Man Utd boss Michael Carrick insists there is no divide despite Bruno Fernandes criticism

The under-pressure United head coach began his news conference with an emotional statement lasting more than five minutes, admitting "we've lost our way" as he called on his players to "respect the club".

United are winless in their last seven matches, their longest such run since 2015, and those problems have spilled out beyond the pitch over the last fortnight with captain Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez airing their frustrations publicly.

Put to him that it feels like the dressing room is divided, Carrick said: "It's not divided. We just need to get back to doing what we do best. And we will."

Carrick swerves question on Fernandes captaincy

Fernandes questioned the tactics employed by United's staff in the crushing 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como in a move that has been widely criticised by former players.

Asked if he would punish Fernandes by stripping him of the captaincy or dropping him, Carrick said: "The most important thing for me is the team and the dynamics in the squad. It is about the football club.

"Whatever the situation is I will always do what is best for the football club."

Carrick refused to confirm if he had spoken to Fernandes, preferring to keep his conversations with his skipper private, but did say he had spoken to the hierarchy, who are understood to be increasingly concerned about the team's form.

"It is pretty obvious how we are all feeling," said Carrick, whose side are on a seven-match winless run. "The responsibility for me to be in this position is to lead. It is my responsibily what goes on in the pitch.

"I will hold that umbrella for me to get wet and everyone else to stay dry. That is the privileged position I am in."

Carrick's emotional opening statement in full

"I'll start today. Just want to say a few things, really. It's important.

"Recently we haven't had a good time, that's pretty obvious. I totally accept that, what we're going through at the moment. We had five months of relative success in a spell where I was happy with a lot of things that I was seeing and that we were doing as a team.

"We haven't done well enough lately, that's pretty obvious to say, and we've had a spell that we're really not happy with. Wednesday was a bad night, it was a bad night for a lot of reasons and it was a bad night that hurt a lot. It hurt me to see us play that way, to see how the game panned out.

"As I said, after the game it was really unacceptable for us to play like that and to be like that. The supporters are a huge part of this football club, for me to see the supporters have to make the effort and the time and spend the money to come and support us on Wednesday and have the feeling after the game, like we all felt, was a tough moment. That's pretty obvious.

"My responsibility is to get a team on a pitch that represents this football club, represents the supporters and they can be proud of it with the identity that we show. We have gone away from that just recently in certain games, which I'm totally fully aware of and definitely doing something about. It's important that we all recognise that, I certainly recognise it.

"Our supporters are the utmost of importance to me and this football club and for them to feel like they felt for five months at the start of the season, at the start of the year, for us to have that about us and that connection and that real vigour and intensity and enjoyment and passion that we all felt through that period was something that we need to get back to and we will get back to it. I fully believe that but it's important that we recognise that we haven't been doing that.

"The foundation of this football club and the values of this football club have been put down and etched for many years and I totally understand and I get every single one of them.

"It comes down to humility, it comes down to being humble, it comes down to being hard-working and being really proud to work hard and being proud to live up to their values. There's a resilience about this football club that's been shown for a long time. Whether that's bouncing back from adversity, comebacks, late goals, success, sustaining success, there's a resilience in this football club that runs very deep.

"I've seen it with my own eyes, I've felt it, I'm aware of some of the individuals and know them closely who have been a big part of that history. I said it after the game, Manchester United is always bigger and always has been, always will be bigger than any single individual. Bigger than me, bigger than any of the players and it always has been.

"I'm fortunate enough to know some players myself and play with some - Ryan Giggs, arguably one of the greatest to play for this football club. It was never about Ryan Giggs, it was about Manchester United. Wayne Rooney was the top goalscorer of this football club.

"His biggest thing was playing for the team, sacrificing for the team and what was good for Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson, the best manager of all time, the greatest for me and working with him and his main priority was Manchester United. Going back to Sir Matt [Busby, Sir Bobby [Charlton], the resilience was beyond belief of what they showed and the way they rebuilt this football club.

"Again, it was based on being humble, having humility and hard work and we can never lose that and I won't let us lose that. We've had it for a spell, I feel very strongly about that. It inspires me a lot to live up to that and keep driving that with the players and the group that we've shown for a good period of time and that we're capable of it.

"We're in a moment where it's not gone well so we need to show exactly what it means. Respect this football club, what it takes to be here, what it takes to win, what you have to do to win. I'm not entitled to be here, entitlement cannot be at this football club, we're not entitled to win.

"We've won in the past, we've got an incredible history but that doesn't mean that you're entitled to just win. I'm fully aware of that, it takes hard work, it takes a lot of sacrifice. You've got to invest yourself in the football club and you've got to do a lot of things that maybe aren't so nice but you've got to do it for each other and you've got to win.

"It's important we live up to that and it's important for me to push those values and it's important for our supporters to feel that. Moving forward, we've had it, we've kind of lost our way a little bit if I'm totally honest and we'll get it back. I'm totally confident we'll get it back.

"Respect this football club, respect what it takes because it's very, very important to me."

Your views on Carrick's emotional statement

Jakemac : Lovely speech but he was reading the whole time unfortunately which doesn't cut the mustard. Needs to move on and get a better calibre of manager in.

Sean : Nice speech but unfortunately the football business is a results business and if you're not winning games then there's a problem. The squad is full of average players that would probably struggle in the Championship. Carrick hasn't got the strong leadership to be Man Utd's manager.

Iain Moss : Absolute waffle. And not to mention the so-called captain's outrageous comments puts Carrick in an even worse position than before his statement.

Haribo : It was actually painful to watch. I don't actually think he knew what he was saying. No real authority just a lot of jibber-jabber.

IdrisD87 : Oh Carrick, the passionate rambling sounds more like a reaction after Como and Bruno's shocker, more poor timing/tactics on your part, on and off the field.

Mr Joshua : This has to be one of the most humble, inspiring, and earnest talks from a manager in modern times. If only we had eleven Michael Carricks to field against Bournemouth. This is Manchester United.

Ant1231 : I think we as United fans need to cut Michael Carrick some slack. He's a legend of the club for me and he's doing the best with the players he's got. We've got a lot of injuries at the minute and don't have the strength in depth like other teams.

One Red Voice : Yes we can question some of Carrick's tactical decisions but these players are not good enough! This comes down to the recruitment and the coaching staff not being able to make these players any better.

Paul S : Changing managers every 18 months is making no difference. At some point a manager needs to be given 3-4 years in order to shift all the bad eggs and bring in players who buy into their way of doing things. If they don't agree then they get shown the door!

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Sporting (A) - Champions League - Wednesday November 25