There’s no stopping Michael Carrick’s Man Utd, not even the two best teams in England, and a moment vs Arsenal showed why.
A week from beating Pep Guardiola’s Man City in a stunning display of counter-attacking, Michael Carrick repeated that trick against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in a 3-2 win.
United will finish this matchday in the top four, the first time that has happened this season, and Carrick deserves a lot of credit.
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There will be a lot of talk about Carrick just refreshing the atmosphere like Solskjaer once did, but a moment against Arsenal showed why this is different.
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Michael Carrick’s impact clear in a moment vs Arsenal
There are questions to be asked whether Carrick can do it against teams who will sit back, and that will be answered against Fulham, but his impact is clear.
In consecutive games, he has drilled this team to perfection, especially in defence, and their attacking with pace is garnering all the plaudits.
Due to United not having much possession in either game, a certain facet of Carrick’s plan is going under the radar.
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It was on clear display in the 12th minute vs Arsenal, when Senne Lammens had the ball at his feet.
Lammens kept the ball with him as two Arsenal players surrounded him to cut off his passing lanes, but it was interesting what happened next.
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Despite Lammens holding onto the ball for nearly 40 seconds, neither player pressed the Belgian, which spoke volumes about Carrick’s impact.
Arsenal were in the ascendancy at that point and at home, but Arteta knew what Carrick’s United could do if they were pressed high.
United did this to City in their previous game, when they invited the press, only to play quickly and vertically to cut through it with ease.
Arsenal were willing to let United put the sting out of the game by Lammens keeping the ball static at his feet for 40 seconds, instead of pressing and letting them have space behind.
Carrick has guided this team a long way from Ruben Amorim’s solution of treating the ball like a ticking time bomb every time they had it because they weren’t confident in building up with it.
Both Amorim and Carrick sought to solve United’s problem in buildup, but went about it in wildly different ways.
He might have been at the club for only about three weeks, but the respect he has garnered from his rivals and the fear he has instilled in them deserve immense credit.
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