Carrick has halted the crisis talk - for now

Michael Carrick spoke very well in his news conference on Friday afternoon.

The Manchester United head coach was in a difficult position given the furore around Lisandro Martinez's comments in Madrid on Tuesday and a clear desire to move on from them so focus can turn to Sunday's trip to Leeds.

But Carrick got his points across well. In saying he was "speaking the truth" he made it clear his words should be taken as fact. He also underlined that for him, the club is more important than any individual - no matter who they are.

The inescapable truth is that he needs positive results to stay in a job. Five games without a win is not good enough for Manchester United at any time, no matter what squad they have.

But for now at least, Carrick has halted the crisis talk.