Carrick - might have to wait for first startMichael Carrick accepts he may have to wait for his first Manchester United start.
Sir Alex Ferguson spent £18.6million to lure the stylish midfielder north from Tottenham this summer, only for him to suffer an ankle injury in the pre-season clash with Ajax that ruled him out of the Premiership opener against Fulham last weekend.
After making a quicker-than-expected recovery, Carrick was able to make his debut as a second-half substitute at Charlton on Wednesday night.
However, even though Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney are missing through suspension, with Darren Fletcher capping a man-of-the-match display with United's opener in their three-goal romp at the Valley, it appears unlikely Ferguson will elevate Carrick from the bench.
"I have not played a lot of football in pre-season," the 25-year-old told BBC Radio Manchester.
"I had one game, then got injured in the second.
"At least I have given myself something to build on now. I will train for the next few days but after that, it depends on what the manager wants."
Ferguson initially felt Carrick would not be fit enough to play until after the forthcoming international break.
But Carrick has made rapid progress from his ankle ligament problem and insists he was not putting himself at risk with his appearance in United's second straight win.
"The injury has improved pretty quickly," he said.
"It has felt fine in the last few days, so we just thought 'Why not?'
"I wanted to get on the pitch sooner rather than later and it is good to get that first game out of the way."
The Red Devils had virtually wrapped up the win by the time Carrick made his entrance, although he did come close to setting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer up before the Norwegian eventually netted his first senior goal since September 2003.
Solskjaer's strike was United's eighth of the campaign, twice as many as any of their top-flight rivals have managed.
The flying start has already seem them establish a cushion over main title contenders Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, with Carrick admitting all targets have been met so far.
"We have had a great start," he observed.
"We wanted to pick up plenty of points in our first few games and in that sense, we could not have done any more."
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