CANED...BUT NOW WE’RE ABLE
MICHAEL CARRICK has warned Antonio Conte: You won’t out-think Jose Mourinho a second time. Manchester United star Carrick (left) says the Chelsea manager’s system foxed Mourinho’s men in a 4-0 league away defeat last October – but that won’t happen again. Carrick insists that tomorrow’s FA Cup quarterfinal clash at Stamford Bridge will be very different.
He said: “It was a bad day for us. It started badly and got worse. They had that formation which caused problems to a lot of teams.
“But the manager will come up with a plan to negate that.
“And we’re better now than we were then.”
Mourinho’s side are still on track for a trophy treble, having won the EFL Cup, but a long-haul Europa League tie in Russia on Thursday was hardly ideal preparation for tomorrow’s test.
Carrick said: “There’s been no talk of that sort in the dressing room.
“It’s step-by-step. We have moved on from Wembley now too. If you start thinking about the trophies and count them off early then it tends to come back and bite you.” Carrick had eight years under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, and added: ”You could tell from the start that Jose Mourinho is a winner.
“He wants to play now maybe a little different to the way his teams have been known for in the past. A bit more attacking. He is very calm, he wants to win trophies and he won’t stop.”