That victory was for Ole, insists Carrick
CARETAKER manager Michael Carrick said United’s Champions League win at Villarreal was for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United beat the Spaniards in their penultimate group stage game through goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho to qualify for the round-of-16 with a game to spare.
Carrick made four changes to the side that was thrashed 4-1 by Watford on Saturday, including the demotion of Bruno Fernandes, and late goals from Ronaldo and Sancho secured just the Reds’ eighth win out of 18 games this term.
Ronaldo’s goals have secured all 10 of United’s points in Group F but Carrick was also keen to praise the impacts of Fred and Sancho. “We said we’ve come here to win the game,” he said. “I believed we would, I believed we were ready for it.
“It wasn’t an easy game, by the way, it was a tough game.
“They’re a good team, and for those who don’t probably watch them that much, don’t really understand but they’re a good team, they make you work in possession, they’re a good team.
“I thought the boys dug in at times and showed a little bit of everything, so I was delighted with the way it ended up.
“I don’t think we could have hoped to come out here and play pretty football from the word go, when you’ve suffered results-wise and are not in a great vein of form individually and as a team, it’s not easy to come out and let everything click.
“In some ways, it was the best way to win for me, we had to show some character, we had to dig in, we had to show some fight, it went our way at times, it didn’t on others.
“At times, it was drifting away from us and after half-time, we got back together again and the subs made a massive impact towards the end, that’s all I could hope for, the boys gave everything.
“Fred’s done fantastic for us, what
Fred does, he’s done fantastic and won that ball back, we looked for that. And Ronaldo when he gets that chance puts it away. Ticks another one off his list.
“To finish it off, Jadon was brilliant. I know how much Jadon loves the ball at his feet and trying to make things happen, it’s where he’s happiest. But on the other side of the game, he put a real effort in defence and it was a big night for him.
“I said to the players it’s not been an easy couple of days for everyone at the club, I can enjoy it so much but that result feels like it’s for Ole and I can’t get away from that.
“We had a job to do and when I was there and things needed to be taken care of I was happy to do it and thankfully it all want to plan at the end.”