Carrick Buoyed By Wigan Win

Michael Carrick believes Manchester United are ready to defend the Barclays Premier League title after recording an encouraging 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the FA Community Shield.

The champions produced a professional performance at Wembley to lift the first trophy of the David Moyes era, thanks partly to a brace of goals from Robin van Persie and a sturdy defensive display.

And following an extensive pre-season programme, which culminated in the capital on Sunday, Carrick is confident that his team-mates are finally prepared for the new season, which begins on Saturday with a testing trip to Swansea City and the Liberty Stadium.

“Every game is important, that’s how it is here,” Michael told MUTV. “We’ve had an up and down pre-season, it’s been well documented, but sometimes you can’t read too much into that. We have put the work into the training field, we have all had enough games now and I think it showed today.

“It was a better team performance all around. We looked well defensively and obviously we scored two goals, so it was a decent performance and a good day. We can move on to next week now.”

Quizzed further on Swansea, Michael said: “We are as ready as we’ll ever be. There is always an element of whether you are ready in terms of fitness because you have played so many friendlies. It’s only when the business starts that you find out where you are at.

“We are confident and we have got a good squad,” last season’s Players’ Player of the Year explained. “A lot has been said about ins and outs, and things like that, but at the end of that we have got a good squad anyway and we are confident going into the new season.”

Carrick was also full of praise for Van Persie, who looked encouragingly sharp against the Latics and extremely high on confidence, picking up exactly where he left off last season by leading the forward line with great style and grace. And hopefully, it is only the start of things to come.

“It’s what you rely on, your strikers scoring goals. Robin did it last season and he’s started well again, so hopefully that continues. He has shown his quality. He didn’t really have many opportunities and yet he still scored two goals. He’ll be delighted with that and will be confident going into next week.”