Reigning champions City travel to Old Trafford with the Premier League title seemingly out of reach following Monday's 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
That loss left Manuel Pellegrini's men nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea - who have a game in hand - in fourth place, a point behind Louis van Gaal's United.
Clichy told Sky Sports News: "[The criticism] is deserved. We knew it was going to be a difficult game on Monday as Palace are playing well since they changed the manager, but we also know a club like ours, with the objectives we have, have to win games like this.
"We're not hiding behind anything. We've heard some decisions went against us, but we don't want to hide behind this - the results are not there and we need to be better.
"The timing is perfect, because on Sunday we're playing against United, we've lost our second position, and we have a lot to make up to the fans.
"On Sunday night the city will be all blue or all red, and hopefully we can make it a great day for the fans.
"We know we have seven games to go - it's very little, but it's enough to make things happen. We've been there before.
"I'm not talking about winning the title because we are very far from achieving this at the moment, but if we finish strong and if we can stop losing points, who knows what can happen?
"Chelsea have to play big teams, United and Arsenal also, so we want to take it game-after-game and make sure we play the way we want to play, because when we play like this we can win against anyone."
