Gary Neville is ‘shocked’ by Manchester United’s transformation under manager Michael Carrick.
United backed up their derby win against Manchester City on Sunday with a 3-2 win at Premier League leaders Arsenal in Carrick’s second game as manager.
These results change the mood following the sacking of manager Ruben Amorim, with Neville confident United, who sit fourth in the table, can qualify for the Champions League.
“I’m really surprised by what we’ve seen in eight days, because it’s unbelievable how low and how bad a few weeks ago it was in terms of some of the performances that we’ve seen,” the Sky Sports pundit said on the Gary Neville Podcast.
“There are a lot of things that have changed. The intensity, the compactness, the aggressiveness of the defense, the willingness to get behind the ball together and break through in difficult moments of the game and be difficult to penetrate. And there was more of that[at Arsenal]than against City.”
“I thought they played better football against City, but they always needed to attack more (at the Emirates Stadium). In the first 25 minutes, when they didn’t have the ball as much, they didn’t concede too many chances.
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“They were controlling the game without the ball and they started making plays a little bit.
“But the important thing for me is that they have a threat up front. They have a bunch of talented players up front who are also coming back and helping the defenders and making inroads.”
“The magic is back”
Neville believes United’s shift from Amorim’s preferred back three to a 4-2-3-1 has given the team a boost. He said Carrick has brought “magic” back to the team and now realizes they have the potential to finish high in the Premier League.
“He’s definitely instilled a simplicity in the last two weeks, the last two games, which I like,” Neville said.
“This is my favorite system. We talked a lot about the idea of a talented player playing with a striker, two players narrowing the width in midfield, and a very attacking back four. This was a big change.”
“It’s not a point to get too excited about yet, but it’s definitely a point to suggest that Manchester United have had an incredible chance after being at a really low point before the Manchester City game. It’s an amazing turnaround.”
“And Michael Carrick deserves a lot of credit, but the players also deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done. They’ve responded to everything that’s been said to them and I don’t know what’s being said to them on that training ground, but they’re responding in a different way than before.”
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Michael Carrick said he was extremely proud of his players after they had to dig deep to secure a dramatic 3-2 win over league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates.
“Why? We’re always going to speculate, but Ruben Amorim might be sitting at home watching the game thinking, ‘What the hell am I looking at in these guys right now?'” I’m sure he’s as perplexed as we all are when it comes to flipping, but last week the magic returned.
“It’s like the magic has come back to the club in an instant. Being aggressive, taking risks, scoring great goals, attacking with speed, the sense of how to play on the counter-attack. It feels right.”
“And one thing this last week has taught us is that wherever it leads, it has to be Manchester United’s play, because it feels right watching them.
“Now, that might not translate into Champions League football this season. We might lose to Fulham next week. Who knows what will happen? By the way, I don’t think they will, but I think they will finish in the Champions League now.”
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Roy Keane admits Manchester United have “momentum” under Carrick but believes he is not suitable for a permanent role
“But that’s why a lot of players commentating on Manchester United have been so angry over the last five or six weeks, because the other six teams have really struggled – Everton, Wolves, West Ham, Bournemouth, Burnley and Leeds – and they’ve only taken five points from 18 in those games.
“And in a lot of games Manchester United had a chance to be in the top four. We thought, ‘Go for it’ and they didn’t. And now they’ve done it, because I truly believe there’s a sense that they’re better than what they’ve shown so far.”
“And they’ve proven that in the last two games. They’ve really proven that they can be compact, they can stay together, they can be aggressive in their own shape, they can come out of that shape and play good football and counter-attack and hurt teams, they can score great goals and get bodies in the box.”
“These two games were really thrilling to watch and it was an amazing turnaround.”
