MANCHESTER — Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has played down talk of a rift with former teammate Paul Scholes after a contentious social media post in the wake of the 2-1 defeat to Newcastle.
Scholes later said he “in no way intended to be offensive” after posting following the 2-1 loss at St James’ Park that “Michael has definitely got something special about him…cos United have been c*** last four games.”
In response to the original post — which was subsequently deleted– another former United teammate, Patrice Evra, said he hoped Scholes “was hacked”.
After receiving criticism, Scholes revealed he contacted Carrick to discuss the issue.
And asked about the conversation between the pair, Carrick said the incident had already been forgotten.
“It was nothing really, there’s nothing to say about it really,” said Carrick at a news conference on Friday.
“I think that is just where we are in terms of social media and captions and quotes. It can be taken in different ways.
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“So just be calm about it and understand the real meaning of things. Listen, there are different opinions out there and it’s fine, people can have different opinions.
“Things get taken from one extreme to another. It is what it is. I am not worried about it and don’t make a big deal of it either.”
Carrick is preparing his players for Aston Villa‘s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday.
He is set to be without defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martínez again, but Mason Mount could make his comeback after returning to training.
“Mason is back with the group, which is fantastic,” said Carrick
“He’s an important player for us, Mason, and to have him back and involved is a good step for us.
“He is not 100% in terms of back, because he’s only trained a very small amount of time, but he’s back and that’s good for us so we’ll see whether he’s involved or not on Sunday, but it’s a big step for him so we’re happy with that. That’s it in terms of players coming back for now.”
