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MANCHESTER UNITED midfielder Michael Carrick has rejected suggestions the club’s lengthy injury list can be used as an excuse for failure in their FA Cup fifth round visit to third-tier Shrewsbury Town today. Beleaguered manager Louis van Gaal has frequently blamed the club’s injury woes for an unsatisfactory campaign which has seen his own future at Old Trafford brought sharply into question.

Thursday’s Europa League defeat at Danish side Midtjylland was seen by many as the low point of the season for United and more embarrassment will await at the struggling Shrews in the FA Cup should United fail again.

But veteran England midfielder Carrick has insisted his colleagues cannot use fitness problems as an excuse and must reward United’s loyal fans with wins.

“Injuries are part of the game — it’s something that’s not ideal as we obviously want everyone fit, but we can’t make any excuses and put the Midtjylland result down to that,” said Carrick.

“We’ve to pick ourselves up and go again — there’s no other way.

“I think Monday’s (today) a different game but we need to be so much better than we were on Thursday night.

“We know what to expect but it’s going to be tough and Thursday’s game proves that if you’re not at your best then you can slip up, so we need to be ready for that.

“If we’re at our best, we should win the game. But it’s not as easy as that, as we showed on Thursday.” — SuperSport