Michael Carrick says first loss as Manchester United coach 'hurts'

Manchester United's unbeaten run under new coach Michael Carrick ended at seven games following a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United, who had midfielder Jacob Ramsey sent off in first-half stoppage time and scored in the 90th minute through substitute William Osula.

Carrick left St James' Park ruing the worst performance of his reign, with United finally losing after the former midfielder oversaw six victories in an unbeaten first seven games in charge.

"Disappointed obviously," he said. "Bitterly disappointed. It hurts that tonight. We definitely came here in good shape, looking to get something from the game, if not win the game and we're disappointed with the way it panned out.

"We can be an awful lot better. We've put ourselves in a good position, a decent position with the performances and the results that we've had, so tonight hurts."

It wasn't all bad news for Carrick and United on Wednesday, as results from other games -- including Aston Villa's loss to Chelsea -- left the team in third place, level with Unai Emery's side on 51 points but ahead on goal diference.

Carrick took over for Ruben Amorim in the middle of January, after Darren Fletcher had overseen two games as Man United coach following the Portuguese's sacking on Jan. 5.

The team's form since his arrival -- which began with wins over Manchester City and Arsenal -- has helped United inch up the Premier League table and into the Champions League places.

However, Carrick has maintained that his team are taking things one match at a time as it navigates the remaining matches of the season.

Prior to the loss to Newcastle on Wednesday, Carrick even went as far as to say a run at leaders Arsenal, who are now 16 points ahead of United, was not out of the question.

"I think we've just got to try and keep winning games and see. Above us now there's two fantastic teams. There's some really good teams in and around us," Carrick said on Tuesday. "We've had a good run, we're certainly not getting carried away.

"Of course, I'm being realistic about it. We have to win a lot of football matches for that to happen."

Next up for Carrick and United is a home game against Bournemouth on Sunday.

Information from PA and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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