Is Carrick The Man To Bring The Good Times Back To Old Trafford?
Following the appointment of Michael Carrick at Manchester United, albeit on a temporary basis until the end of the season, there would have been few fans who argued with that.
An ex-club legend, serial winner and with an undefeated record when it comes to firefighting, Carrick without a doubt, has the pedigree. During his first spell in 2021, he won twice and drew once. He had taken over after another former luminary’s time had run out, in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, considering the opposition, achieved very respectable results.
A 2-0 away win against Villarreal in the Champions League was followed by a 1-1 draw away at Chelsea and a 3-2 home victory over Arsenal.
Taking over this time after the sacking of Ruben Amorim in January, his initial run of fixtures looked similarly challenging; the first two could not have been any trickier. A 2-0 home victory over rivals Manchester City then a 3-2 away win against Arsenal were sensational, which was then followed up by respective 3-2 and 2-0 Old Trafford victories over Fulham and Tottenham.
They showed their mettle to grab a last minute equaliser away at West Ham to draw 1-1 before taking three points away against a tough and well-organised side in a 1-0 scoreline.
Carrick Playing The Manchester United Way
The first thing Carrick did was go back to a system that defined the club’s ethos and character, which allowed them to play sweeping, attacking football, while remaining organised at the back.
A 4-2-3-1, with essentially, conventional wingers and a fast, strong, mobile centre forward with talisman Bruno Fernandes pulling the strings in the number 10 role effectively appeared to fix their goal-scoring problem.
Bryan Mbuemo was the man out of the trio of last summer’s signings, trusted with the number nine role and he didn’t disappoint. Where Amorim had tried to play Mbuemo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko together all at once, this simply didn’t work and Carrick has proved to be smarter.
Instead, he went with out-and-out wingers; Amad Diallo and Patrick Dorgu (the latter arguably a full-back), and it worked brilliantly with United looking frightening on the counter-attack.
Both Kobbie Mainoo and Fernandes look like new players (the former surely a shoe-in for an England World Cup selection), while Casemiro suddenly looks 10 years younger. An unchanged side was fielded for the Arsenal match which turned out to be one of the games of the season.
Carrick has also seemingly mastered the use of both Cunha and Sesko. He has slowly integrated the former into the starting lineup, while when he has timed the substitute of the latter to perfection which has yielded goals; we’re slowly starting to see the kind of striker he can be.
Likely Candidate To Take United Forward
Should United’s form stay like this, there is no doubt the board and major shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe will think seriously about offering him the job full-time.
Fans are beginning to see him as a safe pair of hands, much like players seeking a trusted social casino in the US look for platforms with a proven track record of fairness and security. He might not be the ‘glamour’ name that the chiefs might want but he has taken a side that couldn’t buy a win and, in danger of slipping into the bottom half of the league, into a top-four spot.
Carrick might not be the ‘glamour’ name that the chiefs might want but he has taken a side that couldn’t buy a win and, in danger of slipping into the bottom half of the league, into a top-four spot.
They look a different side altogether and both Chelsea and Liverpool will be looking at their turnaround with envy.
Being offered the job on a permanent basis will surely be the next logical step for the club’s progression if Carrick guides them to a top four finish.