Michael Carrick issues verdict on Manchester United pre-season after galling Milan loss: 'No excuses'

It has been a summer of mixed results for United, with defeats by Milan and Wrexham in contrast with big wins over Rosenborg and Atletico Madrid.With just one week remaining before an opening match of the Premier League season against Hull City and injuries mounting, one would be forgiven for questioning United’s readiness for a campaign in which they will attempt to compete on four fronts.Carrick, though, is adamant his side is ready to hit the ground running, even if he admits the performance against Milan was subpar.Speaking to MUTV at full-time, he said: "We're disappointed with today. We didn't play well today. There's reasons for that in some ways [but] we need to learn from it, we need to improve."Some of the boys were playing their first minutes. There's different reasons anyway. No excuses, we just didn't play very well today."But on the whole, we're ready for next week. A lot of the boys will be better for the minutes. “We've done a lot of work on the training pitch. I think the performances in the games have been pretty good. So, we're still in good spirits going into next week."Among those positives are the fact that Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans both completed the full 90 minutes, while Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez all came on in the second half to play their first minutes of the summer.United may be without the likes of injured pair Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko for their trip to Hull. It also remains to be seen whether Carrick’s squad will welcome in any further signings this summer.Read MoreAll things considered, though, he was adamant this had been a productive summer for United: "It's been very good. I think there's a lot of positives to take from it. A lot of the performances, I think the group has grown and got stronger."