Michael Carrick was a brilliant midfielder for Manchester United and brought a great sense of calmness to every team he played in.
This week’s official Manchester United Podcast features Bruno Fernandes who opened up on working with Carrick, but you won’t be able to listen to the full episode from Monday evening.
The former England international currently coaches Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team with Kieran McKenna and assistant manager Mike Phelan.
“Today I was watching in training and Carrick was playing — maybe there was one player less, and some of the players in the last first XI are in recovery — and I was watching Carrick, and he didn’t miss a pass,” Fernandes says on the UTD Podcast.
“It’s unbelievable how fresh and Sharpe he is doing the exercises with us, and I was talking with Fred and I was going to say to him, ‘Hey, watch him playing and do the same!’ But I thought it was unfair and so I didn’t say it! But it was amazing — if someone from outside come to watch training, nobody would say this guy isn’t playing in the team. He’s a player who has the quality of passes and also when we need to do some finishing or passing exercises, he’s always there helping us with the balls.
“I’m learning a lot from him and he’s one of the people I like to listen to, because he was a big player, he won a lot of trophies for the club and for me you have to learn from these players. Moutinho and Carrick, they are the sort of players from whom you can learn how to be smart in the game, how to be clever. Maybe they’re not the sort of players that kids will watch and say, I want to be like Michael Carrick, but when you have one in the team, you know that guy will never miss a pass, you know he will do the smart pass, most of the times will make the right decision, and you need these kinds of players.”
I love how Fernandes says it would have been ‘unfair’ to advise Fred to try do what Carrick used to on the pitch, but is happy to tell the world exactly how he thinks through the medium of podcasting.
Fred wouldn’t take offence to such sound advice, and I’m sure Carrick has had some involvement in helping the Brazilian improve his game for United.
Fernandes became United’s best player shortly after arriving in January following a transfer from Sporting Lisbon. He’s now the talisman for Solskjaer’s team and his contribution led to United’s third place finish last term.
We’re looking forward to hearing the full episode with Fernandes on Monday.
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