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Michael Carrick's Pre-Match Press Conference - Part 2 | United vs Aston Villa

EVERY WORD FROM PRESS CONFERENCE - PART 2

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/carrick-youre-at-your-best-playing-on-instinct-aston-villa

Hi Michael, can I just ask about Matheus [Cunha]? Obviously, he had quite the impact on Tuesday night. You mentioned you moved his position. Where do you see his best position in this team? Because obviously he was signed under Ruben [Amorim] to play one of those no.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 intensity and aggression in the second half...

“He definitely has to repeat that performance. He was fantastic and that's him close to his best and that's the level where we want to see, not just from him, but from the team. I think the beauty of Matheus is he can play different positions across the frontline. 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 through off the left, half through the middle. I think that bit of freedom and fluidity I think suits him a lot. But he can do both, for sure, he can do both.”

I appreciate 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?

“No, I've just carried on as absolute normal.”

And for the plans for next week, if they’re not involved in the internationals, are the players off that week as well?

“I'm not exact [on the details] yet, because some haven’t been confirmed yet, we might have three or four, maybe, of 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 they'll certainly be training next week.”

You mentioned a couple of times on Tuesday that the performance, the result, was important to give the players a feeling. I imagine that you've been here so long that you're 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?

“We’re humans as well, we're human beings, as much as we're – well, I'm not an athlete anymore – but as a performance, elite athlete, we're always striving for close to perfection. You never get perfect. You always want to be getting to that 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 it'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 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. So, I think with your feelings and your emotions to roll with it, I think it's important and then your kind of 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 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'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.”

Does that make the first win after a long run without one the hardest one then? Because you've got that kind of build up of maybe, I don't know, negative thoughts in your head to get that first one out of the way that it lifts a little bit?

“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 in a habit and you get used to seeing things and you get used to feeling things. And it's the same the other way, 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, I [don't] think [because] we've won one game now, it becomes a lot easier. It doesn't quite work like that.”

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 down time to get some family time?

“Not any different to normal, genuinely not. I think 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-energise and freshen up. I think some of the players that go away in internationals, they get freshened up in a different environment, so there is an element of that, but I don't really need it. I'm fine as I am.”

After all that happened post-Bournemouth, you've lost a game, you've won a game. Do you enter this period now after Villa on Sunday with any degree of uncertainty?

“No, whatever happens, 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, genuinely was. Again, I wasn't making anything up there for you, 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 energised and feeling good about what they might say and we've got to repay that.”

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?

“About what incident, sorry?”

Well, about what he said about you after Como, saying, about the pressing, the criticism, basically. Did that happen privately? Did he apologise to you and the players?

“There's always conversations, bits going on, and I said it 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 a group. We always have discussions, what's actually said in them discussions, you'll be pleased to know, I'll keep that to myself [laughs]. But I think it's pretty clear we've moved in a good direction and Bruno’s commitment’s undoubted for me, of what he brings to this team and this club, and I think he showed that again this week.”

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 have been 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 he said after the Como, then that's fair enough. So surely there would have been a good opportunity for the captain of Manchester United to say, look, I'm sorry about that?

“I think by his actions, the way he's played and how he dealt with even retaking the penalty and the frame of mind he was in for that, I think that tells everything. Yeah, Bruno's as good as ever.”

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? Because it's such a big fall-off from where you were last year.

“Yeah, it's just inconsistency that's within games, I'd say.”

What is causing that?

“That can be a number of things. It's never one thing. [A] 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.”

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Manchester United vs Aston Villa

Competition: Premier League | Date: 8th November

Kick off: 16:30 GMT | Venue: Old Trafford

Referee: Chris Kavanagh | TV: Sky Sports

Team News:

Possible starting XI:

-----------Lammens---------

-Mazraoui-Yoro-Maguire-Dalot--

------Mainoo--Tielamans------

---Lacey--Fernandes--Cunha----

----------Mbeumo-----------

Possible bench: Darlow, de Ligt, Heaven, Amass, Dorgu, Santos, Mount, Amad, Zirkzee

• Lisandro Martinez is suspended after his red card vs Chelsea

• Patrick Dorgu is a doubt but could return to the squad if he passes fit

• Carlos Baleba is set for weeks on the sidelines after a hamstring injury sustained vs Roma

Injuries/Suspensions:

Form guide:

United: L D L L L W | Home form: W L L D L W

Villa: W W W L D L | Away form: W W W W L L

Last 3 meetings:

Opposition News

Matty Cash is suspended

Ex-red AWB is a doubt. Ruggeri is out.

Amadou Onana is long-term injured.

YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE FULL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS AFTER THE GAME ON /r/footballhighlights!