The Carrick press conference before Sunday’s game with Bournemouth was less about tactics than about what Manchester United are supposed to stand for. Michael Carrick, speaking at Friday’s news conference, said the club has “lost our way a little bit” and promised to get it back, according to the key lines published by BBC Sport.
Carrick press conference: “We’ve kind of lost our way”
Carrick spoke for six minutes before taking questions, the BBC says. He opened by saying United “haven’t done well enough lately” and have “had a spell that we’re really not happy with”. He called the Champions League defeat at Como “a bad night for a lot of reasons” and said “it hurt a lot”.
On the results, he said: “My responsibility is to get a team on the pitch that represents this football club, represents the supporters and is one they can be proud of with the identity that we show. We have gone away from that just recently in certain games, which I’m fully aware of and definitely doing something about.” Later, on restoring standards, he added: “We’ve kind of lost our way a little bit, if I’m totally honest. We will get it back – I’m totally convinced we’ll get it back.”
Club values and “no entitlement” at United
Much of the message at the Carrick press conference was about culture. Carrick said “the foundations of this football club and values have been etched down for many years” and that he understands “every single one of them”. He listed them as “being humble, hard work and being really proud to live up to those values”, then said: “I won’t let us lose that.”
He was just as direct about status. “Entitlement cannot be at this football club,” he said, adding that being involved with United should “take hard work” and “a lot of sacrifice”. He also said United “always has been, and always will be, bigger than any single individual”, and the BBC notes that he included himself and the players in that.
Leadership, the dressing room and Fernandes
Asked about conversations with players since Como, Carrick said: “It’s pretty obvious how we’re all feeling. The responsibility for me, in this position, is to lead. I’ll hold that umbrella for me to stay wet and everyone else stay dry.”
The BBC reports that he dismissed talk of a divided dressing room after Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez spoke out following consecutive games. “We just need to get back to doing what we do best – and we will,” he said. The BBC’s key-lines page also carries a clip headed “‘I will do what’s best for club’ – Carrick on Fernandes captaincy”, though the page does not set out the full answer in text, so we are not putting words to it here. For the background, see our report on Fernandes and the captaincy, how Fernandes reacted after Como, and what is reported about Carrick staying for Bournemouth.
Team news and the line-up are a separate matter, and nothing in the key lines confirms who starts on Sunday.
Source: BBC Sport, Carrick press conference: Man Utd vs Bournemouth (23 October). Picture: Old Trafford (file photo, December 2023). Photo: Joris van Rooden / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized. Inline picture: Carrick at Old Trafford, Ardfern / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
