Michael Carrick stood up for the beleaguered coaching staff and took charge of two games against Villareal and Chelsea impressing everyone to earn an away win and a draw. Most striking feature was how different they were setup in these two games 4-2-3-1 with Ronaldo leading the line and 4-3-1-2 flooding the midfield without Ronaldo making the winger Jadon Sancho to score in both these games thereby regaining form. Carrick himself paid tribute to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his man-management before the first game, and took on the responsibility of managing United as an interim with great application based on his vast array of technical skill as a player.
Later due to delay in getting the work permit and agree terms with Lokomotiv Moscow for Ralf Rangnick, Carrick had to manage the team for the 3rd match against Arsenal at home. He dropped Aaron Wan-Bissaka who was involved in a lash to clear the ball that caught Thiago Silva's leg and United could only draw at Chelsea. This is proper management that seemed to be lacking under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Diogo Dalot deputized and unlike being outrun and targeted by Villareal, Carrick played Rashford on right not left to protect him. Fred was the workhorse again that earned United a crucial penalty as Ronaldo scored two goals to earn a 3-2 win against their direct rivals for the 4th Champions' League spot. Typical exhilarating Premier League match of recent years where again United did not have majority of possession even at home, something that is still unthinkable could have happened under Sir Alex Ferguson!
After the game it was made public that Michael Carrick would be leaving his position with United that started 15 years ago initially as player who replaced Roy Keane winning every trophy in his illustrious career and took a stint as a coach under Jose Mourinho. Carrick let it know he does not have any plans as yet but loyalty to Solskjaer was a factor. United are losing one of their finest who could have become their permanent manager from the bootroom in the future. Rangnick revealed he has tried to persuade Carrick to stay on in a long chat two days before. Hoping Carrick has a great career as a coach ahead of him and crucially win trophies that most of Ferguson's former charges have had very little of. Thank you.
In a short three game period Carrick has an impressive two wins and a draw but his team displayed cohesiveness that was lacking for much of this season under Solskjaer and a clear formation adapting for the deficiencies in midfield. In the game against Chelsea the coaching staff had live data feed from analysts in the background which was not the case before Rangnick's appointment. This made many experts believe that it was Rangnick forcing the move to bench Ronaldo against Chelsea and it was not Carrick's call. Judging from Carrick's storied history as a technical lynchpin of past United side playing alongside Paul Scholes with aplomb, he would have taken in the positive advice from Rangnick to make more use of pitch-side monitors for the coaching staff but the final team selection would be his own.
Another feature that was liked by all was Carrick's reading of the game in his press conference. As an example he described Thomas Tuchel's in form Chelsea team and the way they play in depth with full analysis. Did not repeat stuff often nor try to paint a picture but reveal his view. Refreshing.
By the way, Ronaldo scored his 800th goal of his career in the game against Arsenal. 800th! United fans would love him to get his 200th at United by the end of his two years here and surely surpass George Best's tally of 178 goals. Only Ryan Giggs has more appearances for United than 800 at 963, imagine to score in 19 seasons that is averaging a staggering 42 goals per season. Only Sir Denis Law has managed to score more than 42 goals for Manchester United once in 1963-64 that won him the Ballon d'Or with 46 goals, a trophy much coveted and respected in the past.
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