Michael Carrick has been well known at Manchester United since replacing the sacked Ruben Amorim.
Michael Carrick has won each of his three games as manager (Image: Getty Images)
Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag’s rule to have Manchester United players train the day after a match was broken by Michael Carrick. The former England midfielder is enjoying a perfect start to life as United’s caretaker manager.
His second brief period began with a huge 2-0 home win against Manchester City, a dramatic 3-2 away win against Arsenal and a last-minute win against Fulham. Carrick, 44, made a number of changes between the time he took charge and the end of the campaign.
He has already overhauled Amorim’s lackluster 3-4-3 formation and reinstated United academy product Koby Mainu into the starting eleven. But there are many other rules introduced by Amorim that are being overturned.
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One thing Amorim and Ten Hag had in common was their commitment to training the day after a match. Both former United managers were adamant that players who played in the match must go to the training ground for a recovery session.
Carrick refused and instead decided to take his allotted time off within 24 hours after the match. Instead, the recovery date was moved to two days after the final whistle.
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This is another example of Carrick imparting the old ways of Amorim and bringing his own rules and beliefs. He may have only been on the field for a month, but he has already overturned five suspensions imposed by the former Sporting Lisbon manager.
Amorim forbade players from taking time off during international breaks, banned food from being brought into the dressing room and even banned his staff from giving United’s stars complex tactical instructions.
Carrick set the tone for United (Image: Manchester United, Getty Images)
Carrick also shortened training sessions, increased the intensity of practices and changed the times the team arrives at games. It is no exaggeration to say that his changes are already bearing fruit.
United moved into the top four with a last-minute win against Fulham. They are one point behind Chelsea and just six points behind second-placed Manchester City.
Carrick play at home to Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford this weekend, before facing West Ham on Tuesday 10 February. With United out of all cup competitions and not in Europe, Carrick has a clear path to attacking the top four.
At this time, he is not expected to be offered a full-time position. But if he continues to rack up wins, it will become increasingly difficult not to hand him the job.
Amorim was sacked earlier this year (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Carrick’s former teammate Ben Foster even believes it is unlikely that he will be named as United’s next manager at the end of the season. The former goalkeeper said on his Fozcast podcast: “The badge carries an incredible amount of weight for Manchester United, but then you have a new manager, someone they know, someone they trust, someone they get along with as a friend.”
“That’s the situation we’re in right now with Carrick. It’s all amicable. He’s interim, not full-time. I’m worried that if he becomes full-time, that dynamic will change a little bit.”
“We’ve seen this with a lot of teams, including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and it changes the dynamic a little bit. But he’s beaten Man City and Arsenal so far, so it’s a great start. He’s got 15 games left at Manchester United now. If he can win 10 of those 15 games, we have to give him the job.”
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