Carrick responds to Scholes claim Man Utd should have sacked him

 

Michael Carrick has (sort of) responded to Paul Scholes’ claim that he should have been sacked with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer by Manchester United.

The former United midfielder was put in charge following Solskjaer’s dismissal at the weekend.

Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Mike Phelan have retained their places on the club staff despite their key roles under Solskjaer.

And Scholes said in the BT Sport studio ahead of United’s win over Villarreal that Solskjaer’s assistants should also have left the club.

He said on BT Sport: “It’s the same people running the team, the same people given massive responsibility every week to put that team on the pitch.

“Arguably it’s more Kieran McKenna and Michael Carrick who’ve been preparing the team. Ole gave them that responsibility, so how that changes now I don’t know.

“Four weeks ago, that Liverpool game. That was the time we knew Ole was going to go, it was plainly obvious. So then the people above had to prepare the next manager and the next batch of staff.

“I’d be almost embarrassed being the staff now, after what happened to Ole. I think they all should have gone. They were part of Ole’s team, Ole trusted them each week to prepare the team – and they’ve let the club and players down as much as Ole has.”

Carrick was quizzed on Scholes’ comments after the game and said: “It is not an important result for me personally. It’s an important result for the club. It’s been an emotional few days, the first person I spoke to after Ed offered me the role was Ole.

“I thought that was the right thing to do.”

Reflecting on the win over Villarreal that sees United safely through to the knockout stage of the Champions League, Carrick admitted that his side needed to “dig in at times”, but was pleased with the “character and fight” they showed.

“We were ready for it tonight,” Carrick said.

“They are a good team who make you work in possession.

“The boys had to dig in at times and showed a little bit of everything, so I was delighted with the way it ended.

“When you have suffered results-wise and are not in good form, individually and as a team, it is not easy to come out and just let everything click.

 

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“In some ways it was the best way to win for me, that we had to show some character and fight.

“I have really enjoyed it, the whole thing, the support I have had.

“It has not been an easy couple of days for anyone at the club and that result almost feels like it is for Ole, I can’t get away from that.

“We had a job to do and things needed to be taken care of. I was happy to do it and thankfully it all went to plan in the end.”