Carrick, still unbeaten – and right about Ronaldo
In a tough week, United's caretaker manager has restored order, rebuilt morale and even developed some talent
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Chelsea 1, United 1
Michael Carrick’s first stint as a manager will not be his last. It may be all over now, after just a week, but he has made United a lot better. He has been in charge for two matches, both away, neither of them easy – two draws would have been progress. As it was, he managed a win and a draw, so if that’s that, he steps down with an average of two points per game (better than Moyes, Giggs, van Gaal, Mourinho or Solskjaer). Anything could happen on Thursday, when United, often hopeless at home, entertain Arsenal, who can be all over the place away. But Carrick will leave the dotted rectangle with United unassailable at the top of their Champions League group, and already two games into their next sequence of unbeaten travels. At Chelsea, for the first time this season, they faced one of the Premier League’s big three and didn’t embarrass themselves. Never mind the brickbats from Roy Keane, Carrick inherited a rabble and has turned it into something resembling a regiment – spirited, resilient, properly United. He has shown those wondering if Ralf Rangnick can make an impact in six months that it’s perfectly possible to turn things round in six days. He’s been a man with a plan, despite being a man without a mandate. He has made bold decisions, demoting Bruno Fernandes for his first game and Cristiano Ronaldo for the second. He has brought calm, clarity and pragmatism. Handed what looked like a poisoned chalice, he has grabbed the chance for a collective detox.
He has even managed to bring on some young talent. This was the week when Jadon Sancho arrived as a United winger. Where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had wavered – understandably, as Sancho spent two months trotting inside and passing back – Carrick showed faith, making him the only forward to start at both Villarreal and Chelsea. Sancho, who had found his feet in United’s one decent spell at Watford, responded accordingly. With his pace and industry, his ability to mix grit with silk and produce a clinical finish, he finally took his place in the long line that leads from Willie Morgan to Steve Coppell to Andrei Kanchelskis. He has still to add assists to his goals, but he’s gone halfway to making the right wing his own. One of the many puzzles waiting for Rangnick is where that leaves Mason Greenwood.
When Carrick told Ronaldo “You’re on the bench”, he was right. United had to press Chelsea’s back three, and Ronaldo is the worst presser in the whole of the Premier League. (Carrick also spurned Greenwood, who, for all his youthful genius, is United’s second-biggest offender in this department.) Ronaldo’s return has been a roaring success in the Champions League, a curate’s egg in the Prem. By starting him at Villarreal and not at Chelsea, Carrick was merely following the evidence. The way the game went made his point for him: just like against Everton, Ronaldo came on with United 1-0 up and stomped off with two points squandered. But I wonder if that difficult conversation used up all of Carrick’s courage. After identifying the most promising formation – all three of Chelsea’s previous stumbles at Stamford Bridge had come in the face of a 4-4-2 – he played safe with the personnel, picking all three of his defensive midfielders and leaving three creators on the bench (van de Beek, Lingard and Mata). With Scott McTominay mimicking Nemanja Matic’s tendency to drop into the back line, United were too easily corralled on their own 18-yard line. Somewhere in Rome, an angry middle-aged man was surely shouting at a giant TV screen: “They’re parking the bus! And nobody’s calling it that. Not even Keane!”
Fernandes, selected as a false nine, spent the first half as a false five. When your average position is just behind Matic, you’re definitely going too deep in search of the ball. Being the stand-in captain, which usually makes Fernandes a bit manic, sent him the other way this time, making him too responsible. Typically, he still created United’s only goal, launching the inspired lob from left-back that bamboozled Jorginho into sending Sancho through. Fernandes’ golden shot has deserted him for the past two months, but his creativity hasn’t flagged – he is top of United’s assists table for 2021/22, with eight, including one in every Champions League game, and has created twice as many chances in all comps as any team-mate. Another challenge for Rangnick is figuring out how to get Bruno back to his best.
Carrick said he was disappointed with a draw, but he couldn’t claim that United deserved to win. Chelsea were the more attacking side by a factor of seven or eight, winning 24-3 on attempts, 15-2 on corners, 2.9-0.7 on expected goals and 49-7 on touches in the opposing box. That catalogue of corners proved telling in the end: both goals came from a Chelsea corner, albeit indirectly. With a patchwork defence and no Maguire, Varane, Pogba or Cavani, United did well not to concede a headed goal, but Chelsea would surely have won 3-1 if they hadn’t had Timo Werner at centre forward. Werner, who had six shots, none one target, is the gift that keeps on giving to beleaguered defences. The only marksman as bad as him on the day was Fred. In the 88th minute, after performing solidly and even venturing forward at times, he was suddenly handed the ball by Edouard Mendy. Fred could have passed to the world’s best finisher, who was unmarked on the left and had already worked out, with his lethal lizard brain, that this was his moment to grab yet another late winner. Instead Fred elected to go for goal, undeterred by the fact that his shooting is about as efficient as Paul Scholes’s tackling. The chip he attempted was the kind you expect to find outside a football ground: pallid, perfunctory, and hopelessly undercooked.