Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has dismissed a theory the Old Trafford club is unmanageable.
Carrick is clinging on to his job after a desperate run of seven games without a win before Sunday’s Premier League match against Bournemouth.
The pressure on him has been heightened by controversial comments from senior players Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes attacking the club’s recruitment and his own tactics.
If Carrick were to lose his job, it would be the third change of manager in as many seasons and mean eight long-term bosses, including Ralf Rangnick, have lost their jobs after failing to get close to the heights of Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired in 2013.
Given the pressure on the club is heightened by the number of prominent ex-players who have their own media outlets, and the proliferation of fan channels that attract large numbers of viewers, there is an argument it makes United an impossible club to manage.
Carrick had a one-word answer to that notion.
“No,” he said.
However, Carrick does take issue with some of the claims made about his team by former professionals and casual observers.
He is particularly vexed at the sense his team do not run enough, and do not press the opposition when they are out of possession.
Carrick has accepted the general performance of his team in a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como on Wednesday was “unacceptable”.
However, he doesn’t see how claims his team don’t press stand up to much scrutiny.
“You’ve got to be careful with just saying ‘not running’,” he said.
“We’ve won a lot of games over a period of time and this pressing thing; pressing is one small part of football.
“There are all sorts of different ways that are classed as a press. What actually is it? What are you doing it for? Is it to your strength? Is it covering up other spaces?
“It’s just thrown about as a bit of a word at the minute. You don’t necessarily need to press to win games of football. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t.
“It’s not necessarily just running stats that define football games either.
“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 this season.”
