Carrick jumps to the defence of Sven

Michael Carrick insists Sven-Goran Eriksson can look back on his time as England boss with pride.

Eriksson was responsible for handing Carrick the first seven of his 13 caps to date and also handed the Manchester United midfielder a place in his 2006 World Cup squad.

The Swede left his job after guiding England to the quarter-finals, just as he

had done in the previous World Cup and Euro 2004.

For most pundits, the record leaves Eriksson open to criticism, especially over

his tactics in crucial games.

Yet Carrick feels such an assessment is unfair and comes from the heightened

and unjustified expectation surrounding the England team.

"Sven can be very satisfied with what he did for England," said Carrick.

"Reaching three quarter-finals is not an easy thing to do, history proves

that.

"You can't please some people until you win something. But England have only

ever won one trophy, so by no means should people just expect us to win things

pretty easily.

"Sven has been successful everywhere he has been, and I include England in

that."

Despite a clear affection for Eriksson as an individual, there will be no love

lost at Eastlands tomorrow as Carrick and his United team-mates look to record

their first win of the season at the expense of the Swede's new charges.

"We want the points tomorrow," he said.

"We want to get back to winning ways and put a run together. We want to be

sitting on top of the table not where we are at the moment."

After lifting the Premier League title in his first year at Old Trafford and

then seeing Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson and finally Carlos Tevez added to

Sir Alex Ferguson's squad, Carrick expected United to make a flying start this

term.

But a home draw with Reading last weekend, followed by Wednesday's stalemate at

Portsmouth has left the Red Devils languishing in the bottom half of the table.

To make matters worse, Wayne Rooney is out for two months after sustaining a

hairline fracture of his foot against the Royals, while Cristiano Ronaldo's

attempted headbutt of Richard Hughes at Fratton Park has earned him a

three-match ban.

It is not quite the script Carrick had in mind. And while the situation is by

no means irretrievable at such an early stage of the campaign, the dreaded

phrase 'catch-up' is already being used.

"We are frustrated and a bit disappointed because we expected to win both

games," said Carrick.

"You look at our performance and the way the games both went and we deserved

to win them. We certainly created enough opportunities but football is not

always like that.

"Overall, we are not too downhearted. We are doing things the right way. I am

sure they are going to turn for us but they need to because we don't want to be

playing catch-up.

"The start we made last season was one of the main reasons why we won the

league, so we need to start winning pretty quickly."

Carrick insists confidence is not a problem among the Old Trafford men, even

though, without Rooney and Ronaldo, United lack firepower.

Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remain sidelined, so Ryan Giggs will be

asked to provide the main support to Carlos Tevez, who is hardly the typical

lone front-man.

Carrick added: "It is a blow to lose Wayne and Cristiano.

"They are two world-class players and you cannot hide from that.

"But we can't afford to start feeling sorry for ourselves. The players coming

in are capable of winning Premier League games, as they have proved many times

in the past.

"Maybe the opportunity to rotate has come round a bit quicker than the boss

thought but we just have to trust each other and get on with it."

Tevez certainly has the talent to make an impact and proved with his assist for

Paul Scholes' opener at Fratton Park he could be a major weapon in United's

armoury this term.

"Carlos looks in really good shape," said Carrick.

"He has settled in fantastically and was brilliant the other night.

"The quality he has on the ball is fantastic and his movement is so clever.

"He has already shown glimpses of the reason why the club were so desperate to

get him. I am sure he will have a fantastic season."