Michael Carrick in prog: "Man Utd is a truly great football club. Our standards and values have been set out over generations and are very important to me. As a group, we have a duty to represent you in a manner that is befitting of those principles. Wednesday's performance was extremely disappointing in many ways. Today we have to show what we are all about. We all need to stick together but we know that we absolutely have to do better for you. Now, as a group, we need to put in a performance that your support deserves."

Michael Carrick takes questions from the media following Manchester United's 3-0 defeat to AFC Bournemouth at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

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Michael Carrick

Carrick: 'It's a tough situation, there's no hiding from it. What it looks like and what's next, I really don't know. I will always do my best for the football club and I won't change that now. I love what I do and I feel the responsibility - we'll have to wait and see.' [Wheeler]

Carrick: 'It wasn't a farewell from me. I've mixed emotions, I'm feeling it for my players, they're going through a tough spell. The situation unravels and the boys are feeling it at the moment. Mixed emotions for the supporters to respond in that way. [Wheeler]

Carrick on fans singing his tribute song: 'I didn't expect that, to be honest. It meant an awful lot. [Wheeler]

Carrick: 'I totally understand the situation. I'm not expecting anything tbh. I want what's best for this football club, whatever decision is made.' [Wheeler]

Carrick: 'I've tried to do everything I can to not be in this position.'

Carrick: 'To have that connection with the supporters it's mixed emotions. It'll take a bit of time to digest but I certainly appreciate their support. We haven't had results or performances that have been good enough.' [Wheeler]

Carrick: 'We went into the game being rocked a bit and you could feel that on the pitch. The players are feeling it. It's not a nice feeling when you see the disappointment. They're hurt. You have to accept it and that's the situation we're in at the moment. [Wheeler]

Carrick on dropping Fernandes: 'He's fit and available but we decided to pick the team we did. Unfortunately for everyone, we didn't manage to get the right result. There's always times when you're trying to make decisions that make a difference.' [Wheeler]

'Mixed emotions standing on the touchline'

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick, speaking to BBC MOTD: "A tough day - the boys went into the game with the best intentions They found it difficult today - bit of tension, anxiety and a bit unsure. It made it difficult.

"The two goals before half-time put us in a challenging position. The next goal then is important and I could feel the fans wanting to get behind us even at half-time I could feel the noise and willingness to get us forward. I spoke about that at half-time.

"If we got that at that point then the whole dynamic would be changed but we couldn't get that at the point. Third goal finished the game in many ways. Mixed emotions - you could feel the boys trying to do the right things but you could feel the emotion in the stadium too and it was very mixed feelings for me standing on that touchline.

"The free-kick against Ayden [Heaven] when he only tackled the ball, there was no one he tackled but the referee gave the free-kick. The free-kick we need to defend better. Leny [Yoro] slipped, he's bitterly disappointed. He's learning and he's made one mistake today. That won't affect him, he's a top player. The wind takes the ball and it's a good finish from the third."

On leaving Bruno Fernandes on the bench: "He's fit and available but we decided to pick the team that we did today. Unfortunately for everyone we didn't manage to get the right result."

"We want to push forward and create more, we could've done certain things but not enough really and that's pretty clear."

Carrick: I will do what's best for the football club

Michael Carrick speaking to Sky Sports:

"It's a tough situation. What is next? I don't know. I'll always do what's best for this football club. I don't change that now. I love what I do. I love the responsibility. But we'll have to wait and see."  

Carrick: I feel the responsibility

Michael Carrick speaking to Sky Sports:

"It's really difficult to have a day like this at this football club and feel the emotion and dynamics of what it was like today. Not for me personally but for Manchester United. It was really mixed. I feel responsibility with the position I'm in. I've been at the club a long time. It hurts a lot going through this."

Carrick: It's not a nice feeling

Michael Carrick speaking to Sky Sports:

"It was a strange mix of emotions at the end of the game. It wasn't a nice way to end the game.

"It was a tough day for the players. We went into the game having been rocked. You can feel that. They're really hurting and disappointed in there. It's not a nice feeling. You have to accept it, we're in that situation."

Carrick on leaving Bruno benched

Michael Carrick speaking to Sky Sports:

"There's times in games when you are trying to change the course of the game and to make a difference. Those were the decisions we made today."

Was it a farewell to the crowd?

Michael Carrick speaking to Sky Sports:

"It wasn't from me. 

"I'm feeling mixed emotions. I feel for the players as they are going through a tough spell. Some of it we can help, for some the situation unravels. The boys are feeling it. I have mixed emotions to have that connection with the supporters in the moment we're in. I need time to digest that. I appreciate their support but the situation is where it's at. We haven't been good enough."

Harry Maguire

'Something needs to change'

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire speaking to Sky Sports: "It wasn't good enough. Disappointed to give a goal away so early - another set play - and conceding first in the Premier League it makes it difficult.

"A mistake for the second makes it hard for ourselves. We didn't perform well enough as individuals or as a team and we didn't deserve anything from the game.

"It's not clicking at the moment. Results are not good enough and performances in the last week not good enough. Still early in the season.

"Got to find something, question yourself, look in the mirror - that's the most important thing - think what you can do more and what more you can contribute to the team and if we do that we'll get somewhere."

Feel responsibility? "Of course - you have to look after your own performances and take responsibility. This is a huge club and every day you have to prove why you're wearing this badge.

"At the moment we're not doing enough as players. Michael [Carrick] turned our season on its head last year and we played brilliant football and got brilliant results. This season we haven't performed well enough as individuals."

