Carrick: It feels really settled

The head coach, along with his coaching team, Travis Binnion, Jonny Evans, Steve Holland, Jonathan Woodgate and Craig Mawson, took the reins from Darren Fletcher in January and have helped to produce wins against Manchester City and Arsenal.

In his meeting with journalists, Carras answered questions on that blossoming bond, along how he's preparing for the task of the Cottagers.

You can read, and watch, everything he said below...

There's going to be a protest before the game on Sunday. What do you make of that? Just supporters taking the time to do this now, particularly where you've just overseen two really good wins?

“Yeah, I don't think it connects with the two wins, to be honest. I think it doesn't affect the team. I think, fully respect the supporters. They were incredible. They have been for so long and they've had a lot of highs and some downs as well. But I'm not offended by it or anything and the players certainly aren't. I think within the stadium, the support we felt, and that's been there for all the games that I've watched for quite some time, has been of the highest level and I'm sure it’ll continue to be like that, you know, the connection that we've had over the last couple of weeks has been pretty special and we've both fed off that. I think the supporters have fed off it. We have as a group, the players certainly have, and that's something we need to keep building on moving forward because that's exactly how we want it to be.”

I know it was a few years ago, but in your book, you wrote the Glazer family have been great owners and deserve huge credit, there's been progress on and off the field. A lot of supporters would disagree with your claims on that. Do you still think the club can be a success with the Glazer family as the owners?

“Yeah, I think we've had a good couple of weeks, and we were moving in the right direction, you know, and we want to keep building on that. So, I think that's part of the focus here is to never get satisfied with what we've just done and keep moving forward. And the off the pitch, whatever goes on in and around the club is not really for us as a playing group to worry about and let that affect performances, you know. I think it's what we feel, what we can grasp at the minute. We feel the utmost support from the supporters, as much as ever. And that's where we want to keep moving towards.”

A couple of weeks ago when we were talking to you before the City game, you were talking about your coaching stuff, and you said they've been quite creative when it comes to the coaching sessions. Can you expand a little bit more on that and have you changed a lot in those sessions to get more out of those players?

“Yeah, I mean, some ways it's difficult to say, you know. We've just kind of done the work that we've believed in and it's been two weeks and it's been largely a kind of fresh staff that in some ways are still getting to know each other as well, so I think a lot of credit goes to the staff for that and to be able to put things and then service the players. Ultimately, we’re there to service the players and try and help them, and enhance them, and give them the confidence. And it's two games, you know, we're not sitting in there all pats on the back thinking everything's great, you know. We've done some good things, the players have done some fantastic things and trying to work with them, you know, individually, collectively and trying to get on a personal side, on a social side, on a professional side. And at the end of the day, we’re there to try and get the best out of them, you know, and we'll continue to try to do that."

In terms of the social side, you seem a kind of bond-developer between the coaches and the players. Obviously, Jonny was here before, you've been here before as well, but is that being cemented as well?

“I think so, yeah. I was chatting yesterday, I think it feels that it's been a lot longer than the two weeks in a real positive way, the fact that it feels really settled. I think it's certainly not comfortable and taking it easy, but it feels really settled in terms of knowing the roles. I think the players have got to know us quite quickly and understand what we would like from them and expect from them and they've responded fantastically well. So, I think there's really good relationships, you know, and understanding, which so soon is really positive. But certainly, you need to keep pushing and building on that.”

After two really good performances under you against, let’s say, bigger teams in the title challenge. This team over the years has done that over better teams and then not necessarily lost against lower-ranked teams, but performances have been like, ‘Wow, where’s that come from?’ Considering how good it had been. Is that something in your thinking? Are you concerned about that?

“Yeah, listen, I certainly understand what has gone before, not to speak about that because it's not for me to talk about that. What’s important with us is that understand what it's going to take and what it has taken to get results, and, with the respect, as I've said of Marco and Fulham as a team, I think it's as big, if not bigger test as what we've had. So, it's really not a case of looking at this as any different. It's another game in front of us. We got to put so many things in place and carry the emotion and the intensity and everything that goes into whatever game we play, and show the utmost respect to any team. So, we're playing at home, we're playing against Fulham. It's no different for me. It really can't be any different, and assuming things of the type of game or anything like that, we’ve got to face the game in front of us, play the game, however it develops. Yeah, we might play well. We might be on top. We might have to defend. We might be up against it. We might go up, we might go down, but that's something that's just going into the game with anything else, being prepared to do whatever it takes, and understanding that it's a real, real challenge. They're on a great run. They're not far behind us in the league. They're there for a reason. It's a big challenge for us.”

Bruno and Licha are two leaders, everyone would accept that, and you will have others, but are you confident that everyone you send out there on Sunday is aware of basically the mental approach as well? They attitude they’ve got to have?

“Yeah, I am, yeah. It's easy to talk about it. Let's be honest. It's easy for all of us talk about it and we kind of know what needs to be done and how you need to approach it. That's the beauty of the game. It's unpredictable. Things can happen within the game. But certainly, in terms of what I've seen, the reaction from the last game coming back into training and the focus, if anything, it's gone up even more and the intensity in the training is a very, very good level. So, that's all I can ask, you know, is to keep building and improving and taking it into the game.”