Ahead of Manchester United's visit to Leeds, Michael Carrick said he has no timeframe for making United Premier League champions again. United were 12 points off the pace after six games, had won only two of their first nine matches in all competitions, and were without a win in their last four in the Premier League.
Title target
Carrick did not commit to winning the Premier League within the next two seasons set by United chief executive Omar Berrada. He said: "I think the goal, being at this football club, the goal is always to win. There's no timeframe on that from my perspective. It's as soon as we possibly can. And I think we understand we're still making steps to get there."
Carrick said: "For us to win the Premier League is a massive step, of course it is, but it's definitely something we're striving for and we've got to keep pushing for it."
United's current position
Carrick said: "We're trying to build to get to somewhere where we haven't been for too long. I know that, and sometimes you've got to go through different ways and different pathways to get to the top."
He added: "It's the best job I could possibly have. I feel a real privilege of being in this position and a real responsibility, but equally a drive of wanting to make a difference and having success here. So I'm loving it. I love the situation when actually you get a little bit of some sort of struggle where you've got to find a way out of it."
Trip to Leeds
Manchester United were due to visit Leeds, with Elland Road expected to be hostile. Daniel Farke's side had only lost six of their last 31 league games.
Carrick rejected the suggestion that it was the worst possible match for his out-of-form team. He said: "I don't think it's the last game I need right now, for sure. I'm really looking forward to the game. I generally feel the drive for myself to want to push this club forward more than anything. There's always negativity if you want to look for it or you want to feel it, but I don't go looking for it. I don't want to feel it."
He also said: "I understand the reality and I've said it enough in terms of feeling like I'm saying the same things, but accepting where we are, but I don't feel that. I'm totally focused on what's best for this place and this football club and what it's going to take to win games, you know, and get the boys playing what we know we're capable of, which we still don't think we're that far away."