Michael Carrick reunited with former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during the club's pre-season trip to Norway. The pair met just months after Carrick was appointed United manager ahead of Solskjaer, who was reportedly in talks for a second stint.
Pre-season victory
United faced Rosenborg on Friday and secured a 5-0 win, with goals from Shea Lacey, Joshua Zirkzee, Jacob Devaney, Harry Amass and Ethan Williams.
Carrick and Solskjaer are believed to have a close relationship, despite Carrick beating the former forward to the top job last season. Carrick was handed the role permanently after 12 wins from 17 games, which secured a Champions League spot.
Carrick sought advice
Earlier this year, Carrick admitted he had sought advice from Solskjaer before officially taking the reins. He said: “Yeah, yeah I’ve spoken to him. We’re close, we’ve been through a lot together. He’s been fully supportive, as you’d expect. He’s some man, I respect him an awful lot. He wished us all the best, and he was happy that we got the right result.”
He added: “I think, friendships, you have conversations… I’ve got a lot of friends in places that I can pick on if I need to. I’m not that one that bothers a lot of people to be honest, but… He’s certainly there if ever I need.”
Post-match reaction
After the match, Carrick said: “Clean sheet, scoring goals, and everyone, by the looks of it, coming through injury-free is what you want at this stage, really. As much as we want everything to improve and performances to be better all the time, I think keeping players fit and progressing through pre-season is as important as anything.”
He continued: “So, two games in, two weeks in, I think we can take where we are and we’re pretty happy. The second half, the younger players coming on, I thought they were fantastic. They played as a team really well and deserve what they got second half.”
Carrick added: “It’s important to build through this pre-season, some players need more minutes than others as they go and we’re managing some players a little bit more than others. I've said it before the game, it's never going to be perfect, two weeks in and you're kind of building towards that. So, I thought there was a lot of good things, some of the goals were fantastic goals and it’s just as pleasing to keep a clean sheet. So yeah, we’re moving forward nicely.”
