance had gone in just before half-time it gives us a better chance, but it was a good save. Second half we came out and were better, but we didn’t score and the longer it went, it was pretty much game over.“We want to bounce back and we are going to have to wait a while to do that. The last international break came after the Swansea game, so we’ve just got to go away, refresh and come back stronger again,” the midfielder added."

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