Carrick responds, after Paul Scholes criticised him for taking Manchester United job

Michael Carrick has reacted to the criticisms hurled his way by Paul Scholes, following his appointment as caretaker manager at Manchester United.

Carrick was appointed caretaker manager, after the club terminated its contract with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United kicked off Carrick’s reign with an important 2-0 win away to Villareal on Tuesday, but before the game, Scholes slammed Carrick, along with Mike Phelan and Kieran McKenna because he believed they should have left with Solskjaer.

But speaking after the win on Tuesday, Carrick said he spoke to Solskjaer before accepting the job.

He told the media, “It’s not an important result for me personally. It’s an important one for the players and the club.

“It’s an important result for the players, tonight is not about me by any stretch.

“It’s obviously been an emotional few days. The first person I spoke to after Ed [Woodward] asked me to do this role was Ole, to almost see what he thought about it because I felt that was the right thing to do.

“I have a responsibility to be here managing the team and I take great pride in that.

“It wasn’t about me tonight though. It was about getting through [the group]. It was a massive game, when you get to this stage in the Champions League it can swing so easily both ways, so it was vital we came here and got the right result and we managed to do that so I’m delighted.”