Not since Sir Alex Ferguson’s opening monologues has a Manchester United manager begun his weekly press conference at Carrington without taking a question.

Louis van Gaal once turned up with a dossier of stats ready to refute Sam Allardyce’s claims that United were a long-ball team, and flounced off on another occasion at Christmas – telling us to ‘enjoy the wine and mince pies’ – after using his first answer to demand an apology for stories claiming his job was on the line.

Jose Mourinho had United’s European record over the previous eight years at his fingertips when he gave his ‘football heritage’ speech in the wake of a Champions League defeat to Sevilla in 2018, but at least he waited for the first question.

When Michael Carrick walked into the room at 1.30pm on Friday, it was clear he had something on his mind.

‘I’ll start today,’ said Carrick, taking his seat. ‘I just want to say a few things, really.’

Over the course of the next five minutes and 40 seconds, spanning nearly 1,000 words, Carrick faced the growing crisis at United head on.

He spoke about the responsibility of being United’s head coach and the principles that have made this club great.

He conjured up the spirit of Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Bobby Charlton. He mentioned United’s strength in the face of adversity, forged in the dark days after Munich.

He spoke of the humility and hard work epitomised by great United players like Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney.

No-one is bigger than the club and no-one is entitled to be there, said Carrick in what felt like a message to his captain Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez over their recent public criticism.

At times, he looked just as distracted as when he left us in Lombardy on Wednesday night, reeling from a 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como. He spoke hesitantly at times, emotionally at others.

This was a defiant and heartfelt speech from a man who is fighting to save his job, but more importantly to drag his club from the depths of despair and self-destruction as United stumble through their worst start to a season since 1986 with cracks beginning to appear from the boardroom to the dressing-room.

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‘We haven't done well enough lately, I think that's pretty obvious to say,’ said Carrick, who has stood among the fans in the past as well as serving United as a player, coach, caretaker and head coach.

‘Wednesday was a bad night for a lot of reasons, and it was a bad night that hurt a lot. It obviously hurt me to see us play that way.

‘My responsibility is to get a team on the pitch that represents this football club and the supporters, and they can be proud of 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.’

Referencing the success he enjoyed last season after taking over in January, Carrick added: ‘Our supporters are of the utmost importance to me.

‘For them to feel like they felt for five months at the start of the year – for us to have that connection and that real vigour and intensity and enjoyment and passion that we all felt through that period – was something we need to get back to. And we will get back to it.

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

‘It comes down to humility and being humble. It comes down to being hard-working and really proud to live up to those values.

‘There's a resilience about this football club that's been shown for a long, long time. Whether that's bouncing back from adversity, comebacks, late goals, there's a resilience 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.

‘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 top goal scorer for this football club. His biggest thing was 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 his main priority was Manchester United. Going back to Sir Matt, Sir Bobby, 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. We can never lose that, and I won't let us lose that. It inspires me to live up to that and keep driving that.

‘So we need to show exactly what it means and respect this football club; respect what it takes to be here and respect what it takes to win.

‘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.

‘We've had it and we've lost our way a little bit, if I'm totally honest. We will get it back. I'm totally confident we'll get it back.’

Only then did Carrick take questions from reporters as he addressed his own future, concerns over a divided dressing-room and Fernandes’ position as captain following his criticism of the tactics in Como.

It was a ballsy move by a man who has his back to the wall and possibly felt he had nothing to lose by coming out fighting. Who knows, it might already be too late.

As long as the rot continues, questions will be asked about Carrick and whether he has the tools to turn this around.

After drawing at Leeds last weekend, he said it felt like a fresh start only to see his team capitulate in embarrassing fashion in Como.

Carrick spoke powerfully, no doubt about it. But unless he and his players can back it up on the pitch, his words will be empty.