Michael Carrick has 17 games to save Manchester United’s season but Harry Maguire says another addition will be key to fixing their biggest problem.
The challenge in front of Michael Carrick is clear. He has 17 league games to ensure Man Utd are in European competitions next season, ideally the Champions League.
For that, he will probably have to win at least two points per game, which is far below their current rate.
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The reason why that rate is so low is that they’ve lost a lot of points from winning positions by conceding avoidable goals, something which United’s latest addition can fix.
Manchester United Training Session
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Harry Maguire lauds ‘magnificent’ Steve Holland
Carrick’s appointment is taking all the headlines because of his legendary status at the club and the freshness he has brought to the role.
However, as exciting as Carrick’s style of play is, United’s problem, even under Ruben Amorim, had nothing to do with scoring goals.
They are still one of the highest scoring teams in the division, but continue to lose points because they can’t stop conceding goals.
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Enter Steve Holland.
Holland has a long and illustrious history of coaching in the English football pyramid, but he’s most famous for his spell at England alongside Gareth Southgate.
He drilled the team defensively so well that England became knockout specialists, with Maguire at the centre of it all.
Speaking to Sky, Maguire said that Holland is a ‘magnificent’ addition to Carrick, who’s exciting but young.
He said: “I think it’s a great appointment [Steve Holland’s]. Michael is a young manager with upcoming fresh ideas and then you’ve got Steve, who’s been around and is really experienced.
“I worked with him for six to seven years at England and he was magnificent. He drilled us all really well. We knew what we were doing and we defended really well.
“In both boxes, we’ve been really poor. We haven’t defended our box well, conceded far too many soft goals. Working with Steve, he was a defender, so he really drills tactically how to keep the ball out of the net.
“He’s going to have a big part to play in making our defensive record a lot better.”
Man Utd needed to get coaching staff right
It’s not a coincidence that the most successful United team post-Sir Alex had a coaching staff whose members have become successful in their own right.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s setup of Carrick, Kieran McKenna, and Eric Ramsay has aged like fine wine, with all three becoming highly-rated first-team managers.
In contrast, there was no indication of what anyone in Ruben Amorim’s coaching staff did apart from Carlos Fernandes, and that’s also because Amorim said so himself that he does set-pieces.
Holland’s addition is a necessary one to a group that is largely inexperienced and based on networks, with Jonathan Woodgate being with Carrick at Middlesbrough as well.
If Holland can stop United conceding avoidable goals, that’s their biggest problem solved, because Carrick has shown he can unleash the attack.
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