Carrick: Interim boss has 'great starting point'
Caretaker manager Michael Carrick says the next person to take charge of Manchester United will have a great starting point to work from.
The 40-year-old shepherded the Reds to a critical 2-0 Champions League win over Villarreal in midweek following the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and will lead the team again at Chelsea on Sunday (kick-off 16:30 GMT).
But speculation remains rife about who will assume the role thereafter, with an interim manager due to be appointed until the end of the season.
However, Carrick believes that whoever comes in will inherit a great base from which to start their work, after the efforts of Solskjaer, Carrick and the rest of the staff over the last two or three years.
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“The environment that Ole had such a huge part in building has helped me a lot this week, so whatever happens next, it's a great starting point,” said our former midfielder.
“I think that's one of the biggest things from Ole's time as manager: over time, creating and building on the environment, the backroom staff, the culture in the group that people don't see day to day.
“It's not obvious but, over time, as a team, we were improving. A good finish last season, and once results starting going [over the last couple of months], it went pretty quickly. Which is a shame, because everything else can get overshadowed by losses like that. But it's [the culture] still there.”
There are just three blank days between Sunday's game at Stamford Bridge and our next Premier League match, at home to Arsenal.
But Carrick is confident that the new individual could imbue the squad with their ideas before Mikel Arteta's men visit Old Trafford.
“You can get ideas across pretty quickly,” he surmised. "I think history shows that. Sometimes it's not the ideas but just a different voice or a freshness. History proves that, for whatever reason. Again, looking back at history, sometimes it works really well, sometimes not so well – that's just the nature of life. We'll see what happens in the days to come.
“Listen, there's a lot of different styles in football. There's a good group of players here, so whoever comes in and whatever style he's implementing, I'm sure they [the players] can adapt. There's some real talent and some real good people, good human beings, within the squad. Yeah, I'm sure they'll look forward to what's ahead.”
“Listen, there's a lot of different styles in football. There's a good group of players here, so whoever comes in and whatever style he's implementing, I'm sure they [the players] can adapt. There's some real talent and some real good people, good human beings, within the squad. Yeah, I'm sure they'll look forward to what's ahead.”
There was plenty of talk about the future in the the rest of Carrick's pre-Chelsea press conference, but the caretaker boss was understandably keen to focus on our meeting with Thomas Tuchel's men.
“Really, my thoughts are about the game on Sunday. They have to be, to be honest,” he admitted. “Coming in this week and having a real laser focus on two games and the challenge that we face as a group.
“I can't get distracted by anything else, for now for sure, anything else will take care of itself in the coming days and weeks ahead.”
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