Carrick: The way we lost is incredibly frustrating

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick expressed his frustration with the referee's decision that led to Manchester City's winning goal in their 1-0 derby defeat. His team fell short at Old Trafford, despite playing with a numerical advantage after their opponent received a red card in just the 23rd minute. The match was decided by a contentious Erling Haaland goal, which VAR upheld despite significant doubts about offside and Enzo Fernandez's involvement in the play.

"I'm confused. We've implemented certain systems into the game; we have people in offices, with all the necessary screens, to make these decisions. What truly bothers me is whether this is the current interpretation of football. If this is the interpretation of the 'not interfering with play' concept, then the situation is genuinely concerning. It's an astonishing explanation," Carrick stated, bewildered.

"Certainly, this isn't the result we wanted. The manner in which we lost is incredibly frustrating because of the decision on the goal. I have to be honest – we should have created more chances and scored after that, but that ruling exerted immense psychological and factual pressure on the match itself. Allowing that goal completely shifted the momentum on the pitch," the Englishman continued.

"This loss won't define our entire season. It had a huge impact on today's clash, and this was an extremely important match, but we have many more games ahead. We must get back to winning ways. That's entirely up to us. But specifically, this refereeing decision today – it simply wasn't our fault," the specialist asserted.

"After the goal, the responsibility to attack and score was ours, of course. We had our good moments. It's never easy, but we should have done better. We've all seen it before – such key details in big derbies have a huge impact, and today that's clearly what happened. Honestly, I think we started the second half quite well, getting into a rhythm and looking dangerous. We will learn from this match, correct our mistakes, and move forward. We need to start winning again quickly," Carrick concluded.