Michael Carrick is being assigned the task of reconnecting the fragmented pieces at Old Trafford at this time. In front of his 44-year-old coach will be 2 matches against Man City and Arsenal, the strongest teams in the Premier League at this time. In the process of replacing Ole Solskjaer in 2021, Carrick also had a match against Arsenal and won.
Carrick's luggage before taking the interim seat at Man United is 136 matches leading Middlesbrough before being sacked in the summer of 2025. The board of directors and fans of the "Red Devils" hope Carrick's practical experience will help the team soon return to a stable trajectory.
One of Carrick's strengths was identifying tactical weaknesses, thereby making rapid changes. When Carrick took over Middlesbrough in October 2022, the team was ranked 21st in the Championship. By the end of the season, Boro finished 4th, almost relegation after losing to Coventry City in the play-off.
With Man United, Carrick only has 17 matches left from now until the end of the season after the team was eliminated from the FA Cup right from the 3rd round. When leading Boro in the early stages, the team also faced many problems like Man United currently, especially the psychological problems of the players.
Throughout his time leading Middlesbrough, Carrick always prioritized the 4-2-3-1 formation, using it in nearly 90% of matches. However, Carrick is not as conservative as Amorim. This young coach once shared in 2024 with Northern Echo that the formation is just a framework, and the way the players play on the field is a realistic, flexible strategy for each match.
One of Carrick's main tactical views is controlling the ball. This is quite understandable when throughout his player career, the 44-year-old coach played in the central midfielder position, being the control and initiation model, not purely defensive.
One of Michael Carrick's weaknesses is the poor way he built the long-range defense system. In his last season leading Middlesbrough, the team's expected goal difference was 56.2/season. This is also Boro's number xG of goals conceded in the last 4 seasons.
The decisiveness in winning the ball back from the opponent in 1/3 of the home field is also not considered too good. Carrick's Boro always ranks at the average level of the Championship in terms of the number of times they win the ball in the last 1/3 of the field in 3 seasons under his time. Instead of competing, they quickly retreated to a 4-4-2 formation, building tightness in the midfield area and prioritizing blocking passes.
Carrick's Boro spent time building a sharp, fast and fast attacking style of play. This is what Man United fans really need because they are too fed up with Amorim's boring, sometimes directionless playing style. The young coach really likes the breakthrough in arranging the attacking system, not following a rigid pattern.
Also in a sharing with Northern Echo in 2025, Carrick once said that every player is given space and opportunity to show their creativity, this is something that did not appear under Amorim. The proof is that Man United's average 90-minute successful dribbling rate reached the lowest level in the last 6 seasons under Amorim.
When holding skillful dribblers like Matheus Cunha, Bryyan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo, Carrick's Man United promises to become more versatile and unpredictable.
The last thing Carrick is expected to bring is pressing ability, which Man United always lacked and was weak in Ruben Amorim's short era. His Middlesbrough did not do that impressively, forcing Carrick to change when entering the Premier League environment. The only thing is, the time for Carrick to get used to the current squad is too short, it is very difficult to create pressing synchronization, which is only achieved after a very long training period.
