Michael Carrick has already managed Man Utd for three games and he showed during than run just over three years ago that he isn't afraid to make the big calls.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick dropped Cristiano Ronaldo during his first spell in charge of Manchester United(Image: )
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For an indication of Michael Carrick's character and his ability to make big decisions as a manager, you only need to go back to just his second game in a job, when he was holding the fort at Manchester United between the end of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era and the start of Ralf Rangnick's disastrous spell in charge.
Carrick's first game was a 2-0 Champions League win in Villarreal, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho getting the goals, but when he took United to Stamford Bridge a few days later, there was a bombshell when the team news dropped.
The former United manager dropped Ronaldo at Chelsea. It was a brave and ruthless decision from someone still finding their way in management, and it marked Carrick out as someone who had the belief to follow his convictions.
Ronaldo had been benched for one other game that season since returning to the club from Juventus, when he was very clearly rested at home against Everton. When that game finished 1-1, Solskjaer's decision was scrutinised and criticised.
But Carrick's call to leave Ronaldo out at Chelsea was about more than rotation. This was a tactical decision, and he felt that a front two of Marcus Rashford and Sancho would be more beneficial to United than starting Ronaldo, who could still score goals but had clearly affected the team's pressing structures.
He came on after 64 minutes, when United led through Sancho's goal, and although the game finished 1-1, it was enough of a success for Carrick to avoid any major backlash. Four days later, Ronaldo was in the team against Arsenal and scored twice in a 3-2 win that enabled Carrick to sign off with a record of two wins and a draw from his three games in caretaker charge.
Speaking before that Arsenal fixture, Carrick had talked about the decision to drop Ronaldo and explained it with the minimum of fuss, avoiding the kind of controversy that would arise when Rangnick and then Erik ten Hag made similar calls.
"I think them type of discussions get blown up really, a lot bigger than they probably are, when you're kind of inside the team or the club," Carrick said. "Decisions are made for a lot of different reasons and of course certain ones get bigger news than others, but that's how it was.
"I didn't see it as being a major decision. It certainly wasn't within the camp or group. We all got on really well. The game went well to an extent and it wasn't a drama at all."
Ronaldo had been one of the first down the tunnel at full-time at Stamford Bridge, but he didn't appear to harbour a grudge against Carrick. Certainly not in the way he would turn his ire on Rangnick and Ten Hag.
It was an impressively bold and confident decision from a young coach. Perhaps Carrick was freed up by the sense his time in charge was going to be short and his knowledge that he was going to leave when Rangnick was appointed, but it should still be praised as a decisive call.
Carrick conducted himself well during his three-game spell in charge. After the wreckage of the final weeks of the Solskjaer era, the results he oversaw against three good sides were impressive and United played well during his time in the dugout.
It was the start of his managerial career and he enjoyed some success at Middlesbrough without ever generating enough momentum to get them promoted. Now 44, a return to Old Trafford, even for 17 games, is the chance to reassert himself as one of the brightest young bosses in the country.
His coaching was well received with the United players when he assisted Solskjaer and he will be a popular appointment in the dressing room. But they have also been warned that he is not afraid to make the big decisions.