Michael Carrick has confirmed what many suspected: Amad's post-match social media outburst — "F***ing disgrace. I have no words" — was aimed at supporting Lisandro Martínez, not criticising the club from within.
Martínez had used post-match TV time on Amazon Prime Video and CBS to go after United's leadership directly, condemning the lack of summer investment in the first-team squad following the 2-0 Champions League defeat to Atlético Madrid. It was pointed, public, and impossible to ignore. Amad, posting a photo from the match with those four words, was apparently standing with him.
Carrick's message: channel it, don't kill it
Carrick's response was measured. He didn't condemn either player. Instead, he acknowledged that the emotion is real — and that directing it properly is the challenge.
"There is ways of doing it as part of learning a little bit, of showing that emotion," Carrick said. "Like I've just said, I think we've just got to show that in the right manner and channel it in the right manner."
That's a manager trying to hold something fragile together. Whether it's working is another question.
Martínez, for his part, has since met with Carrick, director of football Jason Wilcox, and CEO Omar Berrada. He issued a social media apology on Thursday — not for what he said, but for the timing. The substance, he stood by. That's a significant distinction. It suggests the frustration inside that dressing room runs deeper than one bad night in Madrid.
One win in six tells the real story
Carrick pushed back hard against outside commentary at his press conference, insisting the squad's training environment is "a fantastic place" regardless of what analysts and pundits claim. He also deflected questions about his own job security with the kind of line that sounds calm until you think about it: "I don't need results. We all need results."
The numbers don't really support the calm. One Premier League win from six games is a return that makes United's top-four odds look shakier by the week — and a trip to seventh-placed Leeds on Sunday is far from the straightforward fixture it once would have been.
Whatever the mood in training, the table is the table.
