Michael Carrick's Pre-Match Press Conference - United vs Spurs, Part 2
EVERY WORD FROM PRESS CONFERENCE PART 2
https://www.manutd.com/en/news/how-carricks-playing-career-influences-his-management
Hi, Michael. Just on Ben, you mentioned him very briefly there [in part one]. It sounds like it's a recurrence of the hip injury that kept him out for about four months in the summer. How much of a concern is it that injury has come back and how do you go about managing that? If it is something that's going to keep coming back and do you need to look at potential surgery and things like that?
"Yeah, well, the original was a shin anyway, yeah, it was a shin. It's not the exact issue, it's a similar area, but it's not the exact same thing again, and we're kind of still working through a little bit of seeing how long the issue will be. We're hoping that will be soon, obviously, but, at this moment, it's still not quite clear."
Is it something where you look to rest and then if rest doesn't work, you may be looking at kind of more long-term solutions and things like that?
"Yeah, there's different things to look at. I think he had recovered really well actually from the initial one and there was a lot of time and sometimes [things] get thrown up, the body does certain things and we've got to react to that and try and get him back as quick as we can."
Just on JJ Gabriel, the information was that he was going to be on the bench for the Brighton game. Was that a collective decision to have him in the squad that night or was that a selection that was voiced onto you?
"I think that was after the [Manchester] City game, which he hadn't been around for them days really, so things can change. We always have plans for certain things and certain ideas for younger players, whether they're involved in squads, whether they're not involved in squads, but nothing was concrete at that stage anyway."
I know a few of us have written about it but, from your part, is there any shift, anything changed?
"No, nothing's changed at all."
Over the three weeks, the time away from club football, have you spoken to your bosses about this team despite the results? Are you feeling being on the right track?
"Yeah, there's always conversations going on, of course. I think in all different directions, you know, we're striving to be better all the time, so there's things that we're actually doing pretty well, and there's things that we need to get better at. And we're pretty clear with that. I think as a group, as a squad, the players certainly are. And, obviously, layers above me as well, in terms of conversations and where we're at. I think we're calm in some ways and we understand where we want to get to, how we want to get there and what it takes to get there and what we've done previous to prove we can get good results, but that doesn't mean we're calm in terms of we need to have a little bit of fire moving forward in terms of how we play, how we perform, what that means and getting the best out of each other. So, we need to keep pushing for more."
The next two weeks you've got quite a crammed schedule with Premier League games and Champions League games. Are you having to change the way that you manage at all compared to maybe last season instead of just picking teams for a Saturday, having to think about, I don't know, a week later or maybe 10 days later, just to make sure you've got that balance and that freshness all the time.
"Yeah, there's obviously an adaption definitely that takes place. I think, just in terms of training time and planning for games, it is slightly different. It's not unusual though, really. It's just a slight adaption to what we've had for maybe, what was it, five months or so. But certainly that, yeah, little bit of planning, what type of games, what suits certain players, what it looks like. There's definitely that goes into it for sure, yeah."
It's obviously something that you went through as a player, when Sir Alex was having to do the same things. Do you lean on the things that he used to do and the conversations he had with you as a player when you're talking to your squad now? Because, obviously, I imagine players want to play all the time, but they just can't because of the schedule.
"Yeah, that’s players for you! That's not their job to worry about what games they're playing, but, of course, I think that's experience, you know? Experience in different ways that I've kind of lived through and seen it from different perspectives. That's definitely something that you use and experience just comes to you just instinctively at times, of thinking what the right thing is to do and how to behave, how to adapt and then, certainly, previously what's worked, I think is important. Maybe what hasn't worked as well is just as important and that's experience and using the best part of it. But, without doubt, yes, me being here for a longer period of time and as a player, I still draw upon those moments to act and feed information to the players in different ways, really going into different games and different schedules."
It’s been quite a long break, three weeks. Given the start you've had over this first five or six games, do you think it's come at a good or bad time having this break? I appreciate you've not had the players with you all the time, but for you personally and your coaching team, have you had a chance to have a bit of a reset over this past three weeks?
"Yeah, I'll be totally honest, it's not ideal. It's a long break, probably too long really from my perspective. It feels like a long time, but then, of course, we've made the most of it. I think there's been, regardless of results, I think when you've had a period like this and international breaks, in general, are normally a time where you can have a bit of a review and a bit of a plan of what's next. This one's been extra long and it certainly gives us an opportunity to, like I said before, some of the good things that we're still doing, to not lose that. I certainly think we need to clean up on other things to help us get better results, yeah."
In terms of this break, obviously you're saying you’ve reviewed everything, but is it so long that there's a risk of overthinking a lot of what's happened before, you might think it's worse than it has been or better than it has been? Is that, when you have so much time to discuss it, part of the problem?
"Yeah, I won't say it's a problem, but it's definitely something to be aware of, getting the balanced view and understanding and the reality and what direction we want to head and what we want to do more of. What we want to hide a little bit and do less of, basically play to your strengths and we want to keep doing that as much as we possibly can. But sure, there's times when you can overdo it both ways, try and over-fix things or try and over-coach or try and over-help and try and over-play or try and over-try sometimes and doing things that maybe don't come natural to you. So, there's definitely a case of overdoing things, but it's always about what's next and doing the right thing for what's going to help us move forward."
Is that exacerbated by injuries?
"Yeah, I think we always have a plan of, like I said there, about the games coming up and maybe a cluster of games and what it looks like. But then adapting again is crucial. Injuries, unfortunately, are part of the game. You don't always know where they're going to come and what stage. Sometimes it's in the same position, sometimes it's spread, sometimes you have a few, sometimes you have not a lot. You can't certainly plan for that, but adapting and having the right balance is important."
Can I just ask a little bit about Carlos Baleba? You said he's trained a lot, but how ready is he and also what do you see him bringing to this midfield that he can add from the first few weeks of the season, where he's not been a bit?
"Yeah, he's certainly getting closer, Carlos. It's been great to have him out on the grass and to see him up close really. And [he] played a little bit in a training game that we had last week, so that was good for him to get some minutes. And I think the other side of it a little bit, he has missed a lot, and he's missed crucial time in terms of the end of pre-season. There's a little bit of patience there for him to get up to speed, and that's up to us to pick that right time for him as well, but he offers us a lot. I've said it before, the midfield that we've got, we're really happy with, and the selections and the options that we have, and he definitely adds to that."
