Michael Carrick has enjoyed a great start to his second stint as interim manager, but with Manchester United set to appoint a permanent head coach in the summer, Micah Richards has disagreed with Gary Neville and Roy Keane about who should lead the club next season.
Manchester United have enjoyed a resurgence under Michael Carrick, after Rúben Amorim was sacked following an explosive post-match press conference in early January.
After a brief interim stint with Manchester United, Carrick went on to manage Middlesbrough in 2022, lifting the side from a lowly 21st place to a play-off spot at the end of the season after going on a fantastic run of form, winning 16 out of his opening 23 games.
The former midfielder couldn’t have had a harder start to life at Old Trafford, taking over three days before the derby with Manchester City, followed by a clash against table-toppers Arsenal. Despite this, United completely dominated the derby, winning 2-0, before scoring three past the league’s best defensive side to beat Arsenal 3-2 at the Emirates.
While United usually perform against the top sides, many expected that Fulham could be a stumbling block for Carrick’s side. After going 2-0 up, United conceded two quick goals near the end of the game, before Benjamin Šeško secured all three points with an excellent finish in the 94th minute.
Carrick shouldn’t be compared to Ole Gunnar Solskjær
In the search for their interim head coach until the end of the season, the shortlist was reportedly narrowed down to Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, with Carrick ultimately being preferred, despite the Norwegian’s previous success at the club.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Micah Richards spoke about the club’s next permanent manager and why Solskjær and Carrick shouldn’t be compared with each other.
“I work with Roy Keane and Gary Neville, respect them greatly, and their opinion on it is that you have to get the best person for the job in terms of what they have done in the past. So they just want an out-and-out winner, [Thomas] Tuchel’s been mentioned a lot.
“If he goes on to win the World Cup with England, that’d be great for Man United. But, I see a lot of people comparing him to [Ole Gunnar] Solskjær when I don’t think it’s the same. I think he’s got a little bit more than Solskjær.
“He speaks well, he’s very calm, and he did all the things that we were crying out for in terms of the system. Playing players in the right positions, and they’ve won three in three, not to forget his record before when he came in as interim.
“So, I said, they’ve got a big conundrum with Carrick because, how I see it, I feel he’ll do really well. I think with Man United, the players coming back, and the players that they have in the squad, they can definitely compete for Champions League, and that’s why, at the start of the season, I had them higher up even though it didn’t work out with [Ruben] Amorim.”
United need to weigh up all options in the summer
On whether he can see Carrick being given the job in the summer, Richards went on to say, “So if he goes and gets them into the Champions League football, and then they’re playing well, and then he’s very good in the press, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t be given a chance. I think I would like to see him as a manager.”
Gary Lineker expanded on the permanent head coach role at Manchester United this summer, insisting that the club shouldn’t rush into any decisions and see what happens this season before weighing up all their options in the summer.
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“I can’t see there’s any real point in doing anything before the end of the season. You win three or four games, and then you, like everything with Solskjær, give him a long contract and all that sort of stuff. The sensible thing would be to see how it goes until the end of the season, because that’s what he’s brought in for, and then look at the situation.
“But he’s done everything right so far; he’s clearly a very cerebral guy. The way he played the game, you could see that. Very intelligent holding player, many of the great managers who were former footballers are holding players.
“So, it is a really, really good start, and obviously, confidence plays a big part. As you quite rightly said, and we said it last week, that he’s no longer putting square pegs in round holes.”
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