Manchester United boss Michael Carrick said his side are making progress after they were held to a 1-1 draw at rivals Leeds in the Premier League.
Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half opener was cancelled out by Dominic Calvert-Lewin after the break to leave United on seven points from seven games.
It’s their worst start to a season since 1986 – when Sir Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford – but Carrick was pleased with the performance.
He said: “In little moments and spells we played some really good football. It’s a tough place to come.
“With the results we’ve had we weren’t quite flowing but there’s enough in there to take from it. We had to work for it. I was proud of the boys for the way they went about it in difficult circumstances. A point is a point. It is a step forward for us.
“It was a tense game, a tight game. It was kind of one of those games which could have gone both ways so we take the point and move on.”
Carrick started Lisandro Martinez despite his explosive criticism in midweek following the defeat to Atletico Madrid – but he came off at the break.
The visitors were more intense and organised, and Carrick was pleased with the togetherness shown by his under-fire players.
He said: “You’re looking at the togetherness, the spirit, the unit. I don’t doubt that within the group and they’ve shown that even more so in the last two days. They showed it today.
“It is clear they want to do well. They are a really tight group. Things haven’t gone our way. Some of it is to do with us. Some of it is a bit here and there and luck in moments.” The way that we went about it today gives me a lot of belief in us moving forward that we are a strong group and if we build on that with the quality we have got in the group already we will win football matches.”
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke felt his team deserved to win.
Leeds had five shots on target in a spirited display and end the weekend in seventh place in the table.
Farke told Sky Sports: “We are slightly disappointed it is just a point. Overall, I felt it was not necessary to be losing at half time but it is still Manchester United.
“Second half, we got the equaliser, we should have kept up the dominance, too many strikes went over the crossbar but it was overall a solid performance. We should have won the game but we move on.
“We took it as a compliment that we have done many things right over the last month if we were seen as favourites against Manchester Untiedbut we have earned this. We wanted to prove the comments right.
“We were the dominant side but we couldn’t capitalise as we lacked quality in and around the box.”
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