Michael Carrick will become Manchester United manager next season, according to Jamie Carragher.
United moved closer to a return to the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Brentford at Old Trafford on Monday, increasing their momentum towards qualification.
With four games left in the Premier League, third-placed United are 11 points behind sixth-placed Brighton and could secure qualification by playing rivals Liverpool next weekend.
Caretaker manager Carrick has won nine of 13 games since taking over in January, and Carragher expects him to continue following a string of “sensational results”.
Man United’s Premier League results under Michael Carrick
“He will definitely be Manchester United manager next season, there’s no doubt about that. And I can’t say he doesn’t deserve it,” the former Liverpool defender told Sky Sports.
“These are absolutely sensational results, for a team that has won the title or is aiming for the league.
“I know there’s no pressure on Manchester United right now, they don’t have a game in Europe and everything else will come into play, but I don’t think anyone could have come in and done better.”
“The biggest criticism of Ruben Amorim was that he didn’t adapt. Carrick showed he can adapt.”
“The results under Carrick speak for themselves.”
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Brentford.
Harry Maguire tells Sky Sports about the secret to Michael Carrick’s success.
“Obviously I think the results have really boosted the feeling[of confidence in Michael Carrick]. When Michael first came in we had two tough games, against Arsenal and Man City, I think everyone probably watched them thinking, ‘Oh no’, but we still managed to get six points.”
“Everyone has come together believing in it. We are confident. We know we can score from anywhere. I think we can still improve a lot more with this formation. I think we can act as a back unit and move across the pitch faster, like we were supposed to do.”
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Following Manchester United’s win over Brentford, Keenan Dewsbury-Hall interviews Harry Maguire on Monday Night Football post-match.
“The results speak for themselves. After the manager took over and the formation changed, we looked like we were getting results. In the last games when Ruben was here, I think the games were evenly split, but we always ended up losing.”
“Now it seems like the opposite is true. We are much better in both boxes. We defend the box better and we manage to be clinical in the other box.”
Neville: Carrick brings out the best in United players
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Casemiro high-fived a young Manchester United fan after the Red Devils’ 2-1 win over Brentford.
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville speaks on the Gary Neville Podcast:
“If Michael Carrick was being honest, he would say that he is getting the best out of this group of players at the moment.
“29 points in the 13 games he’s been here? That’s a great job. It’s a really great job because he played really well in the first two games against City and Arsenal. I mean, it was really great.”
“Those two performances were really good, but they haven’t reached those heights since then. Now they’re pushing the limits even in games where they’re not playing very well. And that’s what you have to do.”
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Casemiro to play against Brentford at Manchester United’s home!
“You can see from the group of players on the pitch that he said before the game that he was thinking about the long-term future of the club, even if he wasn’t here at the end of the season. I think he has a good chance of being that.
“What he did in the second half was he said, ‘I have the tactical sense to do this. It’s not just one-sided, I can finish the game.’ He almost succeeded in doing that, saying, ‘I’m a serious manager in other ways.’
“I think he proved he was agile in the game. I mean, if Brentford had tied the score, he would have faced a lot of criticism for going with that system. In hindsight, after a few minutes he said, ‘This is working.'” United’s compactness in the first half was not as good as it should have been. And I think Michael Carrick saw that and thought, ‘Yeah, I get it, I can’t take that risk.’
Carrick happy to see Manchester United in ‘good position’ after win
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Benjamin Sesco scores Manchester United’s second goal against Brentford!
Meanwhile, Carrick admitted Manchester United are now in a “good place” after their win over Brentford brought them one step closer to qualifying for the Champions League.
United could seal a return to Europe’s top competition when they host rivals Liverpool, another contender, live on Sky Sports on Sunday.
Sunday, May 3, 2:00 p.m.
3:30pm kickoff
Carrick told Sky Sports: “It’s another win. Obviously we have some important games coming up at the weekend so we’re looking forward to that.”
“It’s an important game for various reasons, but we’re in a good position.”
Brentford fought back in the second half and Matthias Jensen scored a late goal, but United held on.
Carrick said: “We could have scored more but this is a time of year when results are important. We needed to pick up points and the loss to Leeds gave us two great games.”
