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Michael Carrick has been speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Sunday at Old Trafford.
On the agenda will be the injury status of several key players, including Harry Maguire, Carlos Baleba, Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw.
Follow our live updates as the press conference unfolds. No need to refresh the page.
This event has ended.
13:30:51
On Sir Alex Ferguson's impact
Reporter: Afternoon, Michael. Uh, thought I'd ask you about something slightly different today. Sir Alex Ferguson, it is 40th anniversary since his appointment at this club. Just wondering, can you talk about what he was like 4 years as a player, but also what was he like as a person for you during your career, but since then as well?
What's not being said already?
I mean, it's— it's something definitely worth celebrating. He's a football club that is, um, it's 40 years this week since— since he came here, you know, the impact and.
Everything that he kind of was, was driven for him for the— for the football club moving forward, for all the time that was here. And that is kind of left for others to carry forward, is—
Is incredible, you know, and it's— he's— I'm— I'm probably closer to him now and speak more to him now than I did when I was— when I was playing. I think the relationships change over time, and that's only natural.
He's— he's— even— well, ever since I came here, you know, the impact he had on me as an individual was immense. And not necessarily directly as in talking all the time, and advice all the time, but personally it was more of just the influence that he had. And the habits that you kind of try and pick up from him, as did everyone around the football club over that period of time. And then you kind of move on and evolve a little bit into— into a friendship, really, which is— which is really nice. So yeah, it's just the impact that he's had, and he'll continue to have in this football club.
13:32:59
Comparisons between Roma win and Mark Robins' goal
Reporter: There might be some comparisons drawn by an early moment in his career as Manchester United manager. The Mark Robbins goal in '99.
Carrick: No comparisons, yeah. No comparisons. He always finds something to compare.
Reporter: No, of course, but I suppose— I suppose the point being, when you look back at the Roma game, how much can that maybe be a moment for this team? The way it happened, the atmosphere at Old Trafford, how much potential is there for that to be a moment for this team to take that forward?
Carrick: It's up to us to take it forward, you know. It was— it was a fantastic night, as a one-off night. It was a fantastic night. I think, as it kind of unfolded in the game developed, to finish so strongly and for large parts of the game, play very, very well and deserve it.
It wasn't all of a sudden that we scored some goals from nowhere. I thought we played really, really well, and deserved the game. So— and it was nice to end like that. It was nice for the supporters to end like that, and to have that feeling 100% for sure. It was— it was— it was a good night for us, for us all. But, you know, nothing— nothing's done yet. Nothing's achieved yet. And it's— it's one moment, really, in time that we need to use, and we need to use to move forward. But we need— we need more of it, for sure.
It wasn't all of a sudden that we scored some goals from nowhere. I thought we played really, really well, and deserved the game. So— and it was nice to end like that. It was nice for the supporters to end like that, and to have that feeling 100% for sure. It was— it was— it was a good night for us, for us all. But, you know, nothing— nothing's done yet. Nothing's achieved yet. And it's— it's one moment, really, in time that we need to use, and we need to use to move forward. But we need— we need more of it, for sure.
13:35:12
Does he know how United will play?
Reporter: Michael, Ruben Amorim when he was manager said there were times when he set off to come to Old Trafford for a game, and he didn't know what Manchester United team he was going to see. At Chelsea you were excellent in the first half, not so good in the second. On Tuesday, not so good in the first, excellent in the second. Do you know what to expect from your players?
Carrick: I— I actually, when you watch the game back, I think the first half, it wasn't so bad. There were moments in there where we left ourselves short, really. But yeah, those moments we got to clean up on. Because I think it's— it's been little moments here and there of— that have changed games for us, which is football, and that's something we have to manage.
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But certainly taking the first half of Chelsea was very, very good. And a good chunk of the game the other night was really good. So I think showing that we've definitely shown signs of improvement, no doubt, in that respect. And we've got to take that moving forward.
13:37:44
Can managers be given time in modern football?
Reporter: And just on Sir Alex, he was given time. It's a different world now.
Is it unrealistic to expect that people are going to get as much time as Sir Alex got to— to create what he did?
Carrick: The game's certainly changed, no doubt. It— it always does. It evolved, and it had evolved to the stage probably after Sir Matt and the years after that, to then Sir Alex, you know. It evolves all the time. That's how it is. It changes. We've got to deal with what's in front of us. So that's— you know, the comparisons I get— I understand.
There's always different things to compare. But we've got to live in the present as well, and definitely use past experiences to help us. But time— time, patience, patience. But we're all desperate to win football matches, and win them as quickly as we possibly can.
13:40:28
Positive
Reporter: Hi, Michael. You said in a few press conferences the team have trained well. You've had a good week, and the fans have listened to that. And then the games followed where there hasn't been a victory. Against Roma, there was a victory. Have you sensed in the last couple of days something more tangible? Having won that game from the players, have you seen the confidence openly talking about it? What's the reaction been like after that Roma game?
