Shadowing Practice: Michael Carrick's Powerful Statement | Pre-Bournemouth | Press Conference - Learn English Speaking with Video
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193 sentences
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I'll start today, just want to say a few things really, I think it's important...
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I think recently we haven't had a good time, I think that's pretty obvious, so I totally accept that, what we're going through at the moment.
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We had five months of relative success in a spell where I was happy with a lot of things
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that I was seeing and that we were doing as a team.
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We haven't done well enough lately, I think that's pretty obvious to say, and we've had a spell that we're really not happy with.
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Wednesday was a bad night.
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It was a bad night for a lot of reasons,
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and it was a bad night that kind of hurt a lot and obviously hurt me to see us play that way,
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to see how the game panned out.
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It was, as I said after the game, it was really unacceptable for us to play like that and to be like that.
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The supporters are a huge part of this football club for me, to see the supporters have to make the effort and the time
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and spend the money to come and support us on Wednesday
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and have the feeling after the game like we all felt was a tough moment.
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I think that's pretty obvious.
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My responsibility is to get a team on a pitch that represents this football club,
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represents the supporters and they can be proud of it with the identity
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that we show and we have gone away from
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that just recently in certain games which I'm totally fully aware of and definitely doing something about.
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So I think it's important that we all recognise that, I certainly recognise it.
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And our supporters are the utmost of importance to me
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and this football club and for them to feel like they felt for five months at the start of the season,
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at the start of the year, for us to have that about us and that connection and
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that real vigour and intensity and enjoyment and passion that we all felt
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through that period was something that we need to get back to, and we will get back to it, and I fully believe that,
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but I think it's important that we recognise that we haven't been doing that.
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The foundation of this football club and the values of this football club have been put down and etched for many,
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many years, and I totally understand, and I get every single one of them, and it comes down to humility, it comes down to being humble,
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it comes down to being hard -working and being really proud to work hard
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and being proud to live up to their values.
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There's a resilience about this football club that's been shown for a long, long time.
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Whether that's bouncing back from adversity, whether that's comebacks, whether that's late goals, whether that's success, whether that's sustaining success,
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is the resilience in this football club that runs very, very deep.
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I've seen it with my own eyes, I've felt it.
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I'm aware of some of the individuals and know them closely who have been a big part of that history.
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I said it after the game, Manchester United is always bigger.
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It always has been, always will be bigger than any single individual.
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Bigger than me, bigger than any of the players, and it always has been.
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I'm fortunate enough to know some players myself and play with some Ryan Giggs, arguably one of the greatest to play for this football club.
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It was never about Ryan Giggs, it was about Manchester United.
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Wayne Rooney was top goal scorer of this football club.
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His biggest thing was playing for the team, sacrificing for the team and what was good for Manchester United.
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Sir Alex Ferguson, the best manager of all time, the greatest for me and working with him and his main priority was Manchester United.
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Going back to Sir Matt, Sir Bobby, the resilience was beyond belief of what they showed and the way they rebuilt this football club.
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Again, it was based on being humble, having humility and hard work.
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We can never lose that and I won't let us lose that.
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We've had it for a spell.
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I feel very strongly about that.
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I think it inspires me a lot to live up to
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that and keep driving that with the players in the group
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that we have shown for a good period of time and that we're capable of it.
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At the moment, yeah, we're in a moment where it's not gone well.
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So we need to show exactly what it means and respect this football club, respect what it takes to be here,
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respect what it takes to win, what you have to do to win.
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I'm not entitled to be here
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Entitlement cannot be at this football club
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We're not entitled to win
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We've won in the past
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We've got an incredible history
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But that doesn't mean that you're entitled to just win I'm fully aware of that, it takes hard work, it takes a lot of sacrifice.
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You've got to invest yourself in the football club
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and you've got to do a lot of things that maybe aren't so nice,
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but you've got to do it for each other and you've got to win.
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And I think it's important we live up to that
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and it's important for me to push those values and it's important for our supporters to feel that moving forward.
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We've had it, we've kind of lost our way a little bit if I'm totally honest.
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and we'll get it back.
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I'm totally convinced we'll get it back.
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We respect this football club, respect what it takes because it's very, very important to me.
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Hi, Michael.
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It's hard for us to follow that, but obviously there's naturally been a lot of talk the last 24 hours, 36 hours.
