Carrick pleased with Rashford, rested him as precaution and to manage workload

At 23:30 BST (20:30 CEST) on September 13, Manchester United will host Manchester City in the third round of the Manchester derby in the Premier League. Following United's home group-stage Champions League match against Shabab Al Ahli, manager Carrick held a pre-match press conference. After the media blackout lifted, the press conference content was released. This article covers the first half of the conference.

Hi Michael, regarding the striker position, Matheus Cunha and Ben Sesko clearly have very different understandings of the number 9 role. How much does the opponent's style of play influence your selection between them? Do you need to specifically work on this in training? Because, in my view, their movement patterns are quite different, and that understanding and chemistry aren't things you need to constantly refine and work through in training, are they?

Yes, they clearly have different strengths and characteristics. I think, as a team, the fundamental principles we're trying to achieve and the way we want to play should hopefully not change too much based on personnel changes, but different players certainly offer us different options, if that makes sense.

We still want to play in a certain way, try certain tactics, but whether it's Ben, Matheus, Bryan Mbeumo, Marcus Rashford, or anyone else playing in that position, the threat they pose is different. So part of it depends on the opponent's characteristics, part depends on the balance of our team, and the specific areas and spaces we want to attack, etc. Sometimes this is reflected in possession, sometimes it's reflected when we don't have the ball, including the specific areas we need to defend, etc. So there are many layers of factors involved.

By the way, regarding Marcus, I know he's not playing tonight, but fans have been chanting his name constantly. It feels like he's in excellent form. From your perspective, since his return, has everything gone as smoothly as you hoped?

I'm very pleased with Marcus, yes, I'm very pleased with him in many ways. I think that's very clear from his performances. In last Sunday's match, he once again showed a real threat, though unfortunately we couldn't convert that into more results, but he certainly created a major threat. Yes, I'm not sure I can say much more, we're just very happy to have him. He's doing a lot of very good things and has reintegrated with the team very quickly.

Regarding him not playing tonight, is that a precautionary measure after he felt some discomfort?

Partly yes. It's partly precautionary, and also about managing the workload of players to a certain extent. We have excellent options in our squad, so we try to keep everyone fresh, but there's a limit to that freshness – tonight we also want Ben Sesko to get sufficient playing time to help him regain his rhythm and form as quickly as possible. So finding balance in these areas is always a challenge. However, keeping Marcus fresh and ready for the weekend is the right call.

Speaking of workload and rotation, you clearly made some substitutions in the second half, but how difficult is it to take Bruno Fernandes off the pitch? He seems to play every minute of every match. Will there come a time when you need to tell him, "Come on, mate, you need a rest?"

We only have five substitutions, so we have to make clear strategic decisions about our substitution approach. But without question, he's like everyone else. He plays an enormous number of matches, but I think we're building and enriching this squad to handle this situation in multiple ways. Tonight was just such a situation – a decision had to be made, and ultimately he stayed on the pitch.

Regarding injuries and squad news for Sunday's match, is there any possibility of anyone returning? How is Luke Shaw's current situation?

We'll have to wait and see. We managed and protected him to a certain extent ahead of tonight's match. He hasn't reached 100%, so we're not taking any risks. We'll see how his recovery progresses over the next few days.

Hi Michael, your first match after taking over was against Manchester City, and most people didn't have particularly high expectations of you back then. I imagine most United fans now have much higher expectations, not only because City is also going through major changes. How do you view this match? How could it differ from when you took over in January?

Yes, things are certainly different from January, for the simple reason that no two matches are ever exactly the same – there can never be two identical matches. So this match will definitely be different. I don't think we'll ever have the mindset of "we won last time, so if we just do the same thing, everything will go smoothly."

I understand people's expectations of us. Back then, everything was new. At that time, people weren't entirely sure how things would unfold or where the team would go. The players, possibly including myself, the coaching staff, and of course you in the media, were all waiting to see how things would develop, and the transition happened very quickly.

So I think the confidence we've built over time, and the feeling that we've continuously improved, has helped us greatly. We know this is a big battle, we know this is an important match with a lot at stake. That's obvious, but we're really looking forward to it. Although we have limited time to recover and prepare, we'll make the most of it.

Hi Michael, what challenges will Enzo Maresca's team present? Although it's only been four or five matches into the season, have you noticed any significant differences between this Manchester City team and when Pep Guardiola was in charge?

They're a very strong team, and clearly, they've achieved some excellent results. I thought they played very professionally in their match against Porto a few days ago, and they executed effectively what they needed to do. Clearly, they have enough players to select from and rotate, which is an advantage for them. So yes, they're a strong team. There will be some minor adjustments in the match, things I don't need to discuss in detail here, but you try to learn from the opposition. We know we have to perform extremely well and do many things right to achieve the desired result.

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