Carrick: Yeah, I mean, it's— it's obviously a positive reaction, and again, it's not like all of a sudden we're— we're getting carried away. I have seen enough from the players, I know what we're capable of. I've said it enough. I know exactly what we're capable of. And we all do, you know. You've seen it from different perspectives. You know what we're capable as a team of, as a team. We've proved it over time, and we've just not proved it enough lately. But we know it's there. And the boys have trained really well. I'm not just saying that for the sake of saying it. If we weren't, I'd say it. The boys have trained really well, and we've just got to get more of the moments that we've had, the halves of football, and maybe a bit more the other night. We've got to keep building on that. But it's definitely there.
13:44:25
Living up to the standards of the past
Reporter: Michael, we were talking about Sir Alex before, and obviously you're a huge part of the success that he had as a manager here. How difficult do you think it is for the modern Manchester United to live up to those standards?
Carrick: There was a lot of winning, a lot of trophies, and a lot of success. It's difficult to bring success. It was difficult then, it's difficult now. It takes a lot to bring that into play, you know. And it just shows you how tough it is to have sustained success, never mind moments of success. So again, we've got to live in the moment. We know what we've got to do, and what we've got to be pointing to, to bring success week to week in games.
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And then things fall into place. If we do that enough, then do it often enough, then you'll bring a bigger version of it.
The thing is, though, that that version is so big.Â
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And times have changed, like you said before. So to be sort of judged by those standards, to be held to those standards, even looking at the way, you know, some of your former teammates and friends speak now, who had the same experience as a player, as you did, I mean, how— how impossible is it for everyone here to be able to be held to those standards?
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Well, it's not impossible. It's not impossible. Anything's possible.
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You've got to build, you know. You've got to build. You've got to be realistic. You've got to put things in perspective as well, you know. And the recent history that we've had, and what we're trying, where we want to get to, it's not going to happen in a blink of an eye. It's not going to happen overnight, you know. Success does take time, and we don't like having to spend time. But it does take some— a period of time to build. We showed a really quick response and proved a lot last season. And, you know, it shows what is possible, but again, sustaining it is— is— is the key. Consistency is the key. There's— there's no other way of doing it. There's no shortcuts to it. And in the end, that's where you get to. But it's definitely possible.
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13:49:44
Solskjaer's "devil" comments
Reporter: Hi, Michael. Ole Gunnar Solskjær made an interview with the Norwegian broadcaster this week, giving you a lot of backing and also saying that there's a devil within you that the outside doesn't see as much. What's your response to his interview?
Carrick: I've not seen it, so I don't really know too much about it, to be honest. So it's— it's difficult to— to respond, really.
I don't think there's too many people that actually know me, really. Ole's probably one of them, because being close to him and working with him for a period of time. But there's probably not a lot of people that really, really know what I'm like. And that's the way it is, really. I don't know what else I can say about that.
Reporter: There might be a devil in there?
Carrick: I don't know. I don't know. Maybe.
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Reporter: You also spoke a little bit about January, that the two of you had a dialogue when you were both kind of into maybe getting the job. Could you elaborate a bit on that? How your contact was back then?
Carrick: I listened to my friends, you know. We're close friends. We're still in contact now, and I've seen him not long ago when we were in Norway pre-season. So yeah, of course. Of course we're close, and we stay in contact a lot.
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Reporter: And lastly, he doesn't give a lot of interviews, but what do you make of the timing. that he goes out and speaks about wanting to go back in managing and that it feels that it's something missing also from his time here at Man United as a manager?
Carrick: I've not seen the interview, to be honest. It's difficult to comment on. But Ole's a fantastic manager, fantastic person, and if he wants to come back into the game and get back into the game and manage, I'd be great to see him back.
13:52:29
Injury update
Reporter: Michael, is there an update on the severity of Carlos Baleba's injury? And can I also check on the other players that have been missing lately?
Carrick: Yeah. Carlos, we don't know exactly, but it'll be a number of weeks, yeah. It's definitely not this week. And— and it won't be any time over the international break. It'll be a little bit longer than that.
And— and so Rashford, Shaw, Dorgu.
Patrick's done a little bit of training this week. As you've seen, he trained with us at the start of the week, very— very— very small. So we've got to be patient with Patrick. You know, he's had a good period of time now with a couple of hamstrings that we need to manage that and be patient with that over the next few weeks as well. But he's slowly getting back with us. So we'll have to see whether he can be involved at the weekend or not.
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13:54:16
Building momentum
Reporter: Let's talk about using Wednesday night as something to build on. You're yet to win successive games this season. Why is that momentum been so hard to find?
Carrick: We've just got to do things better for longer. Periods and times and certain games when you look and you— and like we do, and you look back and you think, what could we improve? What do we need to improve on? What have we lacked? It's been certain moments— little moments in games that have— that we maybe haven't been quite ready for. We haven't made good decisions, or that's— that's part of football.
But we can do that. We can be consistent with it. And of course, you know, when we came in January and this hadn't been done before, whatever, that hadn't been done before, it's— like I've just said before, anything's possible, you know. And we can win more games of football. But we've got to go in— we've got to go and earn that and show we can do it.
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Featured image by Denis Doyle via Getty Images
