Carrick confirms United star is out for “several weeks” but another has returned to training

Manchester United interim manager Michael Carrick has been speaking to the media in the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Fulham at Old Trafford. The presser is ongoing, please refresh regularly for the latest updates. Injury update Carrick was first asked about the status of the injured stars. “Yeah, Josh [Zirkzee] is back training this week, which is good news,” Carrick replied. “Obviously, first time, so he’s been out for a short amount of time, but first training with us since we’ve been here, so that’s great to have Josh back. Pat, [Dorgu], unfortunately, he’s going to be out for a period of time. We’re still working through how long that’s going to be. So we’ll have to see.” “Disappointment, he’s had such a big couple of weeks, Pat. So we weren’t sure whether it was a little bit of a cramp or was it something a little bit more serious. At the moment, it looks a little bit more on the serious note. So it’ll be a few weeks for that, how many weeks we’ll have to wait and see. So that’s disappointing for all of us, really, and for Pat. He’s in such a good place, but unfortunately, it is football and it’s something we’ve got to work through and get him back as soon as we can.” Asked about Matthijs de Ligt, he replied “Yeah, he’s not trained with us yet. So just working through the process, really, of getting him back as soon as we can.” The next question was “Michael, when you look across the last year or so for United, I know you’ve not been here that entire time, but you’ve watched a lot of the team. A consistent theme has been the struggle to win games consistently at Old Trafford. Do you know why that is?” Carrick answered: “I think ultimately, consistency is the key to success. In my eyes, it’s one of the most difficult things to achieve, to be good consistently, rather. So, yeah, it takes so much. It takes a level of performance, it takes the level of mentality and the intensity and the concentration and actually being able to cope emotionally with the ups and downs of what each game brings and moving on to the next.” “So there’s so many things that go into it. And listen, that’s what we’re working towards. We’ve had a great couple of weeks, two big results. There’s bigger games coming up, and it’s just keeping the mind in the right place as much as the emotions to be able to go into the next game, just as we have done the previous two.” Another reporter asked about Lisandro Martinez’ comments about Carrick winning his heart and mind, and asked “I wonder how much work you’ve been doing in this short time, capturing hearts and minds, as well as giving tactical detail as well.” The Wallsend man replied: “You’ve got to play with feeling. You got to play with emotion. You got to play with excitement. So there’s definitely that side of things and it’s something we speak about. The tactical side, the technical side is one thing, but the things I’ve just touched on is totally something else. The boys have been there, in training and in games and in meetings and everything around the place. They’ve been there and everything we’ve asked them. Licha has epitomized that in terms of how he’s gone about every day and certainly in the game.” “But we’re definitely aware that with what it’s taken to have the couple of weeks we’ve had. A couple of weeks is a couple of weeks. It’s good, but it’s two weeks. And we’re definitely aware that it’s something we need to extend for longer. So respecting the game, respecting what it takes to win games and how hard it is and how good a team full of them are, that’s definitely in the front of our minds.” More to follow … The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and two magazines and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy first saw United live in 1971, watching George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, before becoming a League Match ticket book holder from 1975/76 and a writer since 1995. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.