Michael Carrick opened his Manchester United press conference with an unusual five-minute statement instead of taking questions, addressing recent underwhelming results and his position as head coach.
Carrick's Opening Statement
Carrick said: "I just want to say a few things really, I think it's important. I think recently we haven't had a good time, I think that's pretty obvious. I totally accept that, what we're going through at the moment."
He acknowledged a period of relative success earlier in the season, saying: "We had five months of relative success in a spell, where I was happy with a lot of things that I was seeing and that we were doing as a team."
Reflecting on Wednesday's Defeat
Carrick described Wednesday as "a bad night" that "hurt a lot," adding: "It hurt me to see us play that way, to see how the game panned out. As I said, after the game it was really unacceptable for us to play like that and to be like that."
He expressed sympathy for supporters who attended the match, saying: "The supporters are a huge part of this football club, for me to see the supporters have to make the effort and the time and spend the money to come and support us on Wednesday and have the feeling after the game, like we all felt, was a tough moment."
Responsibility and Club Values
Carrick stressed his responsibility to field a team that represents the club and its supporters, saying: "My responsibility is to get a team on a pitch that represents this football club, represents its supporters and they can be proud of it with the identity that we show."
He referenced the club's history, mentioning Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby, and Sir Bobby Charlton as examples of humility and hard work, saying: "We can never lose that and I won't let us lose that."
Carrick concluded: "Respect this football club, respect what it takes because it's very, very important to me."
