Carrick denies Man Utd were passive against Fulham as Neville makes 'mannequin' jibe

Michael Carrick refuted suggestions that his Manchester United team were too passive following their 1-1 draw with Fulham.

When Senne Lammens parried Calvin Bassey's shot against Lisandro Martinez and into the Red Devils' net in the 63rd minute, Carrick's men were staring at a third straight defeat in all competitions.

However, with just one minute of the 90 remaining, Matheus Cunha's long-range strike took a fortunate deflection off David Affengruber and beat Bernd Leno, sending United into the extended international break with a draw.

But there will still be plenty for Carrick to mull over during the three-week hiatus, as United's five points this season are their joint-fewest after five games of a Premier League season (also in 2014-15).

In his role as a Sky Sports pundit, ex-United full-back Gary Neville likened their out-of-possession work to "mannequins", but Carrick disagreed with his former team-mate.

Asked if he felt United were too passive, Carrick responded: "I didn't think we did. Did you think we were passive? Football is a difficult game. 

"We controlled a lot of the first half, and we played a lot of good football today. There are going to be spells when you don't have it go your own way.

"The goal they scored, and arguably there is a foul at one point on Matheus, and it is two deflections. It goes their way.

"To expect total dominance for the whole game, I don't think anyone gets that in this league. We don't need to get carried away. It is not a big judgement call all of a sudden.

"We know we can be better, and we need to be better at certain things. We will be. There were good signs, and it will take us through the season."

Manchester United had 29 shots overall, their second-most in an away Premier League match since Opta data collection began in 2003-04 – they had 30 at Burnley this January.

The Red Devils have also hit the woodwork six times in the Premier League this season, with Bruno Fernandes side-footing against the post from a glorious position at 0-0. That is the most by any team in the division, and the most times they have hit the woodwork five games into a campaign on record.

"I thought we should've won the game; we created enough to win the game," Carrick said. "We had a lot of good play, and the goal we did concede. It was just one of those goals.

"I really liked the reaction and how we finished the game. It would be easy for it to go in another direction.

"We nearly won it at the end. We came to get the win; of course we did, but the way we finished the game is the positive we take from it.

"Their goalkeeper, the saves he has made, he was Player of the Match, and we hit the post. A lot of it was good. There are things to take from it, for sure."

After three weeks off, United will return to action at home to struggling Tottenham on October 10, with a Champions League trip to Atletico Madrid following three days later.