Carrick admits Manchester United have 'lost our way' after seven-game winless run

Michael Carrick opened his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s clash with Bournemouth with an uninterrupted five-minute address, admitting that Manchester United have “lost our way” but declaring his conviction that the club can recover.

The statement came after United’s 4-1 defeat at Como extended a winless run to seven games across all competitions — a sequence that has placed Carrick under mounting scrutiny and prompted public criticism of his tactics from captain Bruno Fernandes.

Carrick rejected suggestions that the squad is “divided” in the wake of Fernandes’s comments, but did not shy away from the gravity of the situation. He described Wednesday’s performance as “unacceptable” and said the result had caused him significant personal “hurt”.

In his address, Carrick framed the club’s problems in terms of values rather than tactics, invoking “sacrifice”, “humility” and “hard work” as the qualities United must rediscover.

“We had five months of relative success and I was happy with what I’ve been seeing,” Carrick said. “Wednesday was a bad night that hurt a lot. It was unacceptable. It was a tough moment. My responsibility is to get a team on the pitch that represents the supporters and makes them proud and we’ve gone away from that.”

Carrick was emphatic that no individual — including himself — is bigger than the institution. “Manchester United is always bigger than any individual, bigger than me, bigger than any player. We need to show what it means and respect this football club, respect what it means. I’m not entitled to be here and we’re not entitled to win.”

He closed his remarks with a direct acknowledgement of the club’s current trajectory alongside a firm statement of belief in a turnaround. “We’ve lost our way but I’m totally convinced we’ll get that back.”

United face Bournemouth on Sunday, a fixture that has taken on added significance as Carrick looks to arrest the slide and silence growing calls for a change in the dugout.