Carrick hopes for consistency following stirring Derby win as he expresses delight with victory on his return.
‘A version of normal’: Carrick asks for consistency after Manchester derby triumph.
After praising Manchester United’s “fantastic” performance in their 2-0 derby victory over Manchester City, Michael Carrick stated that maintaining such high standards as a “version of normal” will be the challenge for his remaining 16 games as interim coach.
Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu’s goals highlighted an outstanding effort in Carrick’s first game back in command.
Carrick has been appointed till the end of the season, and he understands that his squad must continue to perform at the same level and aim for consistency because the only thing left to play for is European qualifying.
“The boys were fantastic, in so many ways,” Carrick said. “And to manage it emotionally with the information we’ve given them and pulling it together it was pretty good. That’s the challenge ultimately – it needs to be a version of normal, certainly we’re not going to have games with the emotion and the feeling of everything that today brought.
“We all understand that, but there’s definitely a level of standards and expectation we need to live up to from ourselves as much as anyone on the outside.”
Carrick, who took over on Wednesday, next takes United to Arsenal on Sunday week. He said: “Consistency is the key to any success and if you can find that then you’re on to a winner. That’s our challenge. We’ve got to find a way of doing that. Big one next week, another tough one, but on the back of today we’ve got a good foundation to build on.”