Carrick: Shaw's in a good place

The defender has had difficulty with injuries at various points in his career, but the 30-year-old has started all 27 of our Premier League games so far this term, something Carras puts down to Shaw's experience in managing his body.

The United boss was speaking in the second part of his pre-match press conference ahead of our meeting with Crystal Palace on Sunday, where he also addressed how his coaches divide their time, managing midweek games and the latest on Lisandro Martinez.

Keep scrolling to read, or watch, everything he had to say...

I imagine it's getting parachuted into a managerial job mid-season, when maybe you can't make wholesale changes really quickly. When you see the way the team are playing, how close is that to what you've got in your mind as the way you want a Michael Carrick team to play?

"It’s never perfect, I’ve said that. You’re always kind of hoping for more and I think part of it is understanding how little time we’ve been together. Sometimes it’s going to go well and others where it doesn’t quite click so much. Not to be over picky or over harsh on certain things. Actually taking perspective and the big picture is important for us. I think we’re in a good place you know, in some ways we’ve made big strides winning games we might not have won at other times, played some good football at times, things to improve at times, defending really well a lot of the time, keeping clean sheets. There are lots of positives and there are layers and kind of levels we feel we can get to as a group, so we’ll keep pushing for that."

I'm sure it's not something you focus on, but with Oliver Glasner coming this weekend, there has been some chatter about him potentially becoming the head coach here at some point in the future despite Palace's form. Is that something that's an extra motivation for you going into the game?

"Not really, it’s not something that would cross my mind, until you have mentioned it really."

When you were helping Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] it felt quite significant after that game, when you won at Tottenham and obviously Mauricio Pochettino was in charge. Can you still get those surges of momentum from certain wins like that?

"Honestly no, it doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. Total respect to Crystal Palace and Oliver and the team that they are and the role that they’re doing but that’s no disrespect. It’s the next game for us, we’re in a position where we have found ourselves in a decent spot and feel like we are moving forward. It is just about what is in front of us and moving to where we want to be, which is a little higher in the league. That’s literally all I am worried about at the moment."

We spoke to Benjamin Sesko after the Everton game the other night and he talked about Travis Binnion really helping him in training. Could you provide some insight into what Travis is doing on the training pitch?

"The coaches are doing really great work, I’m sitting here and kind of answering the questions but there is a lot of work that goes on underneath that. It has been a big focus of ours, to be honest, in terms of individuals and narrowing things down and trying to help the players. I think I said that from the start trying to develop them. Trav has been a big part of that in so many ways as has Steve, Woody and Jonny and Craig. I think it’s a bit of everything really. A little bit on the pitch, a little bit one-on-one, a little bit in the meeting room. As much as everything it’s about the conversations and relationships and connections and support. You know it is important and we try to provide that for all the players. It is not always easy to just flick a switch and perform, so there are so many different elements that we try and provide the support and help for and then trying to get improvement and push the players to be better and I think we have made some good gains over that period."

Has Trav worked with the strikers individually?

"We kind of split it up. Naturally, it kind of takes its course. Any coaching team, you try to spread it, again building relationships, having eyes on certain things. It helps the players to help and know certain coaches to try and invest in that improvement process. Trav has done quite a bit of work with the forwards, sometimes as a unit, sometimes as a group, and individuals. It’s just constant, in trying to keep improving."

You mentioned wanting to be back in Europe. This is one of the few weeks where you've got two games in a few days, quick turnaround. Is this part of stress-testing the squad and seeing how they react after many weeks with no midweek games, playing two games against teams that are in Europe?

"In some ways, yeah. We had the West Ham midweek game, which feels a long time ago now but probably wasn’t that long ago. This is a squad and a group of players over their careers the boys are used to it, it is not something that all of a sudden is really new. It feels fresh because we haven’t had much but it is not really such a big deal. We’re in good shape and the boys have got enough experience and know what to bring from game to game. If you’ve got them playing close together, you have to be ready for the next one.

I just want to ask you about Luke Shaw. Started every game for United this season. He's had his injury issues in the past. How impressed have you been with him, that he's someone you can now rely on every single match to play as long as you need him?

"He is in a good place Luke, experience helps managing a load, managing your body and he has put a good run of games together. I think that in itself is probably underestimated you know and game to game and be fit for the next game but actually to be able to do that over a long period of time sometimes takes some adjusting. He has been good for a long time Luke and especially this season to have that consistency shows how much experience has helped him."

I'd like to ask about Lisandro Martinez. He dropped out of the game against Everton due to some sort of injury. What can you tell us about his current health and how does the team respond when you don't have a player of his talent?

"The boys responded well. They kept a clean sheet so they responded well, Leny [Yoro] came in and did incredibly well. With Licha it’s a small issue, so he’s getting closer, he won’t be out for very long so we’ll just monitor him over the next day, two, three, four days and see when he can come back but he is not far away."