Gary Neville believes Michael Carrick has found the Manchester United midfield partnership he must continue with and heaped praise on his former teammate for adapting when his predecessor, Ruben Amorim, did not, following the club's draw with Leeds United.
Bryan Mbeumo gave United the lead at Elland Road before Dominic Calvert-Lewin's strike earned the home side a point, but Neville was reassured by what he saw as the club extended their winless run to six matches. The combination of Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos appears to have been integral to that.
Baleba and Santos step up
Summer signing Baleba made his first Premier League start of the season on Sunday, while Santos was present in the division from the opening whistle for the first time since the defeat to Hull, having not featured in the previous three matches. But with the experience of facing Atletico Madrid together, Carrick trusted the duo to provide his defence with some protection.
"I actually think Baleba and Santos did a decent job in there today," Neville said. "You'd have said at the start of the season 'who is going to be your two?' that would have been your last two.
"You'd have said Mainoo, you'd have definitely said Tielemans or Mainoo in there. Maybe them two could be the way forward because the defence is not good enough. Baleba and Santos do protect it, and they need protecting."
Adapting where Amorim would not
In utilising the pair, Neville believes that Carrick made a crucial step in showing an ability to adapt at a difficult time, when Amorim would not. The Portuguese coach faced heavy criticism for how open his team could be before ultimately being shown the door.
Carrick has shown the ability to go against his instincts to show that United can grind out results when required, Neville has suggested.
"To be fair to Baleba and Santos they protected that back four today. Tielemans and Fernandes have gone in front. What Michael Carrick has done today is he's adjusted; he's adapted," Neville explained.
"If you look back 12 months, how many games did we do together under Ruben Amorim? We watched a lot of games and he never adjusted. He kept Bruno and Casemiro in there. You kept thinking 'just adjust, you've got to adapt'. He said 'he'll obviously die in a ditch over my system'.
"Michael Carrick, to be fair, doesn't want to play no centre forwards at times, which at times we had no centre forwards today. Amad was chasing back with Gudmundsson and Mbeumo was going back with Justin and Bogle. But he's adjusted, he's adapted, he's made them more competitive today and he's got a performance out of them that's a lot better.
"Manchester United fans have stayed behind today and clapped Carrick and the players. That's not because they think that's the best team in the world. They can recognise they've gone out there today and put a shift in. They've won the duels, they've thrown their head at it. It's a low base that Manchester United fans accept. They want to win titles and Champions Leagues but if you fight for them, they'll stay with you for a long time. If you don't run and you don't show effort they'll boo you off the pitch or they'll boo you after 25 minutes like against Tottenham at home last week.
"We're not going to get carried away, we are talking about a depressed standard and a low expectation right now, seven points from seven, worst start since 1986. But it'll feel like a stepping stone for Michael Carrick and it'll feel like the first step on the ladder in the Premier League and they may get some confidence from that. There might be a blueprint from there thinking maybe we just have to bring Cunha and Rashford and others off the bench and go a bit more solid."
Baleba's impact and Martinez's outburst
Baleba in particular has alleviated some of Neville's Manchester United worries for this season, having recovered from his ankle injury. The ex-United captain believes that Carrick may even consider resting the 22-year-old to prioritise the Premier League in the next seven days.
"Baleba, I just want to talk about him a little bit," Neville said. "I was getting worried a few weeks ago when I was watching Tielemans and Mainoo, and I watched Santos play a game or two with Mainoo, I thought, 'That's going to be a struggle if that's what we've got for the rest of this season. So Baleba better be good'.
"You watch him, I know he had a difficult season last year at Brighton, you watch him in his first couple of games with United, he's got something. He's got a strength about him, he's got presence. Him staying fit is going to be critical. I understand why Michael Carrick took him off.
"Maybe he doesn't play him against Como on Wednesday. Maybe not. We're not throwing the Champions League away but Manchester United have to beat Bournemouth at the weekend. And I just wonder if that Santos-Baleba partnership is going to stay there for a bit and let Bruno and Tielemans and others let them float around in front. Make sure we're not giving as much space away."
Neville was reassured by the effort United produced against Leeds and reckons it could, in part, be an unintended consequence of Lisandro Martinez's dramatic outburst following defeat to Atletico Madrid. The Sky Sports pundit reckons the Argentina international's actions could have provoked enough anger to act as motivation.
"It's an unintended consequence of Martinez's comments," he said. "I don't think he went out there on Tuesday night launching from the hip thinking that those comments are to fire up my teammates and get the dressing room buzzing again. But maybe those comments have.
"Maybe the players have thought 'hang on a minute he doesn't think we're good enough, he thinks there should be other players in the team'. Maybe the manager has got angry with him and said 'you're out of order, bang out of order. You've let those lads down in the dressing room, who do you think you are?' Maybe there's been a meeting on Thursday or Friday where they've all had a pop at each other and all said 'right, ok, let's get angry'.
"You've got to have a cause. You think about motivation: why you're going out there, not just in a red shirt, if you're in a white shirt. What's your cause? What's your reason? Your family, your own personal pride, what you are, money for some, the fact your desperate to win, you want to win trophies, you love the club? Why would I fight like crazy and have that tenacity and determination every single game never to let my standards drop?
"This Manchester United team have dropped well below that and what's their cause? Fans are looking at those red shirts thinking 'do you really like playing for this club? do you really love being here? do you care?' Maybe the cause this week has been 'hang on a minute, I don't like that the whole world is having a go at us and our Argentinian World Cup winner is saying we're not good enough through the fact we need more players and we don't have enough quality and they should have dealt with it in the summer'.
"Maybe there's he's just pulled the pin out and thrown it in the middle of the room. To be fair to him, he's done that. Wednesday morning when they get back from Madrid, I bet they're absolutely fuming. But they've dealt with it pretty well, they've got an apology out of him, it took two goes."
