Interim coach wants his side to think only of the next game despite fan excitement
Manchester United’s interim coach Michael Carrick has made it clear he is not getting carried away by his side’s results over the last two weeks, after the Red Devils followed up their derby victory over Manchester City with a 3-2 win against league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates.
Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu turned things around after Arsenal had gone ahead earlier via a Lisandro Martinez own goal. Mikel Merino equalised for Arsenal in the late stages but a superb strike from distance by Matheus Cunha condemned the Gunners to a first defeat at the Emirates this season.
The performance had United fans singing “We’re going to win the league”.
“I’m not getting carried away,” Carrick said. “We’ve got some big games, bigger games, coming up, because every next game is the bigger game.
“So we’re not getting carried away. We’ve got really important things coming up that we need to keep improving with.
“But there’s a lot of emotion, a lot of energy and a lot of confidence that you can take from that [beating City and Arsenal], but be humble and understand how we’ve got these results. That’s really important moving forward.”
The United manager was queried about whether he was eyeing up a permanent role in the summer after his interim spell.
“What happens next I’m not going to be answering it every week,” Carrick said. “I’m enjoying it [the job] and I’ll continue to do what I can.
“I know from our perspective it’s just about moving forward to the next game. It’s been less than two weeks that we’ve been together, so it’s just keep getting good habits and good routines. The boys have been fantastic with that.
“But I don’t think we can look too far ahead. We certainly won’t be anyway, so we’ll finish where we finish by getting the results.
“I know that’s kind of obvious, but looking too far ahead can come back and bite you. We’ve taken this week by week, game by game and we’ll certainly continue to do that, but we’ve got to ride it, you’ve got to use the emotion, you’ve got to use the energy, you’ve got to use the confidence.
“But it’s a clear focus. Everything is in front of us now, it’s a good start, but we’ve just got to keep building.”
Goalscorer Dorgu was forced off in the closing stages due to what initially appeared to be a hamstring problem.
Carrick said: “He came off with a bit of cramp, so hopefully it’s not much more than that.
“Pat’s been a big player for us over the last couple of games, in so many ways attacking wise, but defensively he has been immense as well against two teams that ask a lot of questions.
“I’m delighted for him because he has put so much into his performances. It’s nice to see him smiling.
