‘No excuses’ for Man Utd’s performance against Milan, says Carrick

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick said there were “no excuses” for their below-par display against AC Milan, as they ended pre-season with a whimper on Saturday.

United led on two occasions but ended up losing 4-2 in Wroclaw, with Goncalo Ramos and Samuel Chukwueze both scoring and providing two assists for Milan.

Alphadjo Cisse and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were also on target for the Rossoneri, whose back-up goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani saved a penalty from Bruno Fernandes at 1-1.

Defenders Harry Maguire and Patrick Dorgu got the Red Devils’ goals.

The result marked a measure of revenge for former United boss Ruben Amorim, who left the Red Devils in January when they were sixth in the Premier League. 

And it was no less than Milan deserved after racking up 3.21 expected goals from 13 shots, compared to United’s 1.78 xG from 10 attempts.

With less than a week to go before United’s Premier League opener at Hull City, Carrick knows there is plenty for his team to work on.

“On the whole, pre-season has been very good, I think there are a lot of positives to take from it,” Carrick told MUTV.

“We’re disappointed with today. We didn’t play well, and there are reasons for that. We need to learn from it, we need to improve, 

“Some of the boys were playing their first minutes. There are different reasons, anyway. There are no excuses, we just didn’t play very well.”

Not good enough today but plenty of belief heading into our 2026/27 opener 

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 15, 2026

Carrick brought Marcus Rashford on for his first United appearance since December 2024 in the second half, after Barcelona neglected to make his loan move permanent.

But the United boss would not be drawn on the nature of Rashford’s role in 2026-27, instead saying all his players needed to get minutes in the bank. 

“A lot of the boys will be better for the minutes,” Carrick said. “We’ve got a good squad, so there are decisions to be made.”

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