Senne Lammens says Michael Carrick has tried to hammer home that Manchester United’s season has not finished yet after an underwhelming performance against Sunderland on Saturday.
The Red Devils have been in good form under Carrick, but were below par in a goalless draw on the Stadium of Light.
The away team were without Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko through injury and it showed as Sunderland created much the higher possibilities and United managed only one shot on course.
Such has been the development since Carrick arrived in January that the Red Devils have already secured Champions League football for next season and look very prone to finish third within the Premier League.
Nonetheless, that is just not guaranteed and goalkeeper Lammense says Carrick has made it clear they have to perform of their final two games after a forgettable display at Sunderland.
‘It’s very essential to point out up and deliver in every game. We’re going to try to win every game possible. We wish to present back to our fans, who’ve been very supportive this season,’ Lammens told Premier League Productions.
‘The manager has got the purpose across to us that this season is just not finished.
‘We’ve got Champions League, but we also wish to finish third. We don’t wish to finish below third, we would like to maintain those other teams away from us. I hope – and I believe – our team thinks the identical way as me.’
Carrick was not critical of his side on Saturday, recognising that the changes to his starting XI had an impact.
‘We take the purpose. A clean sheet is at all times good to get,’ he said. ‘We’ve scored lots of goals this season and we’ve created lots of possibilities. It’s just certainly one of those games, you already know, it’s a troublesome game. It was an honest enough point and we nearly won it in the long run.
‘There have been some changes today and I believed, as a collective, the spirit and the attitude of the boys was really good.
“It’s easy to fizzle out after you’ve had a spell and also you come towards the tip of the season and also you’re really focused on ending the season strong. Was it going to be the right game? We probably went into it not expecting the right game and understanding the situation and the changes.
‘It’s what it’s. It’s not something that we want to overthink and definitely to not be negative about because there’s not so much to be negative about. We understand that we might be a little bit bit higher than we were at certain times today.
‘We’d like to maintain improving, keep working. Take the positives, play with the arrogance.’
Former Arsenal and England forward Paul Merson was not on board with Carrick’s assessment, feeling it was too forgiving after a limp performance.
With a few injuries seemingly damaging the team a lot, Merson fears for the way they are going to deal with next season unless they invest significantly again.
‘He didn’t sound correct. Whenever you’re the manager of Manchester United you might have to return out and say, ‘we expect to return here and win,’ Merson told Sky Sports.
‘It’s prefer it was an excellent result today. It wasn’t an excellent result or performance.
‘It’s worrying for next season. They will probably be within the Champions League and their squad looks shallow. [Mason] Mount playing in central midfield with [Kobbie] Mainoo, [Joshua] Zirkzee up front.
‘They need to take a position in players in the event that they wish to be in top 4 again next season.’
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