Michael Carrick responds to Man United pressure with impassioned speech

Michael Carrick used a five-minute opening speech to admit that Manchester United have “lost our way” but insisted he still believes he is the right person to turn the club’s fortunes around.

The manager has come under fierce pressure amid a seven-game winless run in all competitions and criticism of his tactics from captain Bruno Fernandes following the 4-1 defeat in Como.

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Carrick said that his squad is “not divided” following the criticism from Fernandes, but reiterated the “hurt” he has felt since the “unacceptable” performance on Wednesday.

Carrick will take charge of United against Bournemouth on Sunday and the former midfielder wanted to speak first before being asked a question in his pre-match press conference at Carrington.

He used his address to implore the importance of “sacrifice”, “humility” and “hard work” in an impassioned speech which implored the “values” of the club and “respecting” the responsibility of representing United.

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“I think recently we haven’t had a good time, I think that’s pretty obvious,” Carrick began. “I totally accept that, what we’re going through at the moment. We had five months of relative success in a spell where I was happy with a lot of things that I was seeing and that we were doing as a team.

“We haven’t done well enough lately, I think that’s pretty obvious to say, and we’ve had a spell that we’re really not happy with. Wednesday was a bad night, it was a bad night for a lot of reasons and it was a bad night that hurt a lot. It hurt me to see us play that way, to see how the game panned out.

“As I said after the game, it was really unacceptable for us to play like that and to be like that. The supporters are a huge part of this football club, for me to see the supporters have to make the effort and the time and spend the money to come and support us on Wednesday and have the feeling after the game, like we all felt, was a tough moment. I think that’s pretty obvious.

“My responsibility is to get a team on a pitch that represents this football club, represents the supporters and they can be proud of it with the identity that we show. We have gone away from that just recently in certain games, which I’m totally fully aware of and definitely doing something about. I think it’s important that we all recognise that, I certainly recognise it.

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“Our supporters are the utmost of importance to me and this football club and for them to feel like they felt for five months at the start of the season, at the start of the year, for us to have that about us and that connection and that real vigour and intensity and enjoyment and passion that we all felt through that period was something that we need to get back to and we will get back to it. I fully believe that but I think it’s important that we recognise that we haven’t been doing that.

“The foundation of this football club and the values of this football club have been put down and etched for many, many years and I totally understand and I get every single one of them.

“It comes down to humility, it comes down to being humble, it comes down to being hard-working and being really proud to work hard and being proud to live up to their values.

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“There’s a resilience about this football club that’s been shown for a long, long time. Whether that’s bouncing back from adversity, whether that’s comebacks, whether that’s late goals, whether that’s success, whether that’s sustaining success, there’s a resilience in this football club that runs very, very deep.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I’ve felt it, I’m aware of some of the individuals and know them closely who have been a big part of that history. I said it after the game, Manchester United is always bigger and always has been, always will be bigger than any single individual. Bigger than me, bigger than any of the players and it always has been.

“I’m fortunate enough to know some players myself and play with some – Ryan Giggs, arguably one of the greatest to play for this football club. It was never about Ryan Giggs, it was about Manchester United. Wayne Rooney was the top goalscorer of this football club.

“His biggest thing was playing for the team, sacrificing for the team and what was good for Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson, the best manager of all time, the greatest for me and working with him and his main priority was Manchester United. Going back to Sir Matt [Busby], Sir Bobby [Charlton], the resilience was beyond belief of what they showed and the way they rebuilt this football club.

“Again, it was based on being humble, having humility and hard work and we can never lose that and I won’t let us lose that. We’ve had it for a spell, I feel very strongly about that. I think it inspires me a lot to live up to that and keep driving that with the players and the group that we’ve shown for a good period of time and that we’re capable of it.

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“We’re in a moment where it’s not gone well so we need to show exactly what it means. Respect this football club, respect what it takes to be here, respect what it takes to win, what you have to do to win. I’m not entitled to be here, entitlement cannot be at this football club, we’re not entitled to win.

“We’ve won in the past, we’ve got an incredible history but that doesn’t mean that you’re entitled to just win. I’m fully aware of that, it takes hard work, it takes a lot of sacrifice. You’ve got to invest yourself in the football club and you’ve got to do a lot of things that maybe aren’t so nice but you’ve got to do it for each other and you’ve got to win.

“I think it’s important we live up to that and it’s important for me to push those values and it’s important for our supporters to feel that. Moving forward, we’ve had it, we’ve kind of lost our way a little bit if I’m totally honest and we’ll get it back. I’m totally confident we’ll get it back.

“Respect this football club, respect what it takes because it’s very, very important to me.”