Michael Carrick gave a blunt response to Gary Neville’s claim that the Manchester United players are “nothing” and the Old Trafford “standards went a long time ago”.
The 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday means Carrick’s side have lost four of their last five in all competitions and haven’t won any of their last nine.
Carrick is set to remain in charge for the upcoming games against Roma and Aston Villa before being put out of his misery during the international break, which will offer his replacement a bit of time to get their feet under the table.
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There’s a lot of blame to go around and much of it is being aimed at the club’s owners, but Neville questioned some of the players’ professionalism after the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth last Saturday.
Neville fumed: “There’s a few of them that aren’t that professional. There’s a couple of them.
“I live in Manchester, they’re not that professional some of them. I’ve got no time for them. Do you know what I mean?”
Neville continued on his Sky Sports podcast: “There are a few of them that don’t go to bed at the right time. Don’t eat the right things. Don’t think about Manchester United every single minute of every single day.
“They are not living and breathing this football club, as they should be, like professionals should. And why? Because it’s gone to their heads. But they still walk around like they’re King William. They’re not; they’re nothing.
“Some of those players, I can’t believe the… lack of standards. There was a banner in the first half that was held up in the Stretford End – ‘standards.’ They went a long time ago.”
Neville’s comments were put to Carrick in his press conference ahead of the Chelsea defeat as the Man Utd boss was asked if he had encountered any unprofessional behaviour from his players.
“No, I haven’t, no,” Carrick replied. Asked whether he was surprised that Neville had made such a damning accusation in public, Carrick said: “Gaz says a lot of things.”
Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer were on target for Chelsea on Saturday as Manchester United capitulated in the second half after a promising opening 45 minutes, largely thanks to two yellow cards in as many minutes for Lisandro Martinez.
“We didn’t come out and didn’t get going in the second half,” Carrick admitted. “Half-time we could have and should have been up. Everything was positive as we hoped for. We could have made more chances.
“We looked in a good place and then found a way of unravelling the second half. A bad way to concede, penalty, and then we were right up against it at that moment. It turned right on its head. There is no hiding from the fact that we haven’t won enough games.”
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