Michael Carrick has rejected suggestions that Louis van Gaal's brand of football is "conservative" and told his Manchester United teammates that if they cannot deal with the atmosphere at Old Trafford, then they should move to another club.
Van Gaal's team went 404 minutes without scoring before Wayne Rooney delivered Tuesday's winner against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.
But while supporters chanted "attack, attack, attack" and booed the Dutchman's decision to substitute forward Anthony Martial, vice-captain Carrick believes United players have to display the stature to ignore that.
"It's our job to play," he said. "That's why we are at this great club. If you can't handle it or don't want it, then go and play somewhere else. You have to take the rough with the smooth."
Van Gaal has been branded defensive after his team drew three consecutive games 0-0 but Carrick said his tactics are simply different.
"I don't think it's more conservative," he said. "I just think it's slightly different. In some ways, but not all ways. I thought [Tuesday] was more dynamic and aggressive in terms of attacking and getting forward quickly and getting crosses in the box.
"Of course we want to play exciting football and score loads of goals but it's not always easy when players are coming [here] and putting ten [men] behind the ball. It's difficult. What do you do? Throw it in the box and hope or do you play football and try and pass it and break them down? There is a lot made of tactics and things at the minute but as players we can't get too involved in that. We just do what the manager tells us.
"I think there is an awful lot made of tactics these days. People like to talk about that a lot more now than they did in the past. Different managers have different systems and the way they set the teams up. That's just the nature of the game."
Carrick was an automatic choice for United last season but has only started two of their last six games as Van Gaal has used summer signings Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
And he admitted: "It's frustrating sometimes when you aren't playing but you have to understand the bigger picture and realise that sometimes you can't play.
"You can't always play three games in a week or back to back. It's not like it was when I was younger when you could just roll out game after game. I understand that."
Carrick's former teammate Paul Scholes has been a regular critic of Van Gaal's recently, but while the 34-year-old shrugged off his old colleague's comments, he defended his right to say what he thinks.
"What he said doesn't bother me," he added. "I have respect for Scholesy and that isn't going to change. There is nothing wrong with those comments. People are there to have opinions."