Carrick takes blame as Man United blow 2-0 lead to crash out of Carabao Cup

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick called his side’s Carabao Cup exit “unacceptable” after they surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford — the first time United have conceded such a lead at home since 1976.

Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton staged a remarkable second-half comeback to knock United out of the competition and deepen a miserable run of form that has already included a last-gasp equaliser conceded to Everton and defeat in the Manchester derby.

“We can’t accept that as a group,” Carrick said. “I take responsibility for it. The game today for what it is, if we fully accept it, I totally take responsibility. We can’t put ourselves in that position after being ahead in the game and the game finishing like it did.”

Carrick, who was handed the head coach role in the summer on a two-year contract, insisted he is not feeling the weight of mounting pressure despite the club’s poor start to the season. “I don’t feel under pressure. Either way, that doesn’t bother me one bit. When we win, people say I’m doing a good job, and if we don’t win or we don’t get results, then a lot of it’s on me. So I accept that, I’m not hiding away from any of that.”

The United manager acknowledged that a series of small setbacks have compounded into something more damaging. “A couple of smallish things end up accumulating into, it feels bigger. It’s happened over a period of a couple of weeks where there’s a lot of frustration and disappointment around and we need to flip that and start winning games again.”

United travel to Fulham next and Carrick is demanding an immediate response. “We have to find the answers for Sunday,” he said. “Of course we can turn it around. We’ve got some really good players and it feels bad at the moment because we haven’t had a great week, or two or three weeks. But it doesn’t mean you can’t win another game of football quickly.”