Michael Carrick has made an immediate impact since returning to Manchester United as interim head coach, steering the team to four successive league victories and a strong position in the chase for Champions League qualification. The 44-year-old, who replaced Ruben Amorim in mid-January, has taken 16 points from a possible 18, lifting United to fourth place, three points behind Aston Villa.
On the pitch, Carrick has reshaped the rigid 3-4-3 system favoured by his predecessor and restored Kobbie Mainoo to the starting line-up. But it is his off-field changes that have reportedly endeared him to the squad, with a more empathetic approach winning over players who had grown frustrated under previous managers.
Unlike Amorim, Carrick has made a point of speaking to his players immediately after matches, even if detailed analysis is saved for later days. He has also scrapped the policy, introduced under Erik ten Hag and maintained by Amorim, of requiring players to train the day after a fixture. Instead, he has approved designated rest days within 24 hours of games, moving recovery sessions to two days after the final whistle.
The move has been well received, with players enjoying the chance to briefly savour a good win before returning to work with renewed purpose. The Telegraph reports that a lack of empathy has been a common complaint about past United managers, from Louis van Gaal to Ten Hag, and Carrick’s understanding has helped him get a tune out of the squad. One source said: “The players look at it and go: ‘He cares about my life.’ And you just know automatically you get an unwritten return on that.”
United can move third with a win over Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Sunday. Speaking ahead of the match, Carrick said: “I think we’re in a good place. In some ways, we’ve made big strides, winning games that we might not have won at other times, played some good football at times, things to improve at times, defending really, really well a lot of the time, and keeping clean sheets. So there’s lots of positives. Certainly, there’s so many layers of levels that we feel we can get to as a group. So we’ll just keep pushing for that.”