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Who have you been speaking to in the club hierarchy and how have you spoken to the players after your disappointment?
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Yeah, we've spoken.
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Obviously, there's those conversations going on, I think it's pretty obvious how we're all feeling.
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It's pretty obvious how we're all feeling, a reaction, a reaction from me.
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The responsibility for me to be in this position is to lead, you know.
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It is my responsibility to whatever goes on the pitch
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and what we are as a group and what we look like and what we feel like, if anything.
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I'll hold that umbrella for me to get wet and for everyone else to stay dry.
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That's the position I'm in and it's a privileged position.
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Discussions going on, getting the players in a good frame of mind
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and well organised to put in a good performance on Sunday.
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You've spoken about the club being more than only one person and the ability to fight back from adversity.
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Are you still confident that you can be the man that doesn't?
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Yeah, yeah, 100%.
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Michael, how much is this hurting you, the situation right now, the speech that you just gave there at the start of the press conference,
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clearly came from the heart, you spoke very openly and very honestly about how you felt after the game the other night as well,
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you've been through a lot with this club, you've done a lot of things,
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how much is this hurting you and how much pride have you got to sort this out,
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not just for yourself but for everyone else as well and to move on from what is undoubtedly a very difficult moment?
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Yeah, it hurts an awful lot, but it doesn't stop me.
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There's a big difference, you know, that hurt is used as pure motivation for an inspiration, if anything, to want more,
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to expect more, to work for more and to get us going in that different direction.
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We can be, you know, it feels at times that it can be a long way away,
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but it doesn't take too much to flip the other way and we're more than capable of doing that.
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I totally believe that. and we will.
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We'll win football matches.
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We've got a very tough one on Sunday.
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A very, very good team that we're playing against on Sunday
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and I'm not suggesting now all of a sudden that that becomes an easy game because it doesn't.
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We've got to respect the game, we've got to respect what it takes to win.
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Do you get the sense that everyone feels the same way that you do?
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Yeah, I do.
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Yeah, 100 % do.
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And if you don't, this is not the place for you.
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Michael, talk about getting the players in the right frame.
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I just wanted to ask you a few questions about Bruno Fernandes.
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First of all, how is he
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and his family after the news from a few nights ago about his home being burnt out?
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Yeah, I mean, it's an awful thing to hear about and to go through.
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We're obviously doing a lot of work to support Bruno and his family.
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Thankfully, they weren't directly affected, even though it's an awful situation.
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So I'm not playing it down in any way, but yeah, we're doing everything to support.
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Off the back of Lissandra's comments, Bruno's comments after the game.
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Have you had some honest conversations with him, the rest of the squad, around tactics, the direction of the club?
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Because on the outside, it does feel like the changing room is maybe divided, maybe that's not the right word,
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but all isn't well at the moment in that dressing room.
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It's not divided, no. It's not divided.
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We just need to get back to doing what we do best and we will.
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Michael Lennon, the club has continually changed manager since Ferguson went
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and there's been some short -term bounces
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but the reality is the club has just ended up being mired in the same cycle.
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Can you, you're obviously clearly under pressure,
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but can you just talk about why you feel it is so important at this moment that the club break that cycle,
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they might have to go through some pain to move forward?
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And do you fear that if there's obviously more change, this cycle is just going to keep repeating itself?
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I certainly don't fear it, no. Not at all.
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I understand what we can achieve.
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I know what it needs to look like to get to
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the stage where you're winning enough football games to get through that spell as well, but principles...
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Values are so, so important to the football club, definitely to me.
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We can win games, we can lose games, maybe, hopefully not, but at some point we're going to do it.
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It's how you do it, a little bit, and what it feels like is important.
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And that spirit, that unity, that togetherness needs to be there.
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And it is there and it will be there.
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I'll make sure it's there anyway.
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So I'm just looking for the solutions to move us forward.
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That's plain and simple as that.
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Just on that togetherness and the emotions and the values and stuff, Dan's mentioned it there, like Lissandra Martin is coming out last week.
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Bruno made some pretty pointed comments.
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Does that have to stop?
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Have you spoken to the players and said, look, we're killing ourselves in public here.
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We have got to come together and stop this sort of behaviour?
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Yeah, we need to move forward in the right direction, for sure.
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We need to do things to enable us to do that, so it's pretty clear.
