After securing a 5-2 home victory over Ipswich Town in the Premier League Cup second round, Michael Carrick, manager of Manchester United FC, held a press conference. This article covers the first part of his remarks.

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Michael Today the team started on the back foot from the beginning, but after that disappointing result last weekend, today the team produced an excellent performance without question. What do you think were the most important areas of progress for your team today?

That's football in a week for you, isn't it? I think football is always full of ups and downs, highs and lows. For me personally, what's made me happiest and most pleased today – and we've discussed this extensively this week – is the attitude and the way we handled the defeat.

To be honest, if you want to be a good team, a successful team, every team must face setbacks or handle defeats that occur in different ways during a match – whether it's a sudden momentum shift, losing the ball and falling behind, or facing an unfavorable run of fixtures. Whatever kind of defeat it is, you have to face it head-on and overcome it.

We talked about this specifically before the match, which was trying to shake off the shadow of last week's defeat. Then today we experienced another setback – if you want to call it that – which was falling behind from the start of the match. But I thought our players showed real resilience, determination, confidence, and unity at this stage. Even though we're still early in the season, I think the mentality they showed at this moment is something to be genuinely pleased and satisfied with.

To be honest, seeing them come back and perform the way we did today – this might be the most important thing we can take from this match. You know there were plenty of highlights in today's game and some excellent passing combinations, but this resilient mentality is really the foundation we relied on and the reason we won today.

Speaking of setbacks, even though no one asked you about Bruno Fernandes, could I ask about Kobbie Mainoo? Because I thought his performance today was absolutely excellent. Speaking of handling defeats, everyone in Dublin asked you about his World Cup experience – perhaps that experience wasn't perfect for him – but today you saw a very high level of performance from him in physical battles and across the board. He was genuinely excellent today.

Yes, there's not much more to say about his performance today. I think he did very well in every aspect of the pitch today. This was his first full appearance since returning from injury. You know we've previously managed and protected his playing time, and we have excellent players in midfield, so we've been trying to find the right balance.

But I think Kobbie – I understand Bruno Fernandes received a lot of praise and recognition today, and he absolutely deserves it – but I think the defensive shield and support that Kobbie provided us in midfield today was hugely important and invaluable. He created strong defensive protection for us in midfield today and largely underpinned the overall performance of the whole team.

Michael You just mentioned Bruno Fernandes. This isn't the first time a Manchester United manager has stood here and been asked "How do you rate Bruno Fernandes?" But in terms of his leadership – both the way he leads the team day in and day out and brings everyone together, and his performance on the pitch like today – could you help summarize and briefly explain what he means to Manchester United?

Yes, he means a great deal, of course. I mean, he's our captain. He's been here for many years, and during that long period, he's experienced a wide range of emotions and overcome many difficult periods. Now he has plenty of experience to pass on to other younger players, and he can guide them, set an example, and help them at different times and stages to a certain level.

For example, today – you know, at certain times you're looking for certain key players, hoping they can bring some special quality to us, and he did that excellently today. So he can help us a great deal. What else can I say? In the six or seven months I've been here, we've talked about him a lot, and I hope he can continue to deliver excellent performances for us in the future.

Following on from that, I mean, he certainly won't face criticism from outside today given his strong performance, but do you ever find it surprising? After all, from an outsider's perspective, his leadership qualities are often criticized for various reasons.

I don't think so, to be honest. It doesn't surprise me anymore. It's typical for outsiders to label you when you lose a match. As I said last week, losing a match doesn't mean everything has gone wrong, that the whole system has broken down, or that the players don't want to play, lack fighting spirit, or lack leadership qualities.

You know, this is football. You'll lose some matches, even the world's best teams lose matches. So I think, coming back to the point about handling defeats, the best teams know how to bounce back quickly. And to be honest, since we've been working together here, these lads have shown an excellent ability to adapt and resilience when facing different defeats. You know, this will put us in a very advantageous position to move forward.

Regarding Marcus Rashford – clearly he's had playing time before, but how do you assess Marcus Rashford since his first full appearance at home in nearly two years?

Yes, I'm very pleased with Marcus Rashford. I think today we treated everything as normal, as usual. It's excellent to see him back in full action and enjoying being part of the team's excellent overall performance. You know, today was his first full appearance – and for a few other players as well – in a long time, but I thought he did very well, particularly in a situation that wasn't straightforward. Especially as the game developed and progressed, and then in the second half, everything began to click into place and work smoothly. So I think today he performed well across the board, and he'll continue to improve. So I'm pleased and very happy with his performance.

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