Michael Carrick passionately appeals for humility and hard work from Manchester United players to turn results around

Michael Carrick is confident that he is the man to lead Manchester United and take the team towards titles | Photo Credit: Reuters

Chennai

Michael Carrick, the Manchester United manager, came into the pre-match press conference for the match against Bournemouth, with passion amidst the criticism he and his team have faced after a disastrous start to the 2026-27 season.

He admits that the team has “lost their way” and needs to get back to winning ways immediately. Carrick believes there can be no entitlement towards winning, and it has to be earned through hard work.

After the UEFA Champions League match versus Como, where they lost 4-1, scepticism about whether Carrick can steer Man Utd back to success has increased. His relatively successful term as interim manager in the previous season, it had given fans hope that the team could get back to winning titles, however, it doesn’t look like the case.

When asked whether the recent results have hurt him, Carrick said, “It hurts an awful lot, but it doesn’t stop me. There is a big difference, and that hurt is used as pure motivation and inspiration to want, expect and work to get us going in a different direction.”

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Having only won one Premier League game, been knocked out of the League Cup and lost two out of three Champions League matches, it will take a lot of work to turn things around for the Red Devils, starting with Sunday’s visit of Bournemouth to Old Trafford.

“Recently we haven’t had a good time. I totally accept that. We had five months of relative success in a spell where I was happy with a lot of things we were doing as a team. We haven’t done well enough lately. We’ve had a spell we’re really not happy with. Como was a bad night. It hurt me. It was really unacceptable. The supporters have to make the effort and spend the money to come and watch us. To have the feeling we all had after the game was a tough moment,” said Carrick on Friday.

“My job is to put a team on the pitch that represents the supporters and that they can be proud of the identity we show. We have gone away from that recently in certain games, which I am fully aware of and definitely doing something about,” Carrick added.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes heavily criticised the club’s performances and seemed to take digs at the manager after the defeat to Como on Wednesday. When Carrick was asked about the comments, he refused to elaborate on any conversations between the two or whether Fernandes would remain captain.