Do two swallows make a summer?
Michael Carrick has done it again
SEVEN ASIDES
Premier League
Arsenal 2, United 3
Do two swallows make a summer? Asking for a friend. To beat one top team may be regarded as mere good fortune. To beat both the top two, in the space of eight days, looks like flawlessness. We mustn’t get carried away, of course – but we can get a little bit Carra-ed away.
What a pair of triumphs from Michael Carrick. No offence to Harry Maguire, who put in a sterling shift, but, much like Casemiro last Sunday, he may have to hand his Player of the Match award to the boss. In his two interim stints, Carrick has now managed United in four league games – beating Arsenal 3-2, drawing 1-1 at Chelsea, beating City 2-0 and now beating Arsenal 3-2 again. At the Emirates, where this Arsenal never lose. And after they went 1-0 up, a development that had brought them 24 wins out of 24 this season in all competitions. Who writes Carrick’s scripts? In five games as manager, he has defeated Mikel Arteta twice, Pep Guardiola and Unai Emery once, and drawn with Thomas Tuchel. Roy Keane is still saying United may want ‘a bigger manager’. Well yes, they may, if this big improvement doesn’t last, but good luck finding one who lands bigger scalps.
In the form table – which covers the last six games for every team – United are now … top! With three wins, three draws, and three managers. All those draws came against clubs in the bottom five, whereas the wins have come against Newcastle, Man City and Arsenal. It’s staggering stuff.
This was another strong, spirited, resilient performance. But it was more random than last weekend, more of a rollercoaster. United had only three shots on target in the whole game. They were feeble for the first 25 minutes, they deserved to go behind, and they only drew level because of a howler from Martin Zubimendi, playing out from the back (though Bryan Mbeumo’s finish, as he strolled around David Raya, showed the same composure that United had found against City). Patrick Dorgu scored a fabulous goal, ‘the goal of a lifetime’ as Gary Neville put it, but that – and the neat one-two-three-four with Bruno Fernandes that led up to it – were the first really good things he had done in a game that showed his limitations as well as his potential (his hapless vertical header played its part in Arsenal’s first goal). Matheus Cunha, revelling in his new role as a Solskjaeresque supersub, added another cracking finish. We will surely see them both on the next Goal of the Month shortlist.
United had got better the minute they went behind. For the remaining hour and a bit, they had several stars in supporting roles. Luke Shaw did well to contain Bukayo Saka. Senne Lammens coped with almost everything Arsenal threw at him and couldn’t be blamed for the goals he conceded, which were both scrappy. Amad was tireless and unfazed, and his reaction to Dorgu’s goal – doing the we’re-not-worthy routine (see above for amateurish screenshot) – was lovely. Casemiro again coped manfully with younger, more athletic midfielders. Bruno Fernandes, after a wayward start, collected his customary assist in unusual fashion, teeing up Dorgu with some pinpoint ping-pong.
Best of all, in my book, was Kobbie Mainoo. He played 20 passes in the first half and, even though United were floundering for most of that time, every single one of those passes reached a team-mate. In the second half he was less precise (15 accurate passes out of 21), but more incisive. He was bolder, sitting in front of Casemiro rather than next to him. When he slipped a typically neat little ball into Cunha in the 86th minute, it turned out to be the match-winning assist. Just like against City, Mainoo ran further than anyone else in the match – 11.26 km this time, or seven miles. And he never looked out of breath.
Carrick’s United have shown they can do it in the biggest games. But can they do it against the middle powers? That was Ruben Amorim’s undoing. We will find out in February, when they face Fulham, Spurs, West Ham and Everton – four teams of varying ability with one thing in common: United haven’t beaten any of them this season. Now that they’re back in the top four for the first time since May 2023, United don’t have to win all those games, but they do need to keep up this unexpected momentum. They’ve got to keep doing what they’ve done these past two Sundays: play like a proper team, a Carrick team, a United team.
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. He’s been supporting United since the days when they went to Arsenal and won 3-1.