📅 September 6, 2026

“We Can Certainly Compete.” Carrick Was Asked About the Spending Gap Six Times. The Points Table Answered for Him.

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

The second half of Michael Carrick’s Everton press conference was embargoed until Saturday, and it was one long question asked six different ways: other clubs spent more than you, so how do you win anything? His answer didn’t change. “We can certainly compete.” He said it twice, and the record since January says he’s allowed to. This is what he said, why it matters going into Sunday, and how to watch the game from the United States.

“We can certainly compete”

The first reporter laid it out in full. Three or four clubs can outspend United, so achieving the club’s stated aims will take “a triumph of coaching”. Carrick didn’t flinch. “Oh, we certainly feel we can compete, and I think that the challenge is getting the right dynamics, getting the right balance, getting the right group together, getting the best players in the group to enhance the rest of the group.” Then the line on money: “The actual amount of money in the end, I understand it can be a big thing. It doesn’t always have to be the answer, but it can be. And it’s up to us to do the work and get the best out of the group.”

This matters because it’s the first time since the window shut that the head coach has been asked straight whether the budget caps the ambition, and he said no. He said the group “proved over a period of time now that we can put results together and play well and win in all sorts of different places and environments”, and finished with the balance the club has been trying to strike all summer: “Realistic from where we’ve been, but we know where we want to get to and we’re really positive that we can.”

The number that backs him up

The third reporter did Carrick’s arguing for him. Sunday is his 20th Premier League game in charge, and, the reporter said, no team has won more league points in that time. That squares with what we can check. Carrick took over on 12 January with United seventh. He won 12 and drew 3 of his 17 league games last season, 39 points at 2.29 a game, and the club made the job permanent on 22 May. Add this season’s two results and it’s 42 points from 19. The since-January tables published in February and May both had United top of the league.

Carrick’s answer to that was the most revealing of the afternoon. “We can certainly compete. For me being at this club, you’ve got to strive to win. That’s where we want. When we say we expect to win, that’s not blasé, but that’s where we want to be and we want to try and get to that on a consistent level.” He added the caveat himself: “Granted, there was one competition and we need to do that an awful lot more this season, but we have strengthened the group so we feel good about what’s possible.”

That caveat is the point. The run that got him the job was league-only. Sabah on Thursday starts the part he hasn’t done yet.

Why nobody was sold

The most senior player United sold this summer was Toby Collyer. Asked if that surprised him, Carrick said “no, to be honest, no”, and explained it as a choice rather than a failure. “Going back to it, keeping the group stronger. We’ve had a really good foundation of eight months or so where we know as a group what we can do, who brings what to the group at certain times, and we wanted to be stronger.”

Read alongside Friday’s first session, where he said Zirkzee “wants to play more than he has done” and named Dorgu as a left-back option, this is a coach who wanted numbers kept and got them. Everton’s loan bid for Zirkzee was the test of that, and United turned it down.

On the fans who look at the figures and think United are short, he was blunt. “There’s a lot of people who think a lot of things, to be honest. It is what it is. Money’s one thing, what you do with it is another thing, how you make the most of it is another thing. It’s about what happens on the pitch at the end of the day.”

Next summer isn’t already written

Three forwards last summer, three midfielders this one, so are defenders next? “It’s not always as simple as that. I understand why you kind of come to that conclusion.” He talked about “the evolution of trying to improve things all the time and how the season goes, form, injuries, who’s looking good”, then gave the bit that should reassure anyone worried the window was a scramble: “We’ve obviously got a clear idea of what we want to look like coming through this summer to then a little bit further down the line.”

Mainoo: “there’s loads to still come from him”

Kobbie Mainoo went to the World Cup and didn’t play a minute, the only England midfielder who didn’t, then started against Ipswich and was the best player on the pitch not called Bruno. With Baleba, Santos and Tielemans arriving, the question was how Carrick manages him now. The answer was a coach describing a player he trusts.

