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Manchester United's Michael Carrick happy to cover at centre-back

Image: Michael Carrick: Happy to fill in at centre-back

Michael Carrick is prepared to play at centre-back to help alleviate Manchester United’s defensive problems.

Carrick made his first appearance of the season at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday when he came off the bench to replace injured centre-back Marcos Rojo in United's 1-0 defeat to local rivals Manchester City.

Argentina international Rojo dislocated his shoulder sliding in to make a challenge to add to manager Louis van Gaal’s defensive concerns and may be missing for several weeks.

Phil Jones could be out for an extended period with shin splints, while Jonny Evans has not played for over six weeks because of an ankle injury.

To further add to Van Gaal’s problems, Chris Smalling must now serve a one-match ban after he was sent off for carelessly picking up two bookings in the derby defeat.

But Carrick, who has featured in central defence before for the club, is happy to play out of position for the good of the team.

"If I need to play there then fine I have not had a lot of football recently so I will play anywhere," said Carrick. "It's not somewhere I have played an awful lot of games.

"I have had spells of playing there over the years, playing two or three or four games in a season.

"But I don't mind. I will play anywhere."

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