Carrick urges Manchester United fans not to abandon season after 10-point gap opens

Michael Carrick has urged Manchester United supporters not to write off the 2026/27 season after a Matheus Cunha equaliser salvaged a point at Craven Cottage against a Fulham side that sat bottom of the Premier League at kick-off.

United have won just two of their first seven fixtures across all competitions — against newly-promoted Ipswich and Champions League debutants Sabah — and already trail Manchester City by 10 points in the league. The slow start has heightened anxiety among supporters who had expected the club to build on a sense of momentum coming into the campaign.

Carrick, however, was keen to push back against the gloom. “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. It’s not a sprint, it’s a long effort.”

He acknowledged the frustration without dismissing it. “I understand the frustration, of course I do, because we wanted to be better and we wanted to do other things. But deflation 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.”

On the game itself, Carrick felt United deserved more than a point, pointing to a string of missed opportunities and strong saves from Fulham’s goalkeeper. “I think we did a lot in the game to warrant winning it,” he said. “Their goalkeeper was probably man of the match with the saves that he made. We hit the post a couple of times and we should have been ahead.”

Fulham’s goal came from an own goal during a spell of second-half pressure, but Carrick drew encouragement from the manner of United’s response. “The way we went about trying to get back into the game — kept the ideas, kept the patience, but kept the real purpose to it,” he said. “It’s a small step for us without getting carried away, but it’s a good step.”

United now head into the first international break of the season with five points from five Premier League games, and Carrick will hope the fortnight’s pause provides an opportunity to reset before a run of fixtures that could define the early shape of their campaign.