Manchester United manager Michael Carrick spoke to Sky Sports about the team's new season start and the referee's controversial decision in the derby (this is the first part of the interview).

Michael, the last time we sat down to talk was in Dublin. I remember at the end of that interview, I asked what you thought about the job, the head coach position, and you were honest and said, "I don't know, we'll have to wait and see." My first question is, what has changed for you personally since then?

Not much has changed. To be honest, not much has changed. I think when we arrived here last season and finished the season, I really did say that we worked and planned to make the team stronger and put the club in a better position for the future. Everything we did was essentially for the future, and to allow us to continue here. That's the only way, and that's the right way.

So coming into this season, there really hasn't been much change—it's a continuation of the work we did last season. We've tried to improve the squad, strengthen the team, all the obvious things. And now, we're here.

For you personally, bringing the Champions League back to Old Trafford must have been a very significant moment. What did that feel like? Standing there as interim manager, you earned the position, and now you truly are the head coach, and when the Champions League anthem rings out...

I think it was a very important night for many reasons. It somewhat highlighted the progress we achieved last season, and that very progress allowed us to be in that position.

Some players had never played in the Champions League before, so for them, actually stepping onto that stage and experiencing that atmosphere was very important. The same applies to the whole club. We hadn't had a night like that for far too long, so being able to return can make us appreciate being back in the Champions League even more.

To get a win and have a good start to our Champions League campaign was brilliant. Hopefully, we'll have many more nights like that.

You've had a slightly uneven start to the season. There have been some very good moments, like bringing the Champions League back to the club, but then you suffered two successive defeats. For you, in your managerial career, is this the first time you've felt the atmosphere at the club at its lowest?

No, no, not at all within the club. I think the atmosphere at the club is very good.

I feel that at a football club like this, once you don't get results in one or two matches, everything outside quickly becomes a bit mad. But what's important, at least for us internally, is that we stay calm. We know this, and we know what we need to do to improve. I think we know what we need to do to make progress.

I genuinely predicted that we would go through a period like this sooner or later. As you just mentioned, since January, we've achieved a very good run of results that ultimately got us into the Champions League. After such an excellent run like that, any team that's building for success in the future and starting to climb from a slightly lower position will sooner or later go through some bumpier periods. That's natural and normal.

Of course, losing football matches is not normal for us, and we absolutely don't accept that. Those are two different things.

But I think understanding the process we're going through, this journey, or whatever you want to call it—building a team capable of achieving success will inevitably go through some difficult moments, and you have to get through them.

We need to keep doing the right things, maintain belief, and keep the team spirit, which we certainly have. We can't let all of that change in the space of a week because of a result on the pitch.

But at the same time, we also need to start winning football matches again. We know we're capable of doing that. We're not starting from a very bad place, a very dark place.

I understand. You also mentioned how this situation can change and everything can suddenly go in a different direction. But for example, in the match against Manchester City, the end result could have been completely different. You shouldn't lose a match because of a VAR decision. I can only imagine, as the Man Utd manager, what you thought when you saw Howard Webb come out and say that the VAR official had "tunnel vision"?

Shortly after the match, we found out. In the post-match review, we quickly learned it was a wrong decision. That's very hard to accept. I think mistakes still happen, but they have processes in place, and something like this shouldn't happen. You can only accept it and move on. At least they acknowledged the mistake and came out to clearly explain the situation. But this doesn't change the result of the match, and it doesn't change everything we've been through.

Do you think we're at a point where an apology isn't enough? Will managers start saying, "An apology isn't enough, we want something else"?

I really don't know what else can be done—the match is over. The beauty of football before VAR was that a decision was made, and you just had to accept it. Some decisions will be debatable, and some decisions will go against you.

I don't think there's an answer to that question. Football isn't a perfect sport—it never has been, and it never will be. In the future, there will always be decisions made by referees, and people will always debate and argue about them. That's part of what we love about football.

But something like what happened at the end of last weekend, particularly given the circumstances and how the processes were supposed to work but didn't really work, is especially hard to accept.

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