Michael Carrick has called on his Manchester United players to show "humility, sacrifice and hard work" as the club seeks to recover from a dreadful start to the season. Speaking to the media on Friday, his first comments since a heavy Champions League defeat to Como in midweek, the United boss began his press conference with a passionate speech before taking any questions.
Carrick acknowledged his side's poor results and vowed to turn the campaign around, stressing that players must take responsibility for their performances.
Players Must Take Responsibility
Asked whether his players understood the need for those qualities, Carrick said: "It's vital that they do. They have to, they have to. That's what I'm saying. We have done it, and we've shown a spell in it."
He added: "It's there, you know, we've felt it as a group, and they know what it takes to win certain games. I know you can question things about last season and the run and amount of games we played and all that. The fact of the matter is we went on a really, really good run - the best run in the league out of everybody at that point. So, it's there. It's there, we've got to find it individually, got to find it as a team, and I've got to find it for everyone."
Winning Requires More Than Opponents
Carrick continued: "I think it's pretty clear as day. I'm not telling you anything new. I haven't definitely invented anything new with that. That's the make-up of any good football team. You have to earn the right to be better than your opponent, you have to do more than your opponent to win a game. That's as simple as that. It doesn't change, it never changes. That's what we need to do to win more games."
When it was put to Carrick that United are stuck in a cycle of changing managers, he said: "I understand what we can achieve. I know what it needs to look like to get to the stage where you're winning enough football games to get through that spell as well. But principles and values are so, so important to the football club, definitely to me. We can win games, we can lose games, maybe, hopefully not, but at some point we're going to do it."
Unity and Solutions Ahead
He added: "And that spirit, that unity, that togetherness needs to be there. And it is there, and it will be there. I'll make sure it's there anyway. So, I'm just looking for the solutions to move us forward, it's as plain and simple as that."
United face Bournemouth at home on Sunday afternoon, with Carrick's comments setting the tone for what he expects from his squad as they look to end their poor run of form.
