going on to lose 5-0<\/a>, he couldn\u2019t join until after the World Cup, never mind inculcate yet another style of play into a squad nicely settled under Carrick. And should United buy well again, they will raise the floor \u2013 make their bottom level high enough \u2013 such that the worst-case scenario should be consolidation. The question, then, is whether Carrick can raise the ceiling to win the biggest trophies, with a two-year contract sufficient to find out if he is the answer.<\/p>\nJulian Nagelsmann was an eye-catching presence on the touchline when in charge of RB Leipzig at Old Trafford in 2020. Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/p>\n
After a traumatic generation of tragicomic innovation, United finally seem to have realised that equilibrium and momentum are hard to find but easy to lose, worth risking only for a genius \u2013 which Nagelsmann may well consider himself to be. But given a pernickety style and abrasive personality, he would be an expensive and potentially disastrous risk.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Cesc F\u00e0bregas and Xabi Alonso \u2013 also risks \u2013 would be difficult to hire for parochial reasons, and it makes sense to swerve Andoni Iraola, whose good work at Bournemouth is not so good it trumps Carrick\u2019s in the job at hand. Nor is it certain his chaotic game-model \u2013 style of play \u2013 would be easily learned and tweaked in a truncated pre-season, or that its focus on transitions \u2013 counterattacks \u2013 can necessarily scale up \u2013 work \u2013 for a team seeking to control games.<\/p>\n
Whether Iraola has the force of personality to deal with the pressure is also unclear, whereas Carrick has proved himself capable. He is not obviously magnetic but five Premier Leagues and a Champions League accord him charisma of status; his playing career, defined by composure, would have been impossible without osmium will; and he is succeeding at the cuddly parts, too. Or, as Kobbie Mainoo put it: \u201cYou want to follow him and fight for him and die for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past 12 years, United have slavishly and unsustainably replaced managers with their near-opposites. Now, though, with a functioning structure in place, there is the opportunity for continuity, a manager\u2019s bona fides less critical if \u2013 if \u2013 good players keep arriving. A failed appointment is no longer disastrous and, should Carrick be sacked, his replacement will inherit a balanced and high-level squad built to fit various playing styles.<\/p>\n
It is fair to note that, after a terrific first two games, levels declined for a period but, given limited defenders, an imbalanced midfield and a small cadre of reliable players, how could things have been any different? Typically, Carrick didn\u2019t panic, keeping ideas simple and the framework loose, his team empowered with the freedom to make decisions and ordered, as Bruno Fernandes explained: \u201cTo be the main character every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
This trust is a major reason United are doing so well, underpinning the vibes \u2013 flexibility and creativity, solidity and resilience \u2013 that enabled them to win games in assorted ways, whether outplaying top teams, redeeming poor performances with late goals, absorbing pressure, overturning deficits or showing ruthlessness in firefights. This is possible only because the players have been properly platformed \u2013 picked in their natural positions \u2013 to give individual excellence the best chance of overriding weaknesses in system and personnel.<\/p>\n
In the process, Carrick and his staff have devised different strategies for different games and game-states \u2013 situations \u2013 making the team unpredictable without deviating from the fundamental principles of what United should be. In almost every game, his players have sought to attack with intensity and verticality \u2013 directness \u2013 scoring different kinds of goals and risking defeat to win, the fast starts so effective under Ferguson also making a comeback.<\/p>\n
Though most games have been close, that is almost unavoidable \u2013 every team is physical, with dangerous attackers who back themselves, so every game is hard, with many necessarily defined by counter-pressing \u2013 winning possession back quickly. But this is also by design: Carrick knows his squad is not yet good enough to dominate or control, so he\u2019s making do by living on the margins, knowing he has the elite \u2013 top-class \u2013 firepower and box defenders \u2013 defenders \u2013 to get by most of the time.<\/p>\n
The plan is to buy the reinforcements which facilitate greater dominance. With Carrick, United have already become a superb counterattacking outfit; the sense is that from here he envisages a side that controls possession with tempo and aggression, using central combinations \u2013 quick passes \u2013 and rotations \u2013 movement \u2013 to navigate tight spaces, with swift ball recoveries \u2013 tackles \u2013 sustaining attacks and pinning opponents back. Consequently, the focus is on midfield, and it makes sense to let Carrick the head coach replace Carrick the player, eight years after he retired.<\/p>\n
Kobbie Mainoo said of Michael Carrick that the players \u2018want to follow him and fight for him and die for him\u2019. Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that United\u2019s schedule has been sparse, but that is not necessarily advantageous. They are a young, developing team building automatisms \u2013 understanding \u2013 so the more they play together, the better they\u2019ll get, while two games a week helps maintain fitness and rhythm. It doesn\u2019t seem coincidental that the worst performance under Carrick followed a 24-day break.<\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s fair to wonder why there haven\u2019t been greater improvements out of possession \u2013 off the ball \u2013 and in rest defence \u2013 concentrating \u2013 Carrick has acknowledged that, also warning that his team must become harder to play against \u2013 and his game management must improve. There may still be flaws in his fully realised style, but because he is less prescriptive they won\u2019t be terminal in the way Amorim\u2019s were, quality and mentality relied upon to resolve issues of coaching and tactics, not blamed for them.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, to reject a head coach who has both won and entertained, to speculate on an unproven replacement, after 13 years of struggle, would be foolish. Of course there are reservations, as there should always be, but, for now, Carrick has earned the chance to cook \u2013 do his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These days, we have a strong desire to complicate football, particularly in how we talk about it. Often,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-959345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116573150791762500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}