“Kobbie made big strides last season, from finishing the season so strong, and played ever so well last week again, and you can see in his development and how much he’s improving certain aspects of his game. He wants to learn, he’s hungry to learn, wants more all the time.” Then: “It’ll be easy for him to think, this is all right, I’ve got in the team, played a lot of games and everything’s good. But he’s pushing for more, as he should.”

He framed the new signings as help rather than a threat. “The beauty of having the competition, if you like, but more the foundation to be strong, is that you can learn off each other, you can help each other. And certainly as a midfield group, we feel that it’s really strong. And Kobbie can have another big season for sure. He’s come back great, really has come back great.”

The last question was about the previous manager’s doubts over Mainoo without the ball. Carrick’s reply: “Constantly not lecturing Kobbie at all, but letting him play, letting him express himself, letting him do what he’s good at. He’s got some amazing attributes that we want to use. And then there’s definitely the improvement side, trying to help him. And the great thing about it is that he wants to learn.”

Twelve months ago Mainoo was being linked with a loan out. Now the head coach is describing him as the model for how the whole group should behave. With Baleba’s ankle keeping him out until at least the Brighton cup tie, Mainoo starts on Sunday, and on this evidence he’s starting the derby a week later too.

On Everton: “a tough, tough game”

Asked whether the noise around Everton’s window could work in United’s favour, Carrick refused the bait. “It doesn’t come into our thinking for going into the game. Historically, all I know is going to Everton is a tough, tough game. So that’s purely what’s on my mind in preparing for that, and we need to be at our best. If we’re at our best, close to our best, then we’ll have a good chance of winning the game. But they’re a really good team and they’ve started well, so we know it’s a challenge.”

He’s right about the start. Everton are unbeaten on four points. Their deadline day sent Ndiaye to Manchester City and Beto to Fiorentina, lost them Balogun when that deal collapsed, and brought Jack Grealish back on loan from City. Thierno Barry is their only recognised striker. United won 1-0 there in February with Sesko’s goal. Our preview and predicted XI are here.

How to watch Everton v United in the United States

• Kick-off: Sunday 6 September, 9 AM Eastern, 6 AM Pacific. One guide lists 8 AM ET. That’s wrong. The match is 2 PM in the UK, which is 9 AM ET.
• TV: USA Network. Spanish-language coverage is on Telemundo.
• Streaming: USA Network games aren’t on Peacock, live or on demand. You need a TV login: YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, Sling Blue or DirecTV Stream all carry USA Network.
• Radio: SiriusXM FC.

The full breakdown of which service carries which United competition this season, and what each one costs, is in our US watch guide. Every kick-off already converted to Eastern time is on the schedule page.

Carrick’s summary of the whole session came in one aside about the squad: “There’s a freshness around the group, there’s an excitement around the group, which is really encouraging, and there’s a hunger and a feeling of wanting to achieve something.” The spending tables say United are fourth or fifth. The points table since January says first. Sunday morning is where the two arguments meet.

Sources: Quotes transcribed from the video of the embargoed section of Michael Carrick’s pre-match press conference, Carrington, 4 September 2026, and checked against The Peoples Person’s full transcript (5 Sep 2026) and ESPN’s report of the same session (5 Sep 2026). Where they differ on a word, the video was used. The video starts partway through the opening answer, so the first two quotes in the piece are taken from The Peoples Person and ESPN, which agree on them. Carrick’s record: Planet Football (28 May 2026, 39 points from 17), SI (Feb 2026 table since his appointment), Al Jazeera (interim deal, 13 Jan 2026), The Washington Post and manutd.com (permanent appointment, 22 May 2026). Mainoo’s World Cup minutes: Sky Sports and Goal (July 2026). Everton’s deadline day: BBC via Yahoo, Flashscore, NBC Sports. US broadcast: NBC Sports (5 Sep 2026), NBC Bay Area matchweek 3 guide, LiveSoccerTV; Goal.com’s 8 AM ET listing is a conversion error. Accurate as of 5 September 2026.