Lammens holds Sunderland at bay as Manchester United struggle without Sesko

Manchester United have played some exhilarating football during a stirring run of victories since Michael Carrick took interim charge in January, but this was not one of those days.

Having beaten arch-rivals Liverpool at a raucous Old Trafford last weekend to qualify for next season’s Champions League, this was a comedown from that great high and a sobering reminder of the task still facing Carrick to make United a major force again. Given that they made five changes, a lack of fluency was perhaps to be expected and the fact that United left disappointed not to have picked up an 11th win from 15 games under Carrick was indicative of their recent progress.