Carrick: I'm proud of the players but we must stay humble

The Reds put in another magnificent display to defeat Arsenal with goals from derby heroes Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu, before a late Matheus Cunha strike secured the points.

The boss says his team now need to “bottle” what we have put into the wins against the Premier League leaders and rivals Manchester City last week and to remain “humble” - saying there are even bigger games coming up.

Carrick offered a positive update on in-form Dorgu, who was withdrawn in the second half, and said Cunha’s attitude typifies the positivity within the camp.

Here’s everything he had to say in his post-match press conference at the Emirates Stadium...

Congratulations Michael. Given the level of the opposition, is that your sweetest win as United head coach?
“Yeah, it was a tough game for us today. I think we knew that coming into it. It was never going to be the perfect kind of game for us. We’ve been together less than two weeks so we knew coming here we were going to have to draw on many different things to get a performance and a result. It was up and down at times, there's some really good things in the game for us, things we can work on, but the way the boys were, their belief, the confidence and the spirit, everything that came together made me really proud today."

It felt like Arsenal fans were quite edgy, did you feel you capitalised on that anxiety?
“I just think we understood the flow of the game. You knew at times we would be up against it, and we needed to dig in. We wanted to try and take control as well. Away from home in these big games you have to take an element of control, and calm things down a little bit. I thought we did enough of that to then grow into the match. The goals were fantastic goals and some of the football was good, and we looked dangerous at certain times. Other times we had to defend, but it was just a performance with a bit of everything, really.”

Did you ever think that your first two games against Manchester City and Arsenal would bring two wins?
“I understood what a tough two games it was to start with, but we've got tough games coming up. These are the best ones to win in terms of getting that feeling and that emotion - getting that confidence and that lift. The boys have been fantastic, we've had less than two weeks together to put things in place and to try to do the things we've asked. There's still layers that we want to get to. We want to improve. But in terms of what it's taken to win these two games, they've done great.”

They were two fantastic goals. Have you been doing more shooting at Carrington?
“I can't take any credit for those two finishes! The move for Pat [Dorgu] was a really good move, and the connection through the pitch. But to finish it the way he did, that was some finish. It takes your breath away a little bit, it catches you out. It was a good start to the second half. Then when Matheus [Cunha] came on, I just fancied him to score, to make an impact. Fantastic finish. He epitomises what, as a group, we've been like this week. He has not started both games, but he's had a real big impact. He's been disappointed not to start, but he's used that in a really good way. Two huge moments, and he totally deserves that winning goal for the way he has applied himself all week. I’m absolutely delighted for him.”

Michael, you took over a team that had had a run of disappointing results at home. What do you think these two wins say about where your team are?
“I think it's more about the feeling that this gives us, really, as a group. And the players and as a club, and certainly the supporters. That’s my concern - how that can bring us together and lift us, in a real positive manner. I'm not getting all carried away, we've got some bigger games coming up, because the next game is always the bigger game. So we're not getting carried away. We've got really important things coming up and we need to keep improving. Two massive games, there's a lot of emotion, a lot of energy and a lot of confidence that you can take but we’ve got to be humble and understand how we’ve got these results. That's really important moving forward."

What's your challenge now? Is it top four? Is it to keep the momentum going? The fans were chanting 'we're going to win the league'...
“I know from our perspective, it's just moving forward to the next game. It’s been less than two weeks we’ve been together. So it's just keep getting good habits, really, and good routines and good habits. The boys have been fantastic with that. I don't think we can look too far ahead. We certainly won't be, anyway. It's a big week leading up to Fulham and games coming up. We'll finish where we finish by getting the results. I know that's kind of obvious, but looking too far ahead can come back and bite you really. So we've taken this week by week, and game by game. We'll certainly continue to do that. But we've got to ride it and use the emotion, you have got to use the energy and use the confidence. You've got to be humble enough to understand how we could just achieve these two big results. It doesn't just come easy, so we need to continue that and bottle it and use it again."

Is it a positive, being out of the cups now?

"It's a clear focus, I said that starting last week, and everything's in front of us now, nothing's going to change, but it's a good start. You've just got to keep building.”

What did you make of Patrick Dorgu today?
"Pat has been a big, big player for us over the last couple of games, in so many ways. Obviously attacking wise he's scored goals, but I think in terms of the threat and his athleticism and his quality coming in as well and the connections, I think. Defensively, he's been immense as well down the side with Luke [Shaw] doubling up against two teams that ask a lot of questions down the sides. So it's a big, big job for him. I’m delighted for him, becaue the two goal he's scoring they're very different goals but he's put so much into the performances, it's nice to see him smiling and happy. He obviously came off with, hopefully, a little bit of cramp. Hopefully it's nothing worse, but he ended up coming off and it just shows what he put into the performance, and hopefully he's not too bad."

So more cramp than a suspected hamstring injury?
"At this stage it's hard to tell, so we'll just have to wait and see. For sure, we're hoping it's not too bad.”