Paul Merson disagrees with Michael Carrick's verdict and criticises Manchester United's performance at Sunderland
Manchester United were held 0-0 by Sunderland in the Premier League; Michael Carrick said "we'll take the point" but Paul Merson felt there were some worrying signs on show by Carrick's men
Saturday 9 May 2026 19:51, UK
Paul Merson disagreed with Michael Carrick's positive assessment of Manchester United's performance at Sunderland and is not optimistic for them next season.
United missed the chance to secure third place in the Premier League as they were held 0-0 at Sunderland.
Despite the result, Carrick was positive with the point which means United have only lost two of their last 15 matches across all competitions.
He said: "We take the point. A clean sheet is always good to get. We've scored a lot of goals this season and we've created a lot of chances. It's just one of those games, you know, it's a tough game. It was a decent enough point and we nearly won it in the end."
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Sky Sports pundit Merson was surprised by Carrick's positive post-match comments.
He said: "He didn't sound right. When you're the manager of Manchester United you have to come out and say, 'we expect to come here and win'.
"It's like it was a good result today. It wasn't a good result or performance.
"It's worrying for next season. They will be in the Champions League and their squad looks shallow. [Mason] Mount playing in central midfield with [Kobbie] Mainoo, [Joshua] Zirkzee up front.
"They need to invest in players if they want to be in top four again next season."
Carrick praises attitude - but calls for improvement
Sunderland will feel as if they deserved more on the balance of play as Noah Sadiki and Brian Bobbey were thwarted by some excellent goalkeeping from Senne Lammens.
Manchester United's only shot on target in the match came in the 92nd minute from Matheus Cunha, who was also booked for diving in the closing stages.
"There were some changes today and I thought, as a collective, the spirit and the attitude of the boys was really good," Carrick said.
"It's easy to fizzle out after you've had a spell and you come towards the end of the season and you're really focused on finishing the season strong. Was it going to be the perfect game? We probably went into it not expecting the perfect game and understanding the situation and the changes.
"It is what it is. It's something that we need to overthink and certainly not to be negative about because there's not a lot to be negative about. We understand that we can be a little bit better than we were at certain times today.
"We need to keep improving, keep working. Take the positives, play with the confidence.
"It's a tough league, it's a tough league to get results. Today, to take a point from here is okay."
He added in his press conference: "I still quite liked it [our performance], a lot of the things moved to give us the foundation to then be able to play better at certain times. But to take a point and a clean sheet for what it is, I think is okay."
Are Man Utd on the beach?
Carrick was asked about how to avoid complacency at this stage of the season when a team has already achieved their goal, aka, being 'on the beach'.
He said: "I almost get offended by that when people are accusing that. The way the players have prepared the game, the way they left the changing room, we faced a tough game, it's fine. I think if we weren't in a good headspace and motivated, I think we'd lose the game today.
"Sunderland played really well at certain points of the game and made us work for it. So I think the fact that our pride in ourselves and each other and the responsibility of playing for this great club and being part of it, certainly motivation and focus is not the reason whether we're going to be brilliant or maybe going to have a performance where it becomes a little bit more challenging, whether it's today or the next two games. That won't be the case whether that's affected at all."
