Every word of Carrick’s Arsenal embargoed pre-match press conference | OneFootball

Michael Carrick says he will be involved in the summer transfer business at Manchester United.

Carrick was speaking in the embargoed section of the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

The first question in this section was “In your four games in charge of this club, you’ve unbeaten against now Guardiola, two clubs, Henry and Arteta. That has to give you confidence going into a game like Sunday?”

Carrick replied: “I’ll be honest with you, I think the confidence I’m taking going into the game is what we’ve seen since I’ve been here, between me and my staff in the terms of the game itself, training, how the boys have gone about it. Games from three or four years ago, it’s done, it’s in the past. So as much as the experience helps you in certain moments, I think it’s a totally different game on Sunday. Two teams going into it, I’m looking forward to it in good shape.”

On Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s involvement

The interim boss was then asked whether he had had any discussions with former manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was the last United manager to win at the Emirates.

“Yeah, I spoke to him,” he said. “I’m close. We’ve been through a lot together. He’s been fully supportive, as you’d expect. He’s some man and I respect him a lot. So, yeah, he wished us all the best and he was happy that we got the right result.”

The reporter asked “Would you pick his brains as well, or does he keep a respectful distance there?”

“I think, friendships, you have conversations,” Carrick replied. “I’ve got a lot of friends in places that I can pick on if I need to be. I’m not one that bothers a lot of people, to be honest. But he’s certainly there if ever I need him.”

Will he set up his team to play proactively against the Gunners as he did against City?

“I think it’s playing to what we feel the game needs, really,” he answered. “I think, yeah, we’ll have to wait and see. But as I said, they’re a good team, and City is a good team. And attacking-wise, they’ve got different ways of … I think they are good when they attack the box and cover the width of the box very well. They ask questions with different ways of entering the box, down the sides, opposite side, crosses. They’re very well organised, they’re well drilled, you can see that.”

“So I thought we defend the box when we had to, particularly well last week. We didn’t have to defend the box maybe as long as people expected. I think we kept the game in good places for what we wanted to, and credit to the boys for that. Every game is different. There’s an element to that. It’s never the same. Even you come on in half-time and you’ve had a good performance for 45 minutes, I’m never one that likes to see them again because it’s never ever the same again.”

“You’ve got to build on it. So it won’t be copy and paste. I think there’s new elements that need to come into it. We need to be ready. We need to be our best. And if we’re our best and we’re there, we feel we’ve got a good chance.”

Patrick Dorgu: winger or wing-back?

The next question was “Patrick Dorgu has been very good over the last few weeks. Do you think his long-term future lies on the wing instead of a traditional fullback? He seems to be enjoying himself a bit further forward.”

Carrick replied: “Yeah, I think he can do both, to be honest. Pat, I think he was immense last week. He’s worked great in the way he played the position, but the threat, constant threat, and the goal was the obvious one. But I think his general player was something we were really pleased about. So I wouldn’t want to pin him down, to be honest. I think he can do both, but certainly, attacking-wise, in that threat, he was pretty impressive last week.”

The final question was: “Obviously, Casemiro, as mentioned, is going to be at the end of the season. I think deep in midfield is an area that the club will very much look to reinforce in the summer. It’s not something you get to the end of the season. Who are we going to sign? It’s obviously a progressive thing. Is your opinion going to be canvased over the coming months about the identity, if possible, of midfielders? Obviously, you’ve been seen as a goal. You’ve watched the club for years. A lot of fans feel that the team has missed the character you showed in midfield.”

“You probably weren’t saying that when I was playing,” Carrick joked. “I’m certainly in this position to do that. And as I said, I think making decisions for the club moving forward, whatever that may be, I’m fully committed to that. Naturally, as a midfielder, then there’s a big tendency towards that anyway. But taking that away from it and now being where I am in the position I am certainly going to be part of those conversations and moving forward because it’s important we get the next steps right in terms of moving forward as a team and as a squad and putting the right things in place. So I’ll be part of that in the right way.”

Details of the first part of the presser can be found here.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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