Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes heaped praise on “great manager” Michael Carrick after he masterminded a fourth-straight victory.
Fernandes scored late on at Old Trafford to round off a professional 2-0 Premier League triumph over 10-man Tottenham on Saturday to move United to within three points of third-placed Aston Villa.
It took Carrick’s overall record as United boss to six wins in seven matches – after a three-game spell in 2021 – and Fernandes revealed what he told his current boss four years ago.
United captain Fernandes said: “I think Michael came in with the right ideas of giving the players the responsibility, but also some freedom to take the responsibility on the pitch during the decisions that are needed.
“He’s very good with the words and I think he still remembers when I told him last time he was our manager, for our last game and I was sure Michael could be a great manager – now he is showing it.
“We hope we can help him even more so everyone can see, not just us as the players, that we are good players and that is why we are at Manchester United, but also the staff is very good.”
The arrival of Carrick has lifted the mood at Old Trafford after United were winless in four and with only one victory in seven matches in all competitions before the former midfielder was hired following Ruben Amorim’s exit at the start of January.
Fernandes hinted at Carrick’s knowledge and understanding of the club as being key to his transformative impact.
“I think everyone understands the pressure of playing for this club,” Fernandes added.
“If you don’t understand, you start to understand very quickly. This is a massive club and everyone knows the expectations around it.
“I don’t think that changes but of course Michael has won everything here and he knows what it means to these fans and for the club to win.
“(I think) so much is needed to win in this football club and I think that is something special for this team.”
The match turned when Spurs captain Cristian Romero was shown a red card for a strong challenge on United midfielder Casemiro.
It was Romero’s second sending-off in the space of seven weeks and occurred following his criticism of the club’s squad depth earlier this week.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario revealed Romero apologised to the squad and admitted the lengthy list of absentees was taking its toll, which was also the case last season.
“He’s disappointed because he knows that this red card could have been avoidable. He apologised,” Vicario said of Romero.
“He’s our captain, he made a mistake, but we know the player he is. He’s going to come back for sure stronger and will help us massively.
“For me the reality is that in terms of results, we struggled a lot and like you say, two wins in the last 16 Premier League games is not acceptable for this football club.
“We don’t have to forget how we are trying to push ourselves in tough conditions and this is the reality.
“Of course we have a brilliant Champions League campaign so far and playing every three days. I think I played already 36 games and I am happy for doing this, but for the outfield players it is tough.”
