Michael Carrick was mild-mannered to the last. His expression was sober, his immediate reaction to offer handshakes. To look at him, it was not evident Manchester United had recorded the most emphatic of derby wins. Yet the soundtrack was different, the chorus of Carrick’s name coming from the Stretford End. And if Carrick was calm, a glance at many another told a different tale.
As Manchester City, overpowered, overrun, headed for the tunnel, United could do a lap of honour, not the one of apology to which they have become accustomed. For Carrick, it was a stunning start. For the United powerbrokers who had got too many big calls wrong in the last two years, this was an early indication they have got their latest coaching choice right. Carrick’s decisions, of his starting 11, substitutions and tactics, were superb.
His previous game in management was Middlesbrough’s 2-0 defeat to Coventry in May. Suffice to say this was very different. But it was a world apart from the last match at Old Trafford, the tame FA Cup exit to Brighton, and Ruben Amorim’s last, a wretched draw with Wolves. Carrick’s words proved prophetic. “I said yesterday it was a magic place and it certainly was today,” he said. It certainly felt that way on a raucous occasion.
For the watching Sir Jim Ratcliffe, there was evidence the mild-mannered Carrick can galvanise. Old Trafford was roused, the team motivated; perhaps a little too much so when both full-backs were booked inside the opening 17 minutes, while Diogo Dalot may have been fortunate to escape with a yellow card for catching Jeremy Doku’s knee with his studs. The verdict was that the contact was glancing, not excessive. Pep Guardiola did not share it. “It is a red card, definitely,” he said. “This season, the 50-50 decisions all go against us,” lamented Bernardo Silva, the City captain and Dalot’s Portugal teammate.
That apart, United tore into City, largely legally. City could not cope with their directness. “They had an energy we didn’t have,” said Guardiola. “The better team won.”
It was United but with a difference. Perhaps it was predictable that Carrick played a back four, but it gave them a width in attack they often lacked under Amorim. They looked more recognisable, more powerful, more threatening. When Amorim got results against the top teams, it tended to be with a defensive blueprint. Carrick’s United hit the woodwork twice, had three goals disallowed and were frustrated by a series of terrific saves. Even in defeat, there was a case for anointing Gianluigi Donnarumma the man of the match. City had a big-game player in goal. United still won the big game.
In both his starting 11 and his substitutions, Carrick showed a sure touch. The first goal illustrated why Benjamin Sesko was benched, with Bryan Mbeumo’s speed offering incision instead. Carrick omitted two of the big three attacking signings; indeed, Sesko was overlooked a second time when the head coach made a change, and Matheus Cunha came on to set up the second goal.
But Carrick prioritised pace. He had his quickest possible wingers, in Amad Diallo and Patrick Dorgu. United’s counterattacking blueprint may have had hints of Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, two managers Carrick assisted, but the goal threat stemmed almost exclusively from the hosts. “We wanted to play to our strengths,” Carrick said. “The two wide lads, Amad and Dorgu, were fantastic both ways.”
Cunha gave Dorgu a reward for his incessant effort: when the Brazilian crossed, he beat Rico Lewis to the ball to bundle it home. The opener had come when Bruno Fernandes released Mbeumo, who angled a shot beyond Donnarumma. Picking Fernandes as a No 10, unleashing his creativity in the final third, was also undoing one of Amorim’s flagship moves. “He has just got so much quality and he made the difference,” said Carrick. “He was fantastic today.”
Another of Carrick’s calls was to start Harry Maguire, who had only trained for two or three days in eight weeks. “A bit of a calculated gamble,” said Carrick. There was almost instant vindication, the defender heading Fernandes’s third-minute corner onto the bar. The match was bookended by United hitting wood, Amad striking the post after an 89th-minute solo run.
Mason Mount then had the game’s third disallowed goal. When first Amad and then Fernandes had strikes chalked off, it showed the gameplan that each had attempted to spring the City offside trap to meet a ball over the defence. It was further evidence of Carrick’s clarity of thought.
They showed a relentlessness. Donnarumma made a terrific double save to deny first Amad and then Casemiro. A few minutes later, he excelled to turn away Mbeumo’s shot. The Cameroonian, back from Afcon, showed a predatory streak, and Abdukodir Khusanov may have made a goal-saving intervention to prevent him from reaching Fernandes’ pass.
Only the other young centre-back, Max Alleyne, came close to scoring for City, with a header that Dalot hooked off the line, but it was City’s lone effort on target. There were cheers when Erling Haaland was replaced by Divine Mukasa with 10 minutes remaining. It was a symbolic substitution, City’s usual derby king departing. It left the stage to Carrick, the United season ticket-holder turned manager.
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