Man Utd came from behind to beat Crystal Palace at Old Trafford and Michael Carrick jogged down the touchline at half-time to get his message across.
Michael Carrick told the Manchester United players he had been waiting to see them facing some adversity after they launched a stirring comeback to beat Crystal Palace at Old Trafford. The United head coach ran down the touchline at half-time, with Palace winning 1-0 thanks to Maxence Lacroix’s early goal, to deliver a few tactical adjustments to his players at the break.
But he also challenged them to show what they were made of. It was the first time United had been behind at half-time under Carrick and he admitted he had been waiting to see how his players would respond.
He was delighted with what he saw, with Bruno Fernandes at the heart of a comeback which saw the captain score from the spot and then set up the in-form Benjamin Sesko for the winner.
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Asked if there was a particular change he wanted to make that saw him run for the dressing room at half-time, Carrick said: “There’s always something. It was just a couple of little tweaks in shape, maybe a couple of ideas, some things we tried from the start that we wanted to kind of tweak a little bit, but honestly, it wasn’t major really and I’m not taking much credit for that.
“It was more that you’ve got to find a way in games sometimes and there’s a few ideas that we wanted to make more runs, we wanted it to be a little bit more aggressive in attacking their back line to a point, which is something you always try to do, but I thought we did it in the second half and ended up getting the penalty from that.
“So it was more how do we react. It’s been going in our favour. I said to them, here’s something I’ve been waiting for, this moment, to see, go on then, what we’re going to do about it and be positive. And the boys responded ever so well, so it was a big thing for us.”
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The spirit in the squad was clear with their second-half display, which was aided by Lacroix’s red card for bringing down Matheus Cunha inside the penalty area.
Carrick felt that was the most pleasing aspect of what was a sixth win in seven games in charge for him, with United now recovering seven points from losing positions under the 44-year-old.
“It’s the biggest thing for us to take from the game, really,” he said. “It’s the first time that we’ve been in that situation, going in at half-time. I thought we were a little bit off to start with. I think they started particularly well, so credit to them. Probably after 20 minutes or so, I thought the game started turning in our favour and we finished the half stronger and it looked a little like what we were trying to do.
“At half-time, it was about being in that position and how we react and showing that personality and the belief. Football is tough at times and this league is tough, so you’re never always going to have it your own way, but to then come back like we did second half and turn the game in our favour is the biggest thing for me to take from today for sure.”
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