Michael Carrick has been speaking to the media in the embargoed section of the pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Here is every word of the presser.

Reporter: Gary Neville this week essentially questioned some of your players’ professionalism. He said he didn’t name any players particularly, but he said they didn’t sleep at the right time, don’t eat the right food. It’s obviously quite a serious accusation. What’s your reaction to that? Have you encountered any players being unprofessional since you got back to football?

Carrick: Uh, no, I haven’t, no.

Reporter: And are you surprised that Gary coming out and saying that?

Carrick: Gary says a lot of things!

Reporter: You spoke to Bruno yesterday, is it fair to say that the two of you have been through a bit of a sticky patch and where are things between the two of you now?

Carrick: Yeah, I listened to that. We’re clear with the situation of the team, you know, and it’s a football club at the moment, so as I just said, he’s an important player for this group. He has been, and he will be, so between us, you know, we’ve got to make a difference, and we’ve got to push things in a good direction. So he’s fully committed to this football club, he’s fully committed to making things better.

It doesn’t change things, you know. He’s the one that’s kind of led the team so well for many a game, and many a year, and he’ll continue to do that.

Reporter: Last week, I think Ole Gunnar Solskjær said that during his time in charge, that for him, Bruno was too emotional to be a captain and he preferred Harry. You were part of that setup when Ole was here. Other managers since then have also had kind of accepted that Bruno can maybe show too much, be a bit too up and down for his teammates. Are you happy that he’s the best man for the job, and unlike Ole that maybe Harry’s not a more stable option?

Carrick: I don’t think it’s about comparison to others. He’s the captain of a football club, you know, and there’s different personalities at different characteristics, different ways to lead.

It all comes down to what happens on the football pitch and whether you win or not in the end, you know. So all the questions get asked, but I understand why you’re asking them now, but he cares deeply about this football club and about the team, and he’s desperate to do well, so we’ll lead that together.

Reporter: Michael, obviously the board have made a decision this week in some ways. It feels like that would actually potentially break a cycle of churn when you have players that perhaps think that bad results happen, manager changes, we’ve had three, it would have been three in three years, if that had happened. What do you think? You played the game. How do you value that kind of dynamic between the players and the head coach?

Carrick: Listen, it’s important. Of course it is, you know. Both ways. I think it’s important that we have that connection and that’s pretty obvious to say for any team. And we have got that, I have to say, we have got that.

At the moment, it’s easy to question a lot of things, and I totally accept why and what it looks like, but I’ve absolutely no issue with that regard. We need to play better, and we need to show certain things better. But the connection with us is as strong as ever.

Reporter: I know that you’ve said you didn’t have that need for assurances or anything like that, but in terms of those dialogue that you have anyway with Jason and Omar, have you had kind of robust conversation where you’re sort of looking at the future and trying to plan as to how, you know, it can get back to where you want to be?

Carrick: Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty clear, you know. It’s not always rosy and nice conversations between anyone, whether that’s between me and the players, whether that’s between me, Jase, and Omar, or the owners.

The truth, it’s the hard truth at times, and it’s what we need to move forward. So whatever we need to move forward, we’ll do.

Reporter: Michael, when you went down the tunnel on Sunday, the fans were clapping you, then they sort of turned on the players quite loud, kind of booing. How much do you hope that that will provoke a reaction in them? Because that will surely kind of hurt their pride, or you’d hope it would anyway.

Carrick: Yeah, I mean, it was mixed feelings. I’ll be totally honest, it was mixed feelings for me, you know. To have the appreciation from the supporters and that connection and that respect, you know, is something I feel strongly about, was, I mean, I say nice to, it wasn’t a nice situation, but to feel that was important of course, but it didn’t make me feel better in the fact that I’m with the players 100%, you know, and we’re all in it together.

And I’ve told the players that, I’m happy to say that, I didn’t feel comfortable being in any way, shape, or form a separation from that, you know, that’s my group, they’re my players, and this is my football club. So we have to all be in it together, and that’s the supporters included, you know, as hard as it is at the moment.

Totally get that. I get their feelings, but when we get through this, then we’ll be a lot stronger as a whole.

Reporter: Michael, obviously, yourself, Steve, and your staff will be looking for solutions to improve the performance level. But have you guys actually spoken to the players and asked them what they feel is going wrong and what they think, you know, needs to change?

Obviously, Bruno himself was very outspoken after the combo game. Obviously, doesn’t it feel that rightly or wrongly that the setup isn’t quite right? Have you been trying to glean from the players what they feel has gone wrong, what they would like to see, and try and incorporate that into your thinking, Steve’s thinking?

Carrick: We always do what we think is going to get the best out of the team. Whether that’s certain players that, of course, you speak to at certain points, that’s normal, you know, that’s why if you ask for leaders in the dressing room and you want opinions on certain things, then it’s going to be times when you ask that, that’s fine.

Absolutely no problem. It doesn’t mean that we always agree with that, but absolutely no problem with that. And then we head off in the same direction.

Reporter: Just in terms of, like, confidence, I mean, you played in European Cup winning teams, title winning teams, but no matter how good a player is, if confidence goes, in any walk of life, that is as serious issue. Is that one of the problems you are now facing with this squad is that there’s obviously a lot of noise, there’s a lot of pressure, there’s a lot of scrutiny, and there’s going to be a lot of players in that team that are maybe going through the throes of a confidence crisis?

Is that, is that in itself one of the biggest challenges that you face over the coming games to try and address that?

Carrick: Confidence is a beauty of sport. Confidence is, in some ways, the major factor of that belief, that self-belief, that confidence level of kind of trumps everything else.

In terms of level of performance, but the beauty about the confidence, it can come back sharpish and it can come back quickly in one moment, one thing in a game.

One win, one result, we’ve seen it before, you know, we’ve seen it a few months ago. It can come back quickly, and that’s what keeps you pushing and keeps you believing that it’s always that close and what’s possible is always within touching distance.

Of course, when you’re not winning games and you don’t feel like you’re playing great, then it naturally creeps in. The challenge is keeping that deep within you, that belief to know it’s there and it’s possible and that’s exactly where we’re at now, you know, we need something to flip for everyone, for everyone, to change the feeling and change that and get the confidence from us.

Definitely in the team and definitely from the supporters and that belief again and it’s never far away. It’s far away as it seems, it’s never that far away.

Reporter: So in your experience, like, you know, your long-time playing, even when it, say, goes from lead, okay, to literally a huge, huge collapse, combo win, Bournemouth, you still think that’s you still think that confidence is retrievable?

Carrick: Yeah, 100%. That’s sport. That’s sport. Just because you lose a game or you have a bad day, that doesn’t mean it’s the end of a player’s career or an end of a team’s role or whatever. That may be. It’s always what’s next and you can always make a difference.

Reporter: When you spoke to the players, did you get a sense of, I mean, did you talk about the reception they received from the crowd and did you get a sense of what they felt about that? Were they shocked by that? Did they feel it was justified and understandable? Or was it …

Carrick: No, I think just to be clear, it was just more me to, for them to understand that I’m right in there with them.
I’m right in there with them and there’s no way that I’m separated from that as much as I totally respect and appreciated that, the response from the supporters.

I’ve said it before, I’m right there with them and we’ll go through this together.

Tomorrow’s match at Stamford Bridge kicks off at 12.30pm.

Featured image by Denis Doyle via Getty Images

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