Michael Carrick praised Manchester United's 'fantastic' performance in their 2-0 derby victory over Manchester City and emphasised the need for consistency in his remaining 16 games as interim manager. Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu secured the win at Old Trafford.
Carrick, who took over on Wednesday, described the display as 'a version of normal' and stressed that maintaining high standards is the key challenge. 'The boys were fantastic, in so many ways,' he said. 'And to manage it emotionally with the information we’ve given them and pulling it together it was pretty good.'
The interim coach acknowledged that the emotional intensity of the derby would not be replicated every week, but insisted the team must live up to self-imposed expectations. 'Consistency is the key to any success and if you can find that then you’re on to a winner. That’s our challenge,' Carrick added.
United next face Arsenal away, and Carrick sees the derby win as a foundation to build upon. Meanwhile, City manager Pep Guardiola lamented a disputed red-card incident involving Diogo Dalot and Jeremy Doku, but conceded that his side were second best on the day.
Guardiola argued that Dalot should have been sent off for stamping on Doku early in the first half, but refused to use it as an excuse. 'It's a red card, but it would be poor as a manager to analyse that as the reason for the game,' he said. 'For 80 minutes, it would have been 10 against 11, but if we played with the energy that we did then no change. We have to look at ourselves and Man United were better.'
With City winless in their opening four league games this year, Guardiola acknowledged their title hopes are under threat. 'If you analyse the results, yeah, we are not ready,' he said, but insisted he remained satisfied with performances in previous matches.
