Carrick wants more clean sheets to turn season around

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick needs more clean sheets as he looks to change his team's fortunes, as they take on Como in the Champions League. The question that prompted it in his pre-match news conference at a rain-lashed Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium in Como concerned his side's failure to keep clean sheets. It was put to Carrick that it would help if United could manage some shutouts, and he was asked if he had figured out the problem. United have kept the opposition out just once in 10 games this season, against Azerbaijan champions Sabah FK last month. "There's definitely parts of our game we have to improve to make things easier.

I am fully aware of that," said Carrick, whose side take on Como in the Champions League on Wednesday. They managed six clean sheets in Carrick's 17 matches in charge last term, including two in their final three games. Prior to that they had only managed two all season, part of an overall tally of nine in 63 games under his predecessor Ruben Amorim. It is an extreme comparison given solid defence was the bedrock of Arsenal's Premier League title triumph, but the Gunners, who face Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday, have recorded seven clean sheets in 11 matches this season. Fulham's Josh King celebrates Lisandro Martinez's