Manchester United manager Michael Carrick has said “hard truths” have been spoken between himself, the players and the club hierarchy during an eight-game winless run that has left him fighting for his job at Old Trafford.
United face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday aiming to win a domestic fixture for the first time since a 5-2 Premier League victory against Ipswich on Aug. 30 — United’s only league win so far this season.
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Last Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat against Bournemouth, four days after a humiliating 4-1 Champions League loss away to Italian debutants Como, raised serious doubts over Carrick’s United future before the 45-year-old was told by senior figures that he would remain in charge with pressure mounting to halt the dismal run of form.
But with criticism directed at his players and also CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox following their failure to sufficiently bolster the United squad this summer, Carrick said blunt conversations have taken place between parties in an effort to resolve the team’s problems.
“It’s pretty clear,” Carrick told reporters. “It’s not always rosy and nice conversations between anyone, whether that’s between me and the players or whether it’s between me, Jason, Omar or the owners.
“It’s the truth, it’s the hard truth at times and it’s what we need to move forward. Whatever we need to move forward, we’ll do.
“We always do what we think is going to get the best out of the team. Whether that’s certain players that, of course, you speak to at certain points, that’s normal.
“That’s why, if you ask for leaders in the dressing room, you want opinions on certain things and there’s going to be times when you ask that, that’s fine.
“Absolutely no problem. It doesn’t mean that we always agree with that, but absolutely no problem with that. And then we head off in the same direction.”
United are in their worst run of form since the 1988-89 season and have made their worst start to a league campaign since 1986-87, when manager Ron Atkinson was fired and replaced by Alex Ferguson.
But Carrick said that much of the team’s issues are rooted in a loss of confidence — something he says can be rectified.
“Confidence is the beauty of sport,” he said. “Confidence is in some ways the major factor of that belief, that self-belief, that confidence level.
“It kind of trumps everything else in terms of level of performance. But the beauty about confidence, it can come back quickly in one moment, one thing in a game, one win, one result.
“We’ve seen it before, we’ve seen it a few months ago, it can come back quickly. And that’s what keeps you pushing and keeps you believing that it’s always that close and what’s possible is always within touching distance.
“Of course when you’re not winning games and you don’t feel like you’re playing great, then it [doubt] naturally creeps in. The challenge is keeping that belief deep within you, to know it’s there and it’s possible. That’s exactly where we’re at now.
“We need something to flip for everyone, to change the feeling and get the confidence from us, definitely in the team and definitely from the supporters and that belief again.
“It’s never far away, as far away as it seems, it’s never that far away.”
Carrick, meanwhile, dismissed claims by his former United teammate Gary Neville that some players have acted “unprofessionally” by not sleeping properly and socialising at the right time.
“No, I haven’t [found that],” Carrick said. “Gaz says a lot of things.”
