Michael Carrick refuses big question after Man Utd’s epic Arsenal win | Football | Sport
Michael Carrick says he will not entertain questions each week about his long-term future at Manchester United after a superb 3-2 win at Arsenal. Carrick’s caretaker reign has started perfectly with a defeat of Manchester City at Old Trafford followed up by a thrilling victory at the Emirates courtesy of Matheus Cunha’s 87th-minute curler. Arsenal had only made it 2-2 three minutes earlier through Mikel Merino before the Red Devils stung the Premier League leaders a final time in north London.
Carrick was picked over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to succeed Darren Fletcher, who oversaw a draw at Burnley and an FA Cup loss at home to Brighton following the sacking of Ruben Amorim. Yet the former midfielder is reluctant to talk about being handed the job full-time. Speaking to Sky Sports, and asked if he’d like to be in charge beyond this season, Carrick said: “Listen I’m enjoying it, it’s a fantastic position to be in. What happens next – I’m not going to be answering that every week. It is what it is. But at the moment I’m really enjoying it and I’ll continue to do what I can.”
The interim manager added: “Like I said from day one, I’m here to do a job and make the team as good as we can be. To have that connection in two ways [as a fan and head coach] is special. We won’t get carried away with two massive results – it’s always about what’s next, keeping our feet on the ground and doing the right things this week.”
Carrick, who played 464 times for the Red Devils between 2006 and 2018, insisted that he is “massively proud” of his squad after upsetting the league leaders away from home.
United responded to a Lisandro Martinez own goal when Bryan Mbeumo equalised before half time, and needed just five minutes of the second half to take the lead through Patrick Dorgu’s sensational strike.
After Merino levelled late on to give the Gunners hope of a comeback, the visitors responded immediately through Cunha for back-to-back big six wins. United rise to fourth in the Premier League table, a point above Chelsea and two clear of bitter rivals Liverpool.
Carrick said: “I think it was different from last week – two very different games. It was always going to be different today. They put us under a lot of pressure in different ways. We probably didn’t have as much genuine, regular threat within the game as we did last week, but I thought there were periods when we looked really dangerous. To come here and score three goals in the manner we did…
“Going one down, coming back, then the setback, and still keeping going – it was a huge moment for us. The boys had to put an awful lot in today. It probably didn’t come as easy as it did last week. Last week wasn’t easy but, the time, the flow of the game and the momentum was with us pretty much throughout, whereas today we had to dig deep.
“It was a massive effort and I’m really proud of them. It’s only been ten days, so it was never going to be perfect. We couldn’t expect to come here and suddenly dominate the whole game and the ball. We’re just starting off, really. It’s a great starting point, but we need to put more layers on top, and we’ll try to do that in the coming weeks.”
Carrick was keen to give the backroom staff and his players all the credit for their consecutive wins. He continued: “I give a lot of credit to the staff and the players for how much they’ve invested and how much they’ve bought into it. It’s alright trying to help them and say certain things, but they’ve got to live it – and you’ve seen that with the boys coming off the bench and making a difference.”
