Nothing has changed at Man Utd despite wins

Michael Carrick says Manchester United cannot make a "knee-jerk" decision about their long-term future on the back of him winning his first three matches as head coach.

The Red Devils turned to their former midfielder, captain and coach on a deal until the end of the campaign after Ruben Amorim's patchy 14-month reign came to an acrimonious end in early January.

Carrick has rejuvenated United since taking over as head coach three weeks ago, with wins against Manchester City, Arsenal and Fulham propelling the side up to fourth in the Premier League.

Next up is an Old Trafford clash with his former club Tottenham on Saturday lunchtime. The 44-year-old says he would not get carried away if they won again – and nor does he believe the club would.

"Nothing’s changed, no, to be honest," said the January Premier League manager of the month nominee.

"It’s not going to change what I do, or how I feel about it. I think I’m fully aware of the role I’m doing here and the responsibility I’ve got.

"We want to be successful. I want the club to be successful beyond the end of the season.

"If that’s me, if that’s somebody else at this stage, I can’t control that and we’ll see what happens.

"But it’s certainly about trying to improve the team and keep making Manchester United stronger and improving all the time.

"But nothing’s changed. The results over a short period of time don’t change that.

"If they have changed that, there’s something wrong. It can’t be so knee-jerk either way, whether it’s really good or whether there’s a few issues we need to solve. It’s steady progress, really.

"You kind of know that football can twist and turn just as quick, so we have got to keep it a bit level, really, and keep focusing on what we need to do."

Carrick was chosen to take charge for the remainder of the season after United spoke to former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and another ex-caretaker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Red Devils decided to bring in a coach with an understanding of the club to smooth the transition into a short-term role, allowing director of football Jason Wilcox time to undergo a thorough recruitment process.

Put to Carrick that he will surely be happy to be part of that conversation if his success continues, the head coach said: "I’m loving what I’m doing. I’m here, you know.

"I feel at home here but I fully understand the situation, so I’m not getting too carried away."

Carrick’s only focus right now is United’s upcoming matches, with Saturday’s match against Tottenham followed by facing another of his former clubs on Tuesday – West Ham, away.

Patrick Dorgu is out of both those matches and the foreseeable future with a hamstring issue sustained in the Arsenal triumph.

"We’re working through it," Carrick said. "It’ll definitely be a number of weeks. It will be a considerable period of time.

"He’s not going to be back in the next two or three weeks but to be more exact is a little bit difficult at this moment."

Asked about the possibility of a 10-week absence, he said: "It could, possibly. As I said, we’re working through it.

"We’re certainly looking forward to getting him back as quick as we can and getting him on the pitch long before the end of the season."

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