Michael Carrick feeling no negativity before struggling Man Utd head to Leeds

Michael Carrick insisted he has no thoughts of self-preservation as his underperforming Manchester United head into another high-stakes Premier League clash away to old rivals Leeds.

Ten months ago this fixture proved to be Ruben Amorim’s last in charge. A 1-1 draw was followed by an explosive press conference as the Portuguese laid bare ruptures behind the scenes, and the next day he was sacked.

The pressure on Carrick has not reached that stage, with credit in the bank after he secured Champions League qualification in the second half of last season, but Lisandro Martinez’s midweek outburst revealed the tensions after a return of only two wins from nine games in all competitions so far.

“There’s always negativity if you want to look for it or you want to feel it, but I don’t go looking for it,” Carrick said. “I don’t want to feel it. I understand the reality and I’ve said it enough in terms of feeling like I’m saying the same things, accepting where we are, but I don’t feel that.

“I’m totally focused on what’s best for this place and this football club and what it’s going to take to win games, and get the boys playing what we know we’re capable of, which we still don’t think we’re that far away.

“We can turn a few things in our favour and we’ll be in good shape again and we can move forward pretty quickly.

“I really don’t take it about me. It’s not that. I don’t think about, ‘how am I going to get through this? How am I going to survive this? What do I need to do to look after myself?’. It’s not important. It’s about this football club and winning football matches.”

This week Nicky Butt claimed Carrick had told him his “head’s all over the shop” and that management was “not for me” prior to taking the United job at the start of the season.

But Carrick dismissed any notion he did not want to be at Old Trafford.

“I definitely wouldn’t be here if that was the case, would I?” he said. “It’s the best job I could possibly have. It’s the best role I could possibly have.

“I feel a real privilege of being in this position and a real responsibility, but equally a drive of wanting to make a difference and having success here. So, yeah, I’m loving it.”

This summer United chief executive Omar Berrada restated his aim of winning the Premier League again by 2028, the club’s 150th anniversary.

Last season’s return of 12 wins from 17 matches after Carrick’s appointment in January offered hope that was a realistic target, but United have won only one of their six league games this campaign to leave many fans with a familiar feeling after previous false dawns.

Carrick admitted it was still a “massive step” for United to win the title, but insisted they were closer than recent results suggest.

“I think the goal, being at this football club, the goal is always to win,” he said. “There’s no time frame on that from my perspective.

“It’s as soon as we possibly can. And I think we understand we’re still making steps to get there.”