Man Utd: Carrick has ‘forced their hand’ and must now answer a big question | OneFootball

Paul Robinson feels Michael Carrick has deserved his crack at being the full-time Manchester United manager after his period as interim boss this season.

It’s reported that Carrick, who arrived back at United as interim boss in January, has an agreement to remain full-time. He has catapulted the club back up the league, with Champions League football confirmed and third place locked in.

The latter was secured via a win over Nottingham Forest, in which Bruno Fernandes – reinvigorated since Carrick arrived – assisted his 20th goal of the Premier League season, which equals the all-time record, held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

Former Premier League goalkeeper Robinson feels Carrick has indeed done enough to keep the job.

He said on Final Score: “Carrick has forced their hand. No one has won more Premier League points than him since he came in. The club seems harmonious again, and it’s not been like that for a long time.

“So much is talked about around the so-called DNA and footprint of Manchester United, but he understands the club, he’s a good front man. He never gets too high when they win, never gets too low when they lose, he is always on a level.

“Whether he can do it at the very to level for a longer period of time, well he’s earned himself the opportunity to find that out.

“The strategy from Manchester United was clear. Bring in Carrick to the end of the season to buy themselves time, knowing at the end of the season there would be some big managers out there that they would undoubtedly be looking at. But, Carrick and his staff have forced their hand, it would be almost wrong not to give him the job.

“If they had gone with someone else and then a few weeks into the season it’s going wrong again then everyone would have been saying to them ‘you had the right man all along.'”

During Carrick’s spell as United’s interim boss, the Englishman has won 11 matches, drawn three and lost just two, picking up 2.25 points per game.

That sort of return next season would have the Manchester outfit very much fighting for the title, as the points per game is better than any other club have picked up over the course of the campaign.

But just because Carrick has had a great spell since he joined doesn’t mean he’d be able to keep it up for a whole season, especially competing on multiple fronts, with Champions League football also on the agenda.

Whether he can keep United going at the same pace is the question he’ll need to answer next term.