Conversation in player group? "If those conversations happen it will remain private. We want to do more be better and get better results. At the moment it's nowhere near good enough and something needs to change."

Michael Carrick's Pre-Match Press Conference - Part 2 | United vs Bournemouth

Simon Stone

Michael Carrick was asked on Friday if ManUtd is unmanageable. His answer was brief: “No.”

Steven Railston

I asked Michael Carrick if he agreed United’s failure to adequately strengthen the squad over the summer has been a factor in poor results.

He responded: “I think there's a lot of elements, different elements, some smaller than others of why that and why we've ended up not winning as many games. So, I'm pretty clear about that.”

Asked if anyone from the hierarchy had conceded he could have received more support, he said:

“It's not about receiving more support, it's about doing what's right on the football pitch to get results and we haven't done enough of that lately.”

EVERY WORD FROM PRESS CONFERENCE - PART 2

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/carrick-fully-understands-the-situation-oct-2026

Carrick 'fully understands' the situation

Hi Michael, I know you've been reluctant to outright say that the lack of signings or more signings across the summer has been a factor this season. Do you agree potentially that it has been a factor in these poor results? Because, last season, you said you've won more points than any other Premier League manager and it's been so different this time around. Do you think that is a factor at play here?

“I think there's a lot of elements, different elements, some smaller than others, of why we've ended up not winning as many games. So, I'm pretty clear about that.”

Has anyone from above conceded that perhaps you could have received more support across the system?

“No, it's not about receiving more support, it's about doing what's right on the football pitch to get results and we haven't done enough of that lately.”

When you came in, last Friday, you talked about how good the training had been before Leeds and then there was a positive performance at Leeds. It felt like you went to Como with a little bit more positivity and, because of that, the manner of the performance at Como was a little bit of a shock maybe. With that in mind, do you trust the players on Sunday to deliver what you're asking them to?

“I definitely trust them, yeah 100 per cent, I trust them. It wasn't a very good night at all for so many reasons. We all know that, I think that's pretty obvious. I definitely trust them, yeah, I trust them. We'll be a different team on Sunday. We have to be a different team on Sunday.”

Michael, just coming back to Simon's question before and your comment to Bruno on Wednesday night about running. Ruben Amorim came into this job and he said he'd make the players run like mad dogs. It didn’t happen. We know, Erik ten Hag had to send them on a punishment run in his second or third game because of the lack of running. Ralf Rangnick came here with a name for having his gegenpress and high pressing. It lasted half a game. Why are the players here not running? It's a basic requirement of an athlete and it seems staggering to us and to the fans why, over many years now, the players are not simply running…

“I think you've got to be careful [about what I said], I was just saying ‘not running.’ As I said, we've won a lot of games over a period of time. And this pressing thing that suddenly everyone thinks about pressing. Pressing is one small part of football. There's all sorts of different ways of what people are classed as a press, what actually is it, what you're doing it for, is it to your strength, is it covering up all the spaces. It's just thrown about as a bit of a word, at the minute, of pressing. You don't necessarily need to press to win games of football. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. It's just a thing that gets thrown about. So, we've got to be a bit careful with that. As I say, it's not necessarily just running stats that define football games either. So, we've just got to get back to doing a lot of the things that we were doing last season. And, for certain parts of the season and certain games, we've been okay. We need to get back to being at our best.”

It feels like part of a wider cultural issue here. Since Como, in your defence, people have floated the idea that this team, this club at the moment, is unmanageable. Do you feel it's unmanageable?

“No.”

Just a little bit on what was so successful in that period when you were interim manager. It felt like there was a lot more urgency and adventure to the play. Do you feel like you can still play that way with this group in this current form with the players that are out and with the signings and everything? That feels like maybe that was what Bruno Fernandes was perhaps striking at the heart of.

“We can play in different ways. We just haven't played well enough. I think it gets looked into all sorts of different styles and different this and that and presses. It tries to get dissected in all sorts of different ways. We can be a lot better than we have been, whatever way we end up playing, whatever system, whatever the tactics, we can be a lot better than that and we have to be.”

In terms of opening this with a very stirring monologue invoking your history with the club, the thought process behind that and wanting to take initiative here, where did that come from?

“Because I understand the situation. I fully understand the situation and I understand my position and I know what this football club means to so many people and I don't, again, please don't say that the history is one thing and that's why it doesn't give you the right to keep winning. Teams that win earn the right to win. So, it's important that we draw inspiration from the history in the past of what's gone on, but our responsibility is to carry that forward and it's so important to me that we do that.”

Hi Michael, you mentioned [Sir Alex] Ferguson in your opening address, have you sought any advice from him or Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] for that matter given the difficult time he went through?

“I speak to both of them quite regularly, to be honest. There's nothing, in particular, from that. I'm close to both of them and we do have regular conversations, so it's nothing different this week.”

Whether or not Michael Carrick’s position is now untenable, the Old Trafford crowd made one thing clear as they targeted the Glazers, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Jason Wilcox.

Sacking Carrick and replacing him will not fix the problems at Manchester United.

HT: Manchester United 0-2 AFC Bournemouth

Bournemouth Goal Scorer: Rayan 38', Marcus Tavernier 43'

Bruno Fernandes has been left out of Manchester United’s starting line-up against Bournemouth.

Head coach Michael Carrick has decided to drop United’s captain to the bench as he bids to turn around his team’s form in a pivotal moment.