Ryan Giggs says Manchester United players to blame for poor form not David Moyes

Manchester United stalwart Ryan Giggs has placed the blame for the club's stuttering start to the season squarely on the players - not under-fire manager David Moyes.

Midfielder Michael Carrick, meanwhile, believes the best way for United to combat their present problems is to face them head on. United head to Sunderland on Saturday on the back of their worst start to a domestic campaign since 1989 and, should they get beaten at the Stadium of Light, it will be the first time they have lost three successive league games since 2001. Carrick insists the pressure has not been seeping into the Old Trafford dressing room, but he knows the reality cannot be avoided either. "You have periods, whether it is through seasons or through years when things don't quite go right," he said. "You just have to face it and find a way to get through it. You can't hide and go under. You have to respond. That is what we will do." United can take comfort from the knowledge they have not lost a league game at the Stadium of Light since 1997. They have emerged victorious on six of their last seven visits and, if anything, face a team who have been pitched into even more turmoil than United following the abrupt decision to axe manager Paolo di Canio. Yet Carrick accepts United cannot perform as they did against Manchester City and in the home defeat to West Brom last weekend. "Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on things," he said. "There are probably a number of reasons. "If you don't do enough things well in a game then you lose it. "I think we just get back to doing the right things, doing what we believe in. If we do that, in time we will be fine."