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Michael, in your kind of speech just then, you used some words, humble,
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humility, sacrifice, hard work, and you spoke about the great players of the past and what success has been built on.
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Obviously, talent is another thing.
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On Wednesday, you said that if you don't run forward and you don't run back, you won't win football matches.
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It seems a fairly basic thing to do.
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How do you persuade these players, these group of players, who your job rests on ultimately,
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how do you persuade them that they need those four things that you spoke about, the humbleness and humility, as well as talent,
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to achieve what you need?
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I think it's pretty clear as day.
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I'm not telling you anything new.
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I haven't definitely invented anything new.
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That's the make -up of any good football team.
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You have to earn the right to be better than your opponent.
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You have to do more than your opponent to win a game.
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That's as simple as that.
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It doesn't change.
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It never changes.
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That's what we need to do to win more games.
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Michael, you obviously, you know, love this club, are in it for the right reasons, and I think we all,
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you know, assess you as a really good guy, etc. Isn't this then what made Bruno Fernandes' sort of questioning of your tactics,
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basically your authority, so sort of invidious and divisive, and actually this is the man, the player you trusted as the captain,
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the leader, who shows an example, and he goes and does that.
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I mean, how do you solve that?
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Would you consider taking the captaincy off him, dropping him?
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You know, because it's about the collective, as you just said, he there himself has basically gone against that, right?
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Yeah, the most important thing for me is the team, first and foremost, is the squad, is the dynamics in the squad and,
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again, it's about the football club.
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I always do what's best for the football club.
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So, would you consider taking the captaincy off him or dropping him?
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I'm just saying, whatever the situation is, I'll always do what's best for the football club.
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Michael, just on Bruno again, have you spoken to him about what he said?
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Because obviously that caused a lot of noise that came after a difficult situation as it is.
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It poured a bit more fuel on the fire.
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Yeah, if I've spoken to him or haven't spoken to him, I don't think this is the time to go into too much detail.
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Just on a similar theme to what James was asking earlier, those values about self -sacrifice, humility, etc. Do you think the players understand that?
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How important is it that they do understand that?
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It's vital that they do, yeah.
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They have to.
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They have to.
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That's what I'm saying.
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You have done it and we've shown a spell and it's there.
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They've felt it as a group.
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They know what it takes to win certain games.
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I know you can question things about last season and the run
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and the amount of games we played and all
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that the fact of the matter is we went on a
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really really good run the best run in the league out of everybody at that point
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so it's there it's there we've got to find it individually got to find it as a team
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and i've got to find it for everyone
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Michael Carrick's Powerful Statement”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: club, football, player. This video has 193 sentences and 2522 words to shadow. The speech runs for 14:21. The speaker talks at a natural 176 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| spell noun | /spɛl/ | Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers. |
| supporter noun | /səˈpɔɹ.tɚ/ | A person who supports, promotes, advocates or champions a cause, movement, or political party; an adherent. |
| humility noun | /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/ | The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior. |
| sacrifice noun | /ˈsæk.ɹɪ.faɪs/ | Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity. |
| awful adjective | /ˈɔːfʊl/ | Very bad. |
| divide verb | /dɪˈvaɪd/ | To split or separate (something) into two or more parts. |
| humble adjective | /ˈhʌmbəl/ | Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming. |
| resilience noun | /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/ | The mental ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune. |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| opponent noun | /əˈpəʊ.nənt/ | One who opposes another; one who works or takes a position against someone or something; one who attempts to stop the progress of someone or something. |
| tactics noun | /ˈtæktɪks/ | The military science that deals with achieving the objectives set by strategy. |
| bounce verb | /baʊns/ | To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle. |
| persuade verb | /pə(ɹ)ˈsweɪd/ | To successfully convince (someone) to agree to, accept, or do something, usually through reasoning and verbal influence. |
| earn verb | /ɝn/ | To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come down to verb | To reach by moving down or reducing. | |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| move forward verb | To cause to make progress. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come together verb | /ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/ | To assemble; to congregate; to combine. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I think that's pretty obvious.
- We've had it for a spell.
- Are you still confident that you can be the man that doesn't?
- I mean, how do you solve that?
- Do you think the players understand that?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | haven't been doing · have you been speaking |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't had · haven't done · have gone |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | have been put · been shown · was based |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 83 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: passion /ˈpæʃən/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: humility /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/, resilience /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like spell, supporter, humility.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.