MANCHESTER, England — Michael Carrick has brought simplicity back to Manchester United, but he will never be able to end the chaos. Yet after watching Benjamin Sesko score a stoppage-time winner to seal a 3-2 victory against Fulham, it was simplicity and chaos in unison.
United had been coasting to three points at Old Trafford, having built a 2-0 lead through goals by Casemiro and Matheus Cunha, but an 85th-minute Raúl Jiménez penalty followed by Kevin’s stunning equalizer in the first minute of stoppage time looked set to hand Fulham a point and halt the momentum of Carrick’s brief reign in charge.
But Sesko’s winner in the 94th minute — a clinical turn and shot following a Bruno Fernandes cross — turned the game on its head and delivered victory for United.
It was a classic “Fergie Time” winner in front of Sir Alex Ferguson, and the result of United going for the win rather than playing out time with a point. But even though United harnessed the chaos in their favor to win, the foundations were laid by Carrick’s calm and measured decisions before and during the game.
Three games into his job as head coach, which is expected to run until the end of the season — United deliberately avoided calling him Ruben Amorim’s interim replacement — Carrick has guided United to three successive wins against Manchester City, Arsenal and Fulham to put the team in unexpected contention for UEFA Champions League qualification.
There has been plenty of talk of Carrick restoring United’s “DNA” and honoring the club’s attacking traditions of risk for reward, but the reality of the side’s revival under its former midfielder is that he has banished the confusion and complexity created by Amorim and simplified everything.
So when Sesko scored his winner, having earlier headed against the post, it was a reward for Carrick doing what Amorim rarely did by replacing a forward (Cunha) with another (Sesko).
It was a similar story in last week’s 3-2 win at Arsenal. This time, it was Cunha who scored the winner after being introduced as a substitute for Bryan Mbeumo at the Emirates — again a case of Carrick applying the basics of like-for-like with his substitutions.
It also stems from Carrick’s starting selections. In his third game in charge, he made his first change — an injury-enforced introduction of Cunha for Patrick Dorgu — but rather than change tactics or formation, he simply deployed Cunha on the left of his attacking three to fill the gap left by Dorgu, who is expected to be out for 10 weeks with a hamstring injury.
Carrick has kept faith with the same back four — Amorim picked a back three in all but one of his 63 games in charge — and the same midfield two of Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo.
Indeed, Mainoo has been one of the outstanding performers during Carrick’s brief tenure, but Amorim had chosen not to start the 20-year-old England international in any Premier League game this season. And by selecting Mainoo in a defensive midfield role, Carrick has been able to release captain Bruno Fernandes to play in his favored No. 10 role further forward.
Amorim, of course, used Fernandes deep and then further forward, unable to find a way to accommodate his best player in his 3-4-3 formation. And that indecision — or stubbornness — was ultimately to the detriment of Fernandes, the team and, eventually, the head coach himself.
In his attacking positions, Carrick has had the luxury of having Mbeumo and Amad available after AFCON duty, and they have both been crucial. But they are also benefiting from the new coach’s determination to keep it simple and use players in the positions where they are at their best.
For too long, United persevered with Amorim despite his eccentricities, including his constant changes, tactical inflexibility and habit of replacing defenders in the second half when his team was under pressure.
The consequence of Amorim’s approach was that the players performed in a constant state of uncertainty and the regularly poor results were the fruit of that. Carrick has taken the opposite approach, and it is one that is unusual in a modern game dominated (and sometimes dictated) by data and medical teams. But it is reaping its rewards.
Carrick’s United are playing with freedom and confidence and are getting results that rarely looked possible under Amorim. But the new man at the helm is also being brave by taking risks to win. Those like-for-like substitutions may seem obvious, but many coaches choose to reduce risk by playing it safe. By replacing attackers with attackers, Carrick is showing that he wants to win, but also that he trusts his players to attack and defend in equal measure … trust that seemed absent during Amorim’s 14 months in charge.
It’s anyone’s guess whether Amorim is now back in Portugal wishing he had been more flexible and adventurous, but he is probably avoiding watching United games right now, as they will only serve as a reminder of what could have been.
Carrick is not allowing himself to have any thoughts of regret; he is going for broke by keeping it simple and embracing risk, and that’s why United have been in such good form.
