Manchester United has been a club perpetually pivoting in a new direction, a club in constant identity crisis since Sir Alex Ferguson departed in 2013, and a club that just needs to stop everything it’s doing, hit pause and seriously re-evaluate itself.
MORE — ARSENAL 2-3 MAN UNITED | Michael Carrick reaction
Michael Carrick is in charge until the end of the season, at which point Man United’s owners and operators might buy into someone else’s five-year plan and take the club in another direction altogether, again. Or, they could take stock of the current situation and see that the squad is already performing up to the standard they would require of the next new hire.
Following Sunday’s dramatic 3-2 victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal, talk is sure to pick up about Carrick keeping the job beyond this summer. And Sir Jim Ratcliffe might be wise to listen to it. United have just beaten Manchester City and Arsenal — the 1st- and 2nd-place sides — in back-to-back games, nearly every player is playing with freedom and to a significantly higher level than they had previously this season, and all of that has been achieved in Carrick’s first 10 days on the job.
What Man United don’t need is another “project”
For once, Manchester United need to focus on the right now, right here. The current squad is, for the most part, going to be the squad for the rest of the season because significant January transfer business isn’t sensible without European or domestic cup football. And here’s the thing: The squad is… pretty darn good.
The midfield is obviously still a longer-term problem that needs fixing, unless Kobbie Mainoo breaks out during this run of starts and makes the job his; but the backline is more than solid when not asked to play a high line (with Matthijs de Ligt soon to return), and the goalkeeper is no longer gifting goals every other week; the wide-ranging attacking options are all brilliant counter-attackers and can play all over the field.
If Man United weren’t pot committed to one set of very specific tactical ideas and the direction that he (Ruben Amorim) wanted to take the team, perhaps they would have set up to defend deep and cut teams apart on the counter all season — as they have done for two games under Carrick, as should have been done after signing Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha in the summer — and where might they be now, if they had?
At a certain point, all that football fans want from their club is a group of players who play like they care — maximum effort, emotional investment and a good teammate. The talent is the talent at the very top level of the game — not much to separate the top 10 percent, aside from effort and confidence. By the end of Amorim’s tenure, both were excruciatingly low and it was easy to see why. Those same players are running themselves into the ground and putting it all on the line for Carrick, and it’s easy to see why.
Michael Carrick’s connection to Man United makes him right man, right time
“It’s a real collective feeling and it’s great when it comes together and everyone’s in it,” Carrick said after Sunday’s game, “and we can celebrate with the fans at the end. I think it’s important and a big moment. My kids were in there — there’s not so much kids anymore, but they’re in the away end. That in itself is emotional, it’s the passion and the excitement of these types of games and to come out on top is fantastic.”
In just a few words, Carrick gets it. In a few more, he seems less interested in becoming the Manchester United manager, than humbly serving the club by acting as its manager when called upon.
We’re coming up on 15 years since Ferguson’s been gone, and Manchester Untied have tried every footballing identity under the sun since. Perhaps the identity they should truly seek is one of a football team that focuses on how they can win each and every game, and that’s it. Nameless, faceless Red Devils restoring the club to a level of respectability.
