Carrick admits Euro task for United

Michael Carrick has admitted Manchester United have left themselves with a lot of hard work to do if they are to win their Champions League group after being stunned by Swiss side Basle at Old Trafford.

Basle were within a minute of a shock away victory before Ashley Young's header made it 3-3 and rescued a point for United. The Swiss team lead Group C with four points from two games while Sir Alex Ferguson's men have just two, and midfielder Carrick said the players had "no excuses" for throwing away a 2-0 lead.

He said: "It's not the end of the world but it's not ideal and we've left ourselves a lot of hard work to do but we are capable of doing that. It was a bit of a shock to find ourselves 3-2 down after being 2-0 up. But we've no excuses, we threw it away. It's not like us at all but I'm sure it's a one-off and that we will bounce back."

Carrick also paid tribute to Young, who was making his debut in the Champions League after signing from Aston Villa in the summer, for holding his nerve to head the equaliser.

"We expect it of ourselves to keep going to the end and that if we get a chance, we'll score," added Carrick.

"Thankfully Ashley put it away and we might even have nicked a win in the end when Berba (Dimitar Berbatov) had half a chance. But that was probably asking too much.

"Ashley has settled in quickly and bought into everything about the club and how we approach things. He's got bags of character, he's kept going and got his reward."

Ferguson has expressed his concerns about United's lapses against Basle, and the defence also looked shaky against Stoke last weekend, but Carrick is confident the Premier League champions will get back on track at home to Norwich on Saturday.

"I've no doubt that we will be ready for that game," he said.

"I'm not saying it will be easy by any means but hopefully we can put in a good performance and get the win."