Manchester United’s stand-in manager Michael Carrick continued his dream start to his second stint in the position with victory at Arsenal on Sunday, and said his team must ride the wave of confidence that has swept away the Old Trafford gloom.
Former midfielder Carrick answered United’s call in the wake of Ruben Amorim’s sacking this month and his two games in charge have seen a 2-0 win against Manchester City and a thrilling 3-2 victory at Premier League leaders Arsenal.
“We’ve got to ride it and use the emotion, you have got to use the energy and use the confidence,” said Carrick, whose team moved up to fourth in the table.
“You’ve got to be humble enough to understand how we could achieve these two big results. It doesn’t come easy, so we need to continue that and bottle it and use it again.”
United had to dig deep on Sunday as Arsenal bossed the opening half-hour and led through a Lisandro Martinez own goal. But Bryan Mbeumo was gifted an equaliser and stunning goals by Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha in the second half sealed a first United league win at Arsenal since 2017.
“The goals were fantastic goals and some of the football was good, and we looked dangerous at certain times,” said Carrick, who won many league titles in United’s midfield.
“Other times we had to defend, but it was a performance with a bit of everything, really.”
Carrick was also unbeaten in his three-game stint as caretaker manager in 2021, including a 3-2 win against Arsenal before handing over the reins to Ralf Rangnick.
With Carrick placed in charge until the end of the season this time, he has the chance to stake his claim for the role on a permanent basis, and his stock has risen rapidly.
“What happens next? I’m not going to be answering it every week. I’m enjoying it, and I’ll continue to do what I can,” the 44-year-old said when asked about his ambition.
“I know from our perspective it’s about moving forward to the next game. It’s been less than two weeks that we’ve been together, so it’s about keeping good habits and good routines. The boys have been fantastic with that.
“I don’t think we can look too far ahead. We’ll finish where we finish by getting the results.” — Martyn Herman
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