Man Utd have had a disappointing start to the season ahead of the first international break of the campaign.
Harry Maguire and Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick urged fans to keep the faith that United can still have a good season
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Michael Carrick has urged Manchester United fans not to give up on this season despite admitting he understands why they are feeling deflated after a slow start to the campaign.
United came into 2026/27 with a sense of momentum but have won just two of their first seven games in all competitions, against newly-promoted Ipswich and Champions League debutants Sabah at Old Trafford.
A kind Premier League fixture list has yielded just five points from five games and United are already 10 points behind Manchester City, with fears growing that this will be another long and difficult campaign.
But Carrick did his best to rally the supporters after Matheus Cunha scored late to earn a point at Fulham, insisting there is still a long season ahead and that nobody inside the club is writing it off yet.
"It's still a big season ahead, to be fair," he said. "It's a long season, you're going to have spells through a season. That's part of the journey through a season. It's not a sprint, it's a long effort.
"Of course, I'm not playing it down, we wanted more points from it. So I'm not saying everything's great. I understand the frustration, of course I do, because we wanted to be better and we wanted to do other things.
"But deflation, I think, is certainly not what we have within the club and within the group. The players didn't have that on the pitch today and that's what will carry us through the season, without doubt."
Despite only taking a point against the team that sat bottom of the Premier League at kick-off, Carrick felt there were positives to take from the draw at Craven Cottage.
"Disappointed we didn't win the game, we come to win the game," he said. "I think we did a lot in the game to warrant winning it really, the opportunities we created. Their goalkeeper was probably man of the match with the saves that he's ended up making. We hit the post a couple of times. And we should have been ahead in the game really for that.
"Second half they had their little phase really and then the goal comes is what it comes from, an unfortunate own goal. And then the response after that was really pleasing. I thought the way we went about trying to get back into the game, even though it came late, I thought the boys did well with that.
"Kept the ideas, kept the patience, but kept the real purpose to it and got something from it, which finished on a positive note. It's a small step for us without getting carried away, but it's a good step. We came to take three points and at least we've taken something from the game to build on moving forward."