Coach Carrick: 'Defeating Man City is not enough, MU still faces a major test against Arsenal'

Coach Michael Carrick had a flawless debut by leading MU to victory over Manchester City in the derby at Old Trafford.

Carrick praised his dream start as interim manager after witnessing Man United dominate Man City with their best performance of the season so far. Two second-half goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu left Pep Guardiola and his team completely stunned. Carrick admitted that his first match on the sidelines couldn’t have gone better.

He said: “It was a fantastic beginning, no doubt about it. Before the game, the coaching staff said the players were in a very good condition. Man City is an incredible team; they can turn things around quickly, so you always need Plan B and C ready. But the way things unfolded shows the players performed excellently in many aspects. Honestly, it was outstanding.”

Carrick revealed that the Man United players were greatly motivated by the passionate support from their home crowd. However, he emphasized that the team has now set a new standard for the rest of the season.

The 42-year-old coach hopes that positive results will earn him a permanent appointment. Carrick added: “I think the players drew energy from that atmosphere. They left the dressing room burning with desire to prove themselves.”

“I said this could be a magical place. Hopefully, this is just the beginning. But we won’t get carried away. The challenge now is to make this our normal state. We certainly won’t always have the emotions and atmosphere like today, but there are standards the team must maintain.”

“Consistency is the key to all success. If you achieve that, you’re on the right path. Next week is another big match (against Arsenal), but we have a solid foundation to build on.”

On the other side, Coach Pep Guardiola admitted Man City lost to the better team. Although he believed Diogo Dalot should have been sent off for a rough tackle on Jeremy Doku in the first half, the Spanish strategist did not want to blame the referee’s decision.

Pep Guardiola said: “The better team won. When the opponent is better, you have to accept that. They had energy we didn’t, so congratulations to Man United.”

“We need to analyze the entire match and the fact is they played better. You could say it was a red card and the game would have been different, but it’s easy to stand here and say that. We didn’t lose because of that. If we argue like that, we won’t improve. To win, you have to play better.”