Manchester United vs Leicester: Jose Mourinho calls Michael Carrick display 'fine' despite pushing recall claims

Mourinho was keen not to single out any individuals for praise despite Carrick impressing in his first start since the Community Shield victory

Michael Carrick scored the opener in Manchester United's 3-1 win over Northampton Town (Getty)

Jose Mourinho refused to discuss Michael Carrick’s individual performance after the win which reduced some of the pressure on his Manchester United team, reflecting only that the 35-year-old had been “fine.”

Carrick staked a substantial claim to a place in the starting line-up for Saturday’s home match against champions Leicester City after a fine creative performance in central midfield. He provided the control and capacity to break the opposition lines missing in Marouanne Fellaini, whom Mourinho has preferred. He also delivered United’s fine opening goal, immediately calling into question the Portuguese’s decision to sideline him. The player has looked a haunted soul in recent weeks, having been given no part in the team by Mourinho since starting in the Community Shield win over this weekend’s opponents.

Mourinho declined to speak to journalists after the 3-1 EPL Cup win at Northampton, with United insisting that there was “no contractual obligation” with the Football League for him to appear. But he was asked by the club’s in-house TV channel if he was “happy” with Carrick’s performance.

“I don’t want to individualise too much, I think he was fine and I think the midfield worked really well in the control of the game,” he said.

The performances of Carrick, Ander Herrera – the second stand-out player of the evening – and Marcus Rashford rendered the difficulty of Wayne Rooney’s contribution even more acute, With those three all strong contenders for retention against Leicester and new signings Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovich difficult to drop, there don’t seem to be enough places for Rooney to start on merit.

Mourinho focussed on the changes he had made in the second half. “I changed [Morgan] Schneiderlin to Marouane [Fellaini] to try to stop what I know was going to happen with our opponent losing 2-1, which was for them to put long balls into the box and waiting for set pieces. But I think collectively the team was fine.”

The manager was unhappy about a challenge by Northampton’s Kenji Gorré on Ashley Young, which he claimed warranted a dismissal. “The game could and should have been easier, because normally it is easier against 10 men – we should have been playing against 10 men very early in the second half. But they fought and they played with their strength.”

“As a team we had control from the beginning. I think the substitutions were just a contribution and, overall, the team was completely in control. They tried to cause us problems, which they did at times, so it was a difficult match but overall it was a positive performance.”