Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has stated that he believes the Red Devils are still in a "good position" to reach the last-four of the Europa League, after Thursday night's frustrating 1-1 draw with Anderlecht.
Need to get in a better position
José Mourinho's side headed to Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in desperate need of some sort of the result, with United strongly stating their intentions to secure the Europa League for the first time and their passage into the Champions League.
It was another dominant performance from United but once again proved to be another frustrating night on European soil, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring for his fourth consecutive away leg midway through the first period.
The home side began to become dangerous in the second period, and the Belgians were rewarded for their pressure with Leander Dendoncker snatching a point with his late header.
"We need to get ourselves in a better position to make it easier for ourselves," Carrick told manutd.com after the game. "We’re getting in some great positions to make that final pass."
"One-nil would have been fine and a draw isn’t the end of the world," the midfielder admitted to the club's website. "But at the same time we’re better than that."
"We’ll take the draw and take it back to Old Trafford," the 35-year-old stated. "We’ll have to do it all over again."
"We're still in a good position going into the second leg," Carrick added, "But it's just frustrating."
Not getting carried away just yet
It is expected to be yet another crucial week in the success of United's season, having arrived back from Belgium early Friday morning ahead of Sunday's crucial Premier League clash.
United are set to kick-off what will be a tough period in their hope to break into the top four with the visit of champions elect Chelsea. The visit of the Blues will be the first of four sides from the top seven United will take on in the next six matches, but Carrick insisted that there is a chance of getting a positive result against Antonio Conte's side.
"We’re not getting carried away but if we played our best there could be a chance," Carrick said. "We can look to do something similar [to the performance at Anderlecht] but obviously get the goals as well."