Holland: Why this week is important

With 24 days separating consecutive Premier League meetings with Bournemouth and Leeds United, and a good chunk of the squad involved in internationals at the end of March, the trip to Carton House provides a timely chance for Michael Carrick and his staff to work with the wider group again.

Holland, who spoke to club media after the first session on Tuesday, reiterated the need to regather, with the Reds seeking to continue the momentum built during 2026 - with seven wins, two draws and just one defeat having been recorded during Carrick's reign so far.

The former Chelsea and England coach added that the ambition was to finish as high as possible, come the end of May...

We’re here with Steve Holland, Manchester United coach. We’ve just finished our first session here in Dublin, just describe how it’s gone?
“Really good. It’s nice to be together again, having had a couple of weeks with all the players away and representing their various different countries. We’ve got an important run-in to go, so it’s important to get the group together again and really focus on that. Today has been as you’d expect, a normal first day and they’re quite excited to be back in each other’s company and the training session has gone well.”

How are you finding the facilities out here?
“It’s excellent, the hotel facilities, and to have the pitch so close and the gymnasium… we’re here to work, so it’s absolutely perfect for what we need.”

You’re out here to work, but it’s a change of scenery from Carrington – is it sometimes good to have that, to get away and focus on the hard training?
“Our last game, Bournemouth to Leeds, is a Premier League record I think, in terms of time between games. So the gap has been as big as you can have really. I think we felt it was important to get the whole group together again, and really focus on finishing the season well. I think this is the perfect venue for that, really.”

With that Leeds game, there’s seven games until the end of the season, so are you almost looking at it as a refresh and a reset, before pushing to get that Champions League place?
“Yeah. I think the language we should be using as this club is to finish as close as we possibly can to the top. I don’t know how possible that is, but that has to be the challenge always: to get as close as we possibly can to the top. We’ve been speaking more to the players really about winning our matches, rather than thinking too much about what’s happening below. But yeah, clearly given the context, to finish in the Champions League places would be a good situation for us, but I think always we should be looking for more than that.”