Suwaid Fazal – Finding a way, but the honeymoon period is over
Unbeaten runs are great, and the current run has paved the way for United to control their own destiny. With no cup fixtures and some important squad players set to return from injury with 11 games to go, everything suggests United will qualify for the Champions League.
Of course, things are never that easy, and United have made hard work of their last three games. When Ruben Amorim was in charge, I often suggested that he overestimated
the quality of the team’s performances in some games. The team might’ve been marginally better in certain games, but having failed to fully convince since taking over, he was never going to get the benefit of the doubt when the team got nothing from games where a draw seemed a fair result or a point when the team could’ve taken all three.
Michael Carrick has got the margins by taking chances towards the end of games and making attacking substitutions, even when the performances have been par at best. The best teams need the margins to lift the biggest prizes, so there’s no fault in getting over the line like this. However, United should be under no illusions about what’s got them into the driving seat for Champions League qualification. Every game’s going to be a grind, and that’s fine as long as everyone understands this.
Colin Damms – Forward Depth
For three of Super Interim Michael Carrick’s six matches, Benjamin Sesko has played the hero.
The Slovenian forward switched on soon after Ruben Amorim’s departure, scoring thrice in two matches under Darren Fletcher, and coming off the bench to score the winning goal in two matches and an equalizer two weeks ago at West Ham in the dying minutes. He is showing the kind of instincts and final third awareness that fans were hoping for when the club pulled the trigger on another expensive striker. Simply put, he knows where the goal is, and whether he is coming off the bench or not he is in a valuable role to switch things up in attack.
One quick look at the rest of the bench on Monday and alarm bells should be ringing about what Plan C is.
Amad, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha represent the only healthy wide attackers at the moment, and Joshua Zirkzee is the only striker apart from Sesko.
That’s it.
What happens if Plan B stops working? What happens if someone stops firing? What happens if someone else gets hurt?
These are all concerns for the remainder of the season, but with a schedule that is fairly spaced out from now until May, it is doable to navigate. There may come a lack of tactical diversity and selection, but as Suwaid mentioned above, it’s all about grinding out results at this point.
Pauly Kwestel – Carrick’s defensive fortress
Football fans – and let’s be honest, football clubs too – have a tendency to get a bit antsy and push for a club to reach a higher level sooner rather than later and often before a team is truly ready to make that jump. What often flies under the radar is how much work goes in to making sure the bottom doesn’t fall out from under the team. It’s something we never truly see until it happens.
United have been a bit drab the last two games – specifically in the first half. The attack that started so bright under Carrick has started to look flat. That’s partially down to style of play. United aren’t taking as many risks going forward, they’re not sending as many players up the pitch – particularly in the first half. Instead they’re focusing on their defensive shape and ensuring the opposition gets nothing. They’ve been superb in this area. Over the last two games they’ve conceded of four shots for a total xG of 0.09 in the first half.
This is all part of the plan and it’s part of a total defensive transformation that’s happened under Carrick. United are conceding one fewer shot per game than they did under Amorim, their expected goals against has dropped by nearly half a goal, and the shot quality has dropped from among a league worst 0.11 xG per shot to a league best xG per shot. More impressive has been their defending in open play where they are giving their opponents nothing. In five games under Carrick United are conceding a league best 0.5 open-play xG per game.
This is the foundation that Carrick is building on. A team that does not concede chances and therefore doesn’t concede goals. It may come at the expense of the attack but Carrick has had the ace up his sleeve in Benjamin Sesko coming off the bench to give United that extra firepower. There may be frustration about Sesko not playing from the jump, but Carrick’s been able to put him in a position to win games for United for the simple reason that he’s got a rock solid defense shutting the door on their opponents.
Nathan Heintschel – Still way too soon to even suggest that the summer 2025 transfer class is transformational but continue to watch this space
I said it in my post-Everton match report, and I gotta say it again: United’s recent summer signings were instrumental in delivering a win that the team perhaps didn’t totally deserve. My colleague Suwaid wrote about margins at the top of this article, and these new players were the kinds of guys that the club were missing last season.
The 71st minute combo of Cunha to Mbeumo to Sesko to drive a dagger right through Everton’s sustained offensive pressure to take (steal) three points was magnificent. And the contributions in goal from Senne Lammens to guarantee the three points were even better — earning him a well-earned man of the match recognition.
This is a team in transition, and these players were the kinds of guys to push the club forward to a European campaign next season instead of another backslide. During this six-match unbeaten streak in the Michael Carrick interim era, this team has stormed to convincing victories while scoring multiple goals, and, now, they have gutted out a mature, pragmatic win on the road against a stubborn ass team.
I promise, I’m not getting over my skis, and I’m not saying this team is one more transfer window away from No. 21. But I do think that what I saw in those 20 minutes and some change to end the match was encouraging in a way that was different compared to results like the 2-0 wins over the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham or the 3-2 wins over Arsenal and Fulham.
