Manchester United interim head coach Michael Carrick addressed the media at Carrington this afternoon ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa at Old Trafford. The pre-match press conference was brought forward to 12:30 GMT on Friday to allow Carrick to watch the Premier League 2 match between Manchester United U21s and Southampton U21s. However, due to an embargo in place, his comments were made available at 13:30 GMT. Carrick started the press conference by highlighting the mood at Carrington following the defeat at Newcastle United: “Yeah, it’s been a good week, obviously, the result was disappointing the way the game ended. It was obviously disappointing. I think we’ve kind of digested that and looked at it and learned from it and trained well. Trained really well this week, but I was itching to get going on Sunday now.” Team news for Aston Villa match Carrick confirmed that midfielder Mason Mount has returned to first-team training ahead of Villa’s visit. The former Chelsea midfielder’s last appearance for the Red Devils came in Carrick’s first game in charge against Manchester City in January. He said: “Mason is back with the group, which is fantastic. He’s an important player for us, Mason, and to have him back and involved is a good step for us. He is not 100% in terms of back, because he’s only trained a very small amount of time, but he’s back and that’s good for us so we’ll see whether he’s involved or not on Sunday, but it’s a big step for him so we’re happy with that. Yeah, that’s it in terms of players coming back for now.” Carrick reacts to Scholes’ comments Paul Scholes raised plenty of eyebrows with his apparent dig at Carrick following United’s 2-1 loss against Newcastle. However, his former midfield partner calmly avoided giving any headline-making response. Carrick insisted: “There’s nothing to say about it really. I think that’s just where we are in terms of social media and things and captions and quotes and it can be taken in different ways. Calm about it and understand actually what the real meaning of things. So, listen, there’s different opinions out there, you know, and it’s fine, people can have different opinions. It’s just things get taken way out of one extreme to the other and it is what it is, but I’m not worried about it. So I don’t make a big deal of it either.” On his former player Morgan Rogers’ rise “It’s fantastic for me to see Morgan going on to do so well,” Carrick replied. “And he’s done it for a good period of time now, you know, and he had the initial signing in January. I wasn’t really sure how it was going to go. It was a step for him and I hadn’t really played for an awful long time at Middlesbrough, really, so I naturally felt probably he could have done a little bit more, but as soon as he’s gone, Aston Villa and… He’s taking huge steps and quickly and being a major, major part of their team and part of the England team as well. It just shows how well he’s done. We could always see what he was possibly going to be capable of and the potential there in terms of what he could do, his attributes, the way he carries the ball, play off his left foot, play off of his right foot, create, score goals and really good athletically. So there was a lot of things there, positives obviously, why we took them to start with. But, to see him go on and have such an impact would probably be more than I would have expected, probably more than Morgan himself would probably have expected. I think it’s great to see though. I enjoy seeing him do so well. Obviously when we come against him it’s a different story, but nevertheless he’s a good person, he’s really great to work with, so I’m delighted he’s doing so well.” Carrick also coached Jadon Sancho, currently on loan under Unai Emery, during his first interim spell at United. Asked about his situation, he replied: “You can never be surprised with anything in football. I think it’s one of those things. Sometimes you come to a club, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t quite work. That’s natural, it happens at every club. Jadon’s got talent, that’s why he came to the club to start with and he’s had some really good moments. For whatever reason, I don’t know, I’ve not been here for a period of time. He’s ended up finding himself at Aston Villa, so he had obviously a good spell at Dortmund as well. Champions League final so he’s certainly got talent and he’s playing a lot this season so credit to him for that and he is having an impact you know and playing a lot of games what happens next and how we move forward then we’ll just have to wait and see.” The next question was about the importance of Sunday’s encounter against a fellow Champions League-chasing side on the back of his first defeat. Carrick answered: “It’s always about what’s next, what you’re going to react, whether you’ve won, whether or not you’ve drawn, what’s going to be the reaction, what’s the group, what are the emotions in it, how do we make the best of it, what is the motivation for the next game and driving that forward. I understand with it being the first defeat, if you like, it feels a little bit different but it’s going to come at some point. You look through the league, it’s a tough league. Most teams if not every team has suffered that in recent times so it’s putting things in perspective really and kind of putting it in shape where we know where we can improve, what we can do better, we’re taking a lot of confidence from as a group what we can and what we show we can achieve and how we can play so it has been a really good week in many ways and excited, it’s an important game, there’s no getting away from it, it is there. There’s an awful lot to play for, so I’m fully embracing the situation at the moment and looking forward to the next game.” Will JJ Gabriel make his debut under Carrick? JJ Gabriel’s immense potential and outstanding performances at youth level have attracted a lot of attention. The 15-year-old has trained with the senior team on several occasions, but Carrick has no desire to rush his first-team debut. “He is too young [due to Premier League rules],” Carrick told the reporters. “He’s doing really well, JJ. We’ve got some really good young players in the academy and we try and get the younger players up as much as we can and the 21s are kicking off in 25 minutes as well, so we’re looking forward to finishing this and going to watch them. I’d much rather be here, I must say. So, yeah, we’re always trying to… Expose and give that exposure to the players to come and train and feel it. JJ is a big talent, it’s pretty obvious to know that and he’s had a really good season for the under-18s. We obviously think an awful lot of him but patience is important in managing everything that comes with that and working with him in development as we do with all the different age groups and younger players and picking the right moment to step up, picking the moment to leave them in a certain place and ups and downs. What he’s done when he’s trained he’s done well as you’d expect and it’s good to have the younger players come up with us.” Finally, Carrick took time to underline the impact of one of United’s most experienced players, Harry Maguire, stating: “Harry’s been playing well. I think, yeah, it’s pretty obvious to say that. I think he’s, considering you look back not too long ago, he was out for a considerable period of time as well injured. So he came straight back in when we came, kind of arrived, really. And so there’s been a little bit of managing him as well through the weeks in the games and the game, how we’ve had that, and getting him right up to speed, if you like, physically. And I think just showed his experience, you know, and… In situations, the composure, know what it feels like, understands what it takes. And he’s done ever so well, whatever’s going to happen with England is going to happen with him, but he’s definitely put himself back in the frame if he was ever out of it. He’s definitely in the framework. Hopefully, from my point of view, he gets picked and he goes.” Featured image George Wood via Getty Images 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 Vishal Singh Vishal has worked in the football media industry for over six years, planning, writing, and editing content for several major outlets, including North Star Network. Vishal has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Delhi University. Currently a writer at The Peoples Person, he covers Manchester United — a club he has been religiously following and supporting since 2012. Vishal also manages a leading MUFC fan page, The Red Devils, on Facebook with over a million likes. Big fan of ball-playing centre-backs and Harry Maguire’s knee-slide celebration!
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