Manchester United’s Michael Carrick brushes off Keane’s pre-derby jibe

Michael Carrick has shrugged off Roy Keane’s jibe regarding his wife “probably doing the team talk” at Manchester United by claiming it does not bother him.

Keane made the comment about Lisa Carrick following the 44-year-old’s appointment as United head coach until the end of the season. Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, the Irishman was responding to Jamie Carragher’s comment that United should not have employed Carrick in the role. “Well, his wife can always come in because she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes. She’s probably doing the team talk,” Keane said.

The comment was in clear reference to the fallout that occurred between Keane and Lisa Carrick in February 2014 and after the former criticised Michael Carrick’s display and post-game comments following United’s 2-0 Champions League loss to Olympiakos. Lisa Carrick responded with a social-media post that read: “Roy Keane what a ****, says anything to provoke a reaction.”

“Honestly, it didn’t bother me,” said Carrick in response on Friday. He also brushed off feeling any extra scrutiny from Keane, Gary Neville and other former high-profile United players who work in the media. “They’re not putting more pressure on me, I don’t feel that,” the former midfielder stressed. “It’s just part of it. I understand the role, there’s plenty of opinions around, some are positive, some aren’t so much.

“It is the way of the world, I’m not going to pay too much attention to most of that. It’s not for me to do that. For me and the players and the staff it’s a focus on how we’re going to succeed. That’s our job, that’s our responsibility, that’s what our focus and our minds should be at, is doing what we can for this club.”

Carrick’s first game of his second spell as United’s interim head coach is Saturday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford. United go into the fixture seventh in the Premier League with 32 points and out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. Asked what success this season looks like, Carrick said: “Help and improve individuals. A big part of what I really enjoy is improving individuals and if you do that you create a better team.

“There is an element of performance, results and doing what it takes to win. The higher up the league we finish the better - we want to keep pushing and see where that takes us.”

Carrick was asked if Omar Berrada, the chief executive, and Jason Wilcox, the director of football, had given him concrete expectations. “Not in terms of it has to be this way or that way,” he said. “We want to be near the top of the league, we’ve got to take some small steps towards that. European football would be a step forward.”