Premier League: Early success is no guarantee for Carrick 

So close to making the cut.

A few weeks back, just after Ruben Amorim was shown the door at Manchester United, we bemoaned the situation of a young man, whose social media gimmick of not cutting his hair till Man United won five games in a row had extended at that stage well beyond 470 days. At that point, with no new manager announced and a run of very hard league fixtures ahead, including league leaders Arsenal and noisy neighbours Manchester City, we feared that the locks of ‘United Strand’ would not see a scissors this side of summer.

But in this season of strangely competitive results across the Premier League, United under their interim manager Michael Carrick defied predictions and started a run of wins no one would be brave enough to take to the bookies.

Great start

The derby win over City was soon followed by a sensational late win over champions-elect Arsenal, followed by a hard-fought win over Fulham and a more run of the mill win over Spurs. In the blink of an eye, United had gone from mid-table mediocrity to vying for a Champions League place.

Carrick had Old Trafford buzzing again and more importantly had the side scoring goals again. 10 in their first four games under him. And it all apparently seemed to simply be down to letting the players play the game they knew in positions they wanted. Football can be just that easy it seems.

Inevitably, the calls started to be made for Carrick to be made the full-time manager, even though we’ve barely gone a month under his stewardship and the United owners stating they would not rush into any decision.

With morale high and results going strong, some would wonder why bother with the process, just give Carrick the job.

Ole at the wheel

Carrick had best start at Old Trafford of any manager, bar one. That manager? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Yes, the similarities with the Norwegian United club legend with Carrick’s early results and club history was uncanny. Both respected former players at the club were given caretaker roles, both liked by fans and players, both have started successfully after the indifferent return of the established manager before them, Solskjaer became the first United manager since Matt Busby to win his first four in charge, Carrick had just completed the same. Indeed, Solskjaer would even improve on Busby’s record and bag six wins in his first six league games. Like Carrick, the talk quickly turned to giving Solskjaer the full-time role after initial early successes. After 19 matches, Solskjaer had won 14 games across all competitions. It seemed right to give him the job. ‘Ole at the wheel’ became the defiant chant from the stands for the new manager. But as we all know now, maybe the appointment was premature. Solskjaer side had a serious dip in form in 2021 where the side conceded 15 goals in five league defeats and saw Solskjaer fired by the board, and the rest is history.

On Tuesday, after four impressive consecutive wins in the bag, the first setback in the Carrick reign occurred against a third from bottom West Ham side, held a 50-minute lead from Tomas Soucek until the 93rd minute when a brilliant Benjamin Sesko flick into the net saved Carrick’s and United’s blushes with the draw.

Old concerns

Some of the old worries started to show up again on Tuesday. United struggled to turn possession into territory or goals. A lacklustre first half saw them struggle to come up with a strategy to get the better of a lowly but in so many ways rejuvenated West Ham side.

While also unlucky not to make the most of their chances to get a score at this stage, it also had a rather familiar and maybe unwanted, (from a fan’s point-of-view) look of an Amorim side as they seemed clueless to breaking down an organised West Ham defence, especially after the Hammers’ opening goal.

Carrick also seemed to mull over his substitutions too long and would have been better advised to have taken Diogo Dalot and Matheus Cunha off earlier. And he definitely should have had Benjamin Sesko on earlier.

United have now dropped eight points against the bottom-three teams yet the mood among the supporters was upbeat at full-time, given the drama behind Sesko’s late equaliser.

United don’t play again till the 23rd such are the peculiarities of the fixtures of the FA Cup and the mid-season break. It may have the effect of knocking United off its unbeaten form or a chance for Carrick and the side to refocus on the task and get back to winning ways against Everton in 10 days’ time.

The only thing for sure is it will tick over 500 days at least before United Strand gets to call to a barber, or maybe it’s a gardener that’s required now?