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Michael Carrick, head coach of Manchester United, has pointed to one encouraging aspect from his side’s painful 2-2 draw against Everton.

United looked set to take all three points in the closing moments, with Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko getting on the scoresheet either side of a goal from Tyrique George.

But substitute Ainsley Maitland-Niles changed the script. On his Everton debut, he smashed a superb long-range effort into the top corner to shatter the travelling fans and deny Carrick and his team victory.

United have now recorded one win, one draw and one defeat from their opening three matches of the 2026/27 Premier League season.

There is no doubt that United have not yet reached the levels they consistently produced under Carrick and his coaching staff last season, but the manager insists the downturn is not as serious as many are suggesting.

Carrick also spoke to MUTV and said he was especially pleased with his team’s attacking approach.

He told the club’s in-house media, “We’re disappointed right now. We came here to win and put ourselves in the position twice to do that. I knew that it was going to be one of those games that goes to the end, that’s how it’s been most of the times when I’ve played here.”

“We didn’t manage to see it out. It was two great strikes from their perspective, both in the top corner from distance.”

“They don’t go in too often but when they do like that, it’s tough for us to take. We put ourselves in a great position with some really good attacking play but to score two goals and not win away from home is really disappointing.”

Speaking about the positives, he added, “Some of the attacking play through the pitch was really good today. We know that we can do certain things really well and the attackers did well to score two goals. But to not win the game, that’s the disappointing thing.”

“It will be a totally different game on Thursday and then a totally different game next Sunday.”

“I thought there was a lot of good things today that we can move forward. There was good things from Hull that we took, good things from Ipswich, and there’s good things today.”

“There’s also things that we need to improve on, it’s ongoing work. We will get ready for Thursday.”

United are currently 11th in the table.