Manchester United's Late Collapse: Carrick's Frustration and Rashford's Fitness Concern
Michael Carrick admitted Manchester United’s 2-2 draw felt like a defeat – and then added a fitness worry over standout forward Marcus Rashford to an already bruising night.
United twice led but twice let it slip late on, and Rashford, who had tormented Everton throughout, was substituted after feeling “a bit of something”, according to his manager.
United lose control late on
United’s evening began with the kind of start every manager craves. Bryan Mbeumo cut inside and whipped a superb curling finish into the far corner, a strike that seemed to settle Carrick’s side and quieten the home crowd.
They carried that advantage deep into the game. Then the pattern snapped.
With seven minutes of normal time left, Tyrique George stepped up with a brilliant response of his own, bending an effort into the top corner to drag Everton level and jolt United out of their rhythm.
United reacted. The pressure told. Two minutes from time, Benjamin Sesko rose to meet a cross and powered in a header that looked, for all the world, like the winner. Carrick’s staff leapt, the away end roared, and United appeared to have wrestled back control.
But they could not see it out.
On his debut, Ainsley Maitland-Niles produced the night’s third outstanding strike, arrowing a shot into the top corner to make it 2-2 and rip away two points in stoppage-time drama.
By the final whistle, United’s players looked stunned.
Carrick: “Feels like a defeat”
Carrick did not hide his frustration when he faced the media.
“Yeah, we’re disappointed, bitterly disappointed,” he said. “To be up in the position we were in, [leading] the game twice and so close to the end. And all of the work that went into putting us in that position at different stages, to then come away like that leaves us… yeah, it’s not a great feeling.
“Feels like a defeat, bit of a cliché, the obvious thing to say at this stage, but we have taken a point and we can’t ignore that, but it feels like we should have a lot more.”
Questions quickly turned to United’s defending and whether the late collapses point to deeper problems.
“The mentality is there,” Carrick insisted. “I think there’s obviously things we need to get better at as a team. That’s two strikes from distance, really, two really good strikes from their point of view, so sometimes they fly in the top corner, and more often than not, they probably don’t, so there’s a little bit of that.
“But yeah, obviously we can’t ignore it. 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.
“Listen, I think that one strike from the edge, that goes in top the corner and changes the whole feeling, that few minutes. There’s, obviously, when you look back, there’ll be loads of little things that you can do a little bit differently, of course, but he’s put it in the top corner from well outside the box, so sometimes it’s one of those things.”
Rashford scare after electric display
For much of the night, Rashford had been United’s sharpest weapon. Direct, aggressive, constantly asking questions of the Everton back line, he looked close to his best again.
That made his withdrawal all the more surprising when Patrick Dorgu came on.
Carrick revealed the change was not tactical.
“Yeah, he was feeling a bit of something,” the United boss said when asked why Rashford had been taken off.
He was quick to praise the forward’s resurgence.
“Yeah, he’s done very well. As I said during the week, he’s done ever so well since he came back. I thought he looked really sharp again today and dangerous.
“That final little moment didn’t quite drop for him, but nevertheless, I thought he created really good opportunities, and there was a big threat throughout the game.”
Carrick also highlighted the growing connection between Rashford and Luke Shaw down the left.
“I think you’re trying to build those partnerships and combinations throughout the team, really, and they’ve played together for quite some time now and have an understanding. And it’s obviously up to us to build the understandings and combinations all the time.
“I thought we had that quite a lot through the middle of the pitch today at certain times, I thought we played some really good football through the middle of the pitch and obviously Bryan [Mbeumo] got his goal on the right, Marcus and Luke, were particularly dangerous down that side.”
“We’ll be fine”
Despite the late collapse and the questions over Rashford’s fitness, Carrick pushed back on the idea that United’s season is already veering off course after a strong finish to the last campaign.
“We haven’t started the season that bad, to be honest,” he said. “Yeah, yeah, but it’s not that bad, you know? We were a lot closer to coming away with three points today. That’s football; there are moments that we can deal with a bit better, but we’ll be fine.”
United now have little time to dwell. They open their Champions League campaign on Thursday at home to Sabah, carrying both the sting of two points dropped and the hope that Rashford’s “bit of something” does not become something far more serious.
