On days like this, when the empire strikes back, everything inside Old Trafford feels different. An air of defiance takes hold of Manchester United, players and supporters alike, and the effect — on the pitch, in the stands — can be overpowering.
Euphoria swept the place at the final whistle. Players who have laboured under the weight of the United shirt in recent times looked like they were walking on air. Fans who have grown used to watching games through the latticework of their fingers instead clasped their hands in rapture and thanked the heavens. Sir Alex Ferguson looked down from the directors’ box with an approving smile as Michael Carrick, another of United’s favourite sons, celebrated an emphatic win over Manchester City.
It was as if Carrick, taking charge until the end of the season after the dismissal of Ruben Amorim, had flicked a switch. As if by magic, the hazy concept of “the Manchester United way” felt like it had been realised once more. Here, at last, was a United team defending as if their lives depended on it, battling for every ball in midfield, attacking so quickly and incisively that City were lucky to escape with only a 2-0 defeat.
Carrick, a man not given to bombast and hyperbole, called it a “dream start” — and it really was.
In his playing days, he was known for his calm authority on the ball, reading the game intelligently and picking his passes carefully. Returning as head coach on a short-term deal, he took what he called a “calculated gamble” or two: recalling Harry Maguire to central defence after two months out with a hamstring injury; restoring Kobbie Mainoo to midfield, where the youngster made a mockery of his previous absence under Amorim.
Beyond that, Carrick’s 4-2-3-1 formation gave Bruno Fernandes, deployed further forward, more freedom to create, which was integral to their attacking play. Their energy and intensity left City manager Pep Guardiola to reflect afterwards that United played with “something we don’t have”.
Lisandro Martinez, outstanding alongside Maguire in centre defence, told reporters afterwards that Carrick had told the players to “use the energy of the crowd”. “Today I think we did it,” the Argentina defender said. “When we are together, it is impossible to lose at home.”
Manchester United fans salute their players (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
So that’s it, then. Get the contract out, put it on the table, let him sign it, let him write whatever numbers he wants to put on there. Let him sign the contract and go. Carrick’s at the wheel. He’s doing it. He’s doing his thing. Manchester United are back.
Congratulations if you have been following this story closely enough to recognise the giddy sentiments in the previous paragraph and the reason for the asterisk in the headline above. Nearly seven years on, Rio Ferdinand’s excitable claims about giving the job to his former United team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, after a dramatic Champions League victory at Paris Saint-Germain in March 2019, serve as a reminder of the dangers of being swept up in the moment.
Solskjaer was indeed confirmed as Jose Mourinho’s successor soon afterwards. But at no point in the two and a half years that ensued — not even when leading them to the Europa League final and second place in the Premier League in 2021 — or in the largely joyless times that have followed under Erik ten Hag and Amorim, did the future look as bright as it did during his interim spell.
Old Trafford has seen so many false dawns over the past decade and more. Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Solskjaer, Ten Hag and even Amorim all enjoyed victories over both City and Liverpool. These games — and indeed the knockout competitions won under Van Gaal, Mourinho and Ten Hag — never proved to be a reliable barometer of United’s progress. Peaks have invariably been followed by troughs and by dark periods when United have found themselves grubbing around in mid-table, playing dour football, the edifice crumbling brick by brick.
The idea of turning to another former United player on a short-term basis has been rubbished in some quarters, as if the problem over the past decade is that the club has been too wedded to its history. A contrary view: the bigger issue is that, under the Glazer family’s miserable ownership, the club has lost all sense of what that identity is. However United’s on-pitch identity might be defined, it was never discernible in the football played under the various outsiders who have managed them since Ferguson retired in 2013.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United’s minority owner, celebrates the team’s win (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
It is why Saturday felt so important. It wasn’t just a smash-and-grab victory of the type they have enjoyed at City’s expense in recent times. It was a genuinely stirring performance, with a talented Mancunian youngster brought in from the cold and restored to midfield and an all-round performance characterised by the speed with which they attacked, both through the middle of the pitch and in wide areas.
Two things should be acknowledged: First, City, with a patched-up defence, played as poorly as they have in any derby under Pep Guardiola; second, United full-back Diogo Dalot could feasibly have been sent off for a dangerous challenge on Jeremy Doku in the 11th minute. But none of that detracts from the performance Carrick coaxed out of United after three days on the training ground. It does not feel an exaggeration to suggest it was by far their best display since, out of nowhere, Ten Hag produced a tactical masterclass to defeat City in the FA Cup final in May 2024.
In that context, it was so encouraging to hear Carrick’s response when he was asked afterwards about the need to maintain that standard. “That’s the challenge,” he said. “It (that performance level) needs to be a version of normal. We’re not going to have many games with the emotion and feeling that today brought — I think everyone understands that — but there’s definitely a level of standards and expectation we need to live up to. Consistency is the key to any success.”
There is an inevitable question — one that feels more pertinent after Saturday’s derby than it did beforehand. What happens if Carrick excels as Solskjaer did in his temporary role, not just putting smiles back on faces but winning hearts, minds and enough games between now and May 24 that United feel like they might, out of the mess of Amorim’s departure, have found a way forward?
Could Michael Carrick make a long-term case for himself at United? (Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)
Logic says they should make sure they avoid a repeat of the Solskjaer impulse: that what they really need, beyond the short term, is someone with the authority, the energy, the vision and the tactical expertise to compete for the Premier League and Champions League titles, something they have not come close to doing in the years since Ferguson’s retirement sent them into a tailspin.
But what if a coach with that perfect combination of talents does not exist outside of Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and a small cluster of others who might not be interested in any case? What if Carrick ends up making such a strong case that the more experienced alternatives — which might include the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Julian Nagelsmann once their World Cup commitments are over — are felt to carry an element of risk despite their track record of success? What if, when the time comes, Carrick has become the option who represents the continuity and stability the club’s hierarchy might favour?
Those are questions for another day, another week, another month — if at all. The potential of the new-manager bounce is not to be underestimated and nor, in the majority of cases, are its limitations.
But what was striking inside Old Trafford on Saturday was that United, freed from the constraints of Amorim’s tactical straitjacket, suddenly looked like a club and a team comfortable in their own skin once more.
It has been an unusual sensation in recent times, but it felt like watching a Manchester United team rather than a pale imitation. It was only one game, but it felt different, like a small semblance of order being restored as United went back to the future once more.