Manchester United secured their second win in two games against Arsenal under manager Michael Carrick on Sunday after intense training at Carrington’s training ground.
Michael Carrick made a huge impact at Manchester United (Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Michael Carrick pulled his players off the training pitch during the run-up to Manchester United’s win over Arsenal. Carrick made the perfect start to his time as United manager with a 2-0 derby win against Manchester City and an impressive 3-2 win away to the Premier League leaders.
United have been rejuvenated by Carrick’s appointment as caretaker manager until the end of the season, and have achieved two of their best results of the season. Carrick used the same starting XI that beat City in the north London trip and produced another impressive result.
Goals from Brian Mbeumo, Patrick Dorg and Matheus Cunha made them the first team to win at the Emirates Stadium this season. United have moved up to fourth place and, for the first time in a while, there is a great deal of positivity throughout the team.
Wayne Rooney, who spoke to former teammate Carrick the day before, said there were similar feelings ahead of the game against Arsenal. Rooney explained on Match of the Day:
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“He wanted to bottle it up and have them perform like that the next day in the game, and obviously we’ve seen that. He’s done a great job and I’m really happy for him.”
Carrick ditched the 3-4-2-1 formation in favor of Ruben Amorim in favor of a 4-2-3-1. He quickly reaped the benefits and his name was included in the official slot after the season ended.
“He brings a level of calm that we haven’t had for a while,” Rooney added. “When you look at Michael Carrick, you’d think he’s a quiet young man, but he studies the game, he understands the game, he took the job knowing it was going to be difficult, and he took those fundamentals back to Manchester United. The players work hard, they’re behind the ball, they run for each other, they work for each other, and they’re more confident.”
Manchester United have been revitalized by the arrival of Michael Carrick (Image: Marc Atkins, Getty Images)
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“He’s an incredible communicator. I think what the best manager has to do is make sure all the players are happy and want to play for themselves. The last two weeks have really shown that. Cunha came off the bench twice and made an impact with an assist for Mason Mount and a goal against Arsenal.”
“He gave the players confidence. Sometimes with young coaches, like when we had Ruben Amorim, they’re guilty of overcomplicating things and giving the players too much information. I think Michael went in and reminded them of the basics.”
Asked if he would be the right man for the job in the long term, Rooney said: “Of course he can. Michael Carrick has an opportunity to show everyone he can do the job. Of course he has to be consistent with his results and performances, but what we’ve seen is he’s more than capable of doing that.”
“If this continues, there will be a lot of pressure on the Manchester United board to bring him in at the end of the season. I know they were with Ole[Gunnar Solskjaer]but I think it will be different this time.”
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