It would be “pointless” if Man United didn’t feel excitement of win streak, says Carrick | OneFootball

Michael Carrick urged his Manchester United players to “enjoy the buzz of winning” as they chase the fifth consecutive win of his tenure against West Ham on Tuesday.

A bright start to life under Carrick, who has been appointed as interim manager until the end of the season, has seen the feel-good factor return to Old Trafford – and the 44-year-old spoke ahead of a midweek trip to London about the defensive improvements and tactical flexibility that puts the Red Devils on the cusp of a five-game win streak for the first time in two years.

Victories against Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham and Spurs have built a solid foundation for the former midfielder to work from, and while he has insisted that he will not get ahead of himself and refused to be drawn on his future beyond the end of the season, he admitted that “you’ve got to enjoy the buzz of winning.”

“That’s what we’re in it for, so you’ve got to manage the highs of it, and you got to enjoy it, initially, the feeling of winning a game, you know? You can’t kind of just be flatlined at all times. But certainly, going into the next game, you’ve got to then regroup and prepare again for what’s next.

“But you definitely take the confidence and the feeling from the games that you’ve had, knowing you can go into the next game with a little bit more feel-good factor about it.

“You’ve still got to allow yourself to feel the little bits of waves of emotion with it, because it’s all a bit little bit boring and pointless if you didn’t, really, to be honest. Winning games is what we’re all striving for, you know? The boys have been good with that, though, they’ve managed it really well, and kind of had the high of the win, come back into training, and focused on the next one, and we’ve got to keep that going.”

Man United have shipped just four goals across those four games – a notable improvement from the 1.51 goals per game they were averaging under Ruben Amorim in the Premier League this season.

Speaking about those defensive improvements, Carrick explained: “It’s easier to win games without having to score so many goals every week, for sure.

“We do seem to be a team that can cause a lot of problems and create opportunities and score goals, so it’s definitely getting the balance right. There’s still things to improve on, it’s definitely something we’ve focused on, of trying to be better as a team, collectively, when we don’t have the ball.

“But three or four weeks, we’re not going to fix everything and, all of a sudden, look perfect.”

Carrick was asked about the freedom his players seem to have been afforded at the other end of the pitch in recent weeks, and he insisted that it’s all about finding the right balance.

“It’s not a total free-for-all where you can kind of go and decide, it’s a little bit of where you end up,” he explained.

“Bruno [Fernandes] is that type where he understands the different roles and plays them particularly well. And Bryan [Mbeumo] has done very similar. So has Matheus [Cunha], as well, playing sometimes through the middle and sometimes off the left. So it does give us the variety, I think.

“They’re all suited to different kinds of roles. Amad is probably more of naturally being wide and so that’s a little bit more predictable, if you like. The flexibility certainly helps us, as long as we look after the positions when we don’t have the ball.”

If Manchester United were to achieve a fifth consecutive win on Tuesday, a long-awaited haircut would be in order for Frank Illet – the Red Devils fan who pledged not to cut his hair until his team won five in a row.

“My kids have made me aware of it,” Carrick admitted in his press conference, “but it certainly won’t go into the team talk!

“It does make me smile, but it won’t have an impact, ultimately in the end.”

West Ham v Manchester United gets underway at 20:15 GMT on Tuesday 10 February.