Michael Carrick has been speaking to the media in the embargoed section of the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
Here is every word of the presser.
Reporter: All right, Michael, can you just ask about Matheus [Cunha]? Obviously he had quite the impact on Tuesday night. You mentioned you moved his position. Where do you see is his best position in this team? Because obviously he was signed under Ruben to play one of those 10 roles that’s not really available now. How do you see his best position, and can he repeat that performance? Because obviously he played with a lot of kind of intensity and aggression in the second half.
Carrick: Yeah, well, he definitely— he has to repeat that performance. You know, he was fantastic, and that’s close to his best, and that’s the level where we want to see. Not from him, not just him, but from the team. But I think the beauty of Matheus is he can play different positions across the front line. He’s played off the left for us and did ever so well last season. He’s played off the left, he’s played through the middle at times. He played half off the left, half through the middle. I think that’s just the— that bit of freedom and fluidity, I think, suits him a lot.
But he can do both, for sure. He can do both.
Reporter: Hi, Michael.Obviously it’s still a delicate situation with your position. The team’s form. Have you been told outright that you will be in charge next week?
Carrick: No. No. I’ve just carried on as absolutely normal.
Reporter: And for the plans for next week, I take it it’s for everyone whether they’re involved in— if they’re not involved in the internationals or will the players have off that week as well?
Carrick: We haven’t— we’ve literally got— I mean, I’m not exactly— because someone hasn’t been confirmed yet, or three or four maybe, have seen the senior players in and around it. But we’ll certainly train next week and maybe have the weekend off. We’ll see how that develops, who’s left behind, who’s with us, and what they need. But we’ll certainly be training next week.
Reporter: You mentioned a couple of times on Tuesday that the performance— that the result was important to give the players a feeling. I imagine that you’ve been here so long that you’re kind of immune to the ups and downs of the club. But for some of the players who haven’t been here as long, did you feel like the last few weeks have been weighing on them a little bit?
Carrick: We’re humans as well, you know. We’re human beings, and as much as we’re— well, I’m not an athlete anymore, but as a performance and elite athlete, you know, we’re always striving for close to perfection. You never get perfect. You always want to be getting to that on your limit, really, and playing right on the edge. And with that, and I’d say a huge chunk of that is, your mindset, your mentality, your confidence, and that feeling that you have so it is coping with that. That’s a major part of it.
And that’s kind of obvious to say that, but it is something that we have to all take into account and speaking to the players from my perspective of understanding where they’re at with it, for sure, is important. That’s why I say to have that feeling and, you know, momentum in sport is massive. Momentum within games, momentum day-to-day, week-to-week, game-to-game. It’s huge. And sometimes it’s always difficult to quantify where that is, but so I think if your feelings and your emotions roll with it, I think it’s important.
And then your memory can click in and you realise, oh yeah, this is what it feels like. This is how it should be. And you start seeing different things. That’s just kind of form in some ways of why players or teams have good spells and then struggle in other spells. And it’s all got to come together. But feeling, confidence, and that emotion, and sometimes not even thinking, you know, you’re at your best when you don’t think too much and you just trust and play on instinct. And I think we did a lot of that the other night.
Reporter: Does that make the first win after a long run without one the hardest one then? Because you’ve got that kind of buildup of maybe— I don’t know— negative thoughts in your head to get that first one out of the way that, I don’t know, it lifts a little bit?
Carrick: It can be. I mean, that doesn’t mean the next one comes any easier, but I understand what you’re saying. It can be because you end up becoming an habit and you get used to seeing things and you get used to feeling things. And it’s the same the other way, you know, when you’re on a run of winning and you get used to that. As long as you stay hungry, you get used to that. So yeah, it’s definitely something. But it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re definitely not going into this game thinking we’ve won game now. It becomes a lot easier. It doesn’t quite work like that.
Reporter: Michael.Just to echo off on those two questions. I mean, you’ve been quite robust during this period, but it must take a personal toll on you, on your family. Will you use any time during the next two weeks during the international break to try and get some downtime, to get some family time?
Carrick: Not any different to normal. Generally not. I think it’s international breaks are always a time, I think, when talking about the players that aren’t going away and for the staff, I think it is a little bit to re-energize and freshen up. I think some of the players that go away on internationals, they get freshened up in a different environment. So there is an element of that. But I don’t really— I don’t really need it. I’m fine as I am.
Reporter: After all that happened post-Bournemouth, you’ve lost a game and you’ve won a game. Do you enter this period now after Villa on Sunday with any degree of uncertainty?
Carrick: No. No. Whatever happens is what’s going to happen is going to happen in terms of the game. And we’ve got to prepare right, looking forward to it. I said the other night I was really looking forward to the game the other night, going into it. Generally was.
Again, I wasn’t making anything up there. But really looking forward to the next game, playing at home on the back of the other night, the supporters hopefully coming looking forward to coming and energized and feeling good about what they might say. And we’ve got to repay that.
Reporter: Hi, Michael. After the win against Roma, Bruno Fernandes spoke for the first time basically since you left him out of the team. And he said you were correct to do that. With regard to the Como incident, did he apologise to you and the players privately?
Carrick: About what incident, sorry?
Reporter: Well, about what he said about you after Como, saying, you know, about the pressing. The criticism basically— did that happen privately? Did he apologise to you and the players?
Carrick: There’s always conversations, bits going on. And I said at the time, I think, acknowledging certain things of when things are going well, what we need to improve on as a group. Sometimes it’s individually, sometimes it’s as a group. We’ll always have discussions – what’s actually said in that discussion, you’ll be pleased to know, I’ll keep that to myself. But it’s— I think it’s pretty clear we’ve moved in a good direction. And Bruno’s commitment is undoubted for me, and what he brings to this team and this club. And I think he’s showed that again this week.
Reporter: The reason why I ask is Lisandro Martinez apologised publicly. And just in this interview on Tuesday after the game, as the captain of Manchester United, that might be the moment where he might have just said— because he said you were right to do it. And if it was for the words that you said after Como, then that’s fair enough. So surely then would have been a good opportunity for the captain of Manchester United to say, look, I’m sorry about that.
Carrick: I think by his actions the way he’s played and how he dealt with even retaking the penalty and framing mind he was in for that, I think that tells everything. And yeah, Bruno’s as good as ever.
Reporter: May I just ask one more? You haven’t won two games on the bounce this season. I know there’ll be many reasons why, but if you were to give us just one reason, of the many, why would you say that would be such a big fall off from where you were last year?
Carrick: Yeah, it’s just— it’s inconsistency. That’s within games. I’d say.
Reporter: What is causing that?
Carrick: Well, that’s— it can be a number of things. It’s never just— it’s never one thing. Bit of decision-making. Bit of concentration. Things going against us in certain points. Sometimes we haven’t helped ourselves. So there’s no excuses for it. It is what it is.
The great thing is we can do something about it.
Every word of the first part of the presser can be read here.
Tomorrow’s match at Old Trafford kicks off at 16.30pm.
Featured image by Denis Doyle via Getty Images
Featured image by Carl Recine via Getty Images
