Exclusive: Former Red backs Carrick for permanent Man Utd job after ‘magnificent’ start | OneFootball

Former Manchester United midfielder Gordon Strachan explains why Michael Carrick is a serious candidate for the permanent managerial role.

The club appointed Carrick as interim head coach until the end of the season after sacking Ruben Amorim at the start of the month.

The Portuguese manager was initially replaced by Man Utd’s U18 manager Darren Fletcher, who had an underwhelming two-match stint at the head of the senior team. On the other hand, Carrick has been off to a flying start, beating the two strongest teams in the country in his first two outings.

Should Michael Carrick be confirmed as Man Utd head coach

The Red Devils completely outplayed their crosstown rivals, Man City, in what was a splendid debut for Carrick, before stunning the Premier League leaders, Arsenal, in a thrilling back-and-forth contest at the Emirates.

While Carrick still has a long way to go to win over the hierarchy and earn himself a permanent role, Strachan argues that the 44-year-old could be the ideal profile for the club, but United will have to be patient, as Arsenal were with Mikel Arteta.

“We’ll have to see if it continues. But everybody’s saying, ‘Man United need to get a top, top manager, top, top manager, he has to be a world-class manager’. When Arteta went to Arsenal, was he a top-class manager?” said the former Celtic and Scotland manager in his exclusive interview with Stretty News, in collaboration with Poker Scout.

“Arteta was an assistant coach at Man City, and because he was given time, his own intellect, he’s created this, arguably the best team in Europe at the moment, along with Bayern Munich probably, he’s created that. He wasn’t a World Cup-winning manager, he wasn’t a Champions League-winning manager.”

“You’ve heard them there before with Van Gaal, Mourinho, Rangnick…  So you’ve had all that, so I don’t get why everybody’s screaming: ‘Oh, if it’s a foreign language, he must be more intelligent than anybody else, and blah, blah, blah…’

“It doesn’t have to be that. It has to be somebody who understands where Man United are at the moment, and needs people at the top to understand where Man United are at the moment.”

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Strachan explains how Carrick restored tactical order by making simple yet effective changes to the lineup, and fielding the players in their natural roles.

“He’s only been in the Championship now. Well, he’s walked in here and taken two results, magnificent results, and changed the system to suit the players there now. They all look like: ‘I’m okay with this now’.

“Bruno Fernandes is playing just off the striker now as a number 10. You’ve got two midfield players, you’ve got wide men, who are wide men now.

“Those two were playing as wing-backs, and they ended up playing in the back five. Now it’s hard to make up that extra 25 yards, to get up the pitch, to get the ball and start dribbling. They’re in a better starting position now, Amad and Dorgu, than they were before. 

“And also, they’ve got more people in midfield to retain the ball when they get it back. They’ve also got another extra player to stop people playing, they’ve got an extra player to get up and attack.

“So they’re all playing in positions that they’re comfortable with. And that comes from a Championship manager with a bit of intelligence, who knows what the Man United fans are after.

Strachan feels Carrick is tailor-made for Man Utd

Strachan also argues that someone like Carrick can improve the communication at the club, which he has identified as one of the main issues plaguing the club since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

“I think he can communicate around the club as well. No matter how big you are as a club, you have to have communication. 

“Has the communication been right with Man United over the last 13 years? Has it all been done by email and meetings, instead of having a hands-on with each other?

“Now I’m just not talking about players, I’m talking about everybody. Recruitment, mingling with the manager and dealing with that, and the coach, the people at the top, saying hello to the manager, hello to the players.

“That whole thing that made Man United, when Ferguson was there, and maybe not just Ferguson, but any club I’ve been to where there’s a human touch about the place. You have to get the human touch back to Man United. And I think Carrick can do that as well.”

Carrick is already making his presence felt across all age groups. He attended a contest for Man Utd’s U16 on Saturday before travelling to London for the Arsenal game, and took advantage of the senior team’s day off on Monday to watch the U21 side in action.