Michael Carrick was full of praise for his Man Utd players after they turned in an excellent performance to beat Manchester City at Old Trafford.
Kobbie Mainoo made his first Premier League start of the season for Manchester United(Image: )View Image
Michael Carrick admitted he took a "calculated gamble" by throwing Harry Maguire back into the Manchester United side against Manchester City on the back of just a couple of days of training. But the head coach was full of praise for the 32-year-old for delivering a performance he felt showed what the club meant to him, helping to shackle Erling Haaland and providing a base for United to dominate alongside Lisandro Martinez.
City barely created a chance of note at Old Trafford as the two centre-backs enjoyed dominant games, with Maguire making his first start since November 8 after battling back from a thigh injury. He is in the final six months of his contract at the club, but could earn a renewal with more displays like that.
Carrick also handed Kobbie Mainoo a first Premier League start of the season and was pleased with the 20-year-old's performance alongside Casemiro, naming that quartet of players as key to setting the platform for a famous victory.
"I thought Kobbie was great alongside Casa," he said. "Between the two of them, I thought it gave us a foundation, really, Licha and Harry and the kind of block, and I thought it gave us a really strong foundation. I felt it was a game for experience and knowing what it feels like.
"It was a big ask of H and credit to him. I think we take it for granted sometimes what players do, for him to play today and come through it.
"It was a bit of a calculated gamble as well as how long he could play and whether he could get through it because he's literally trained for two or three days for the last eight weeks or nine weeks. It just shows you what it means really to him and I thought he was fantastic.
"I thought between him and Licha, they were so solid at the back and gave us the foundation to build up."
Pep Guardiola felt Diogo Dalot could have been sent-off for an early foul on Jeremy Doku, but Carrick claimed he hadn't seen the incident and pointed to the three disallowed goals United had as evidence of their dominance.
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"I thought at the time Diogo actually got a foot on the ball, that's from my angle, I thought he had kicked it out so I didn't even for one second think it was a bad challenge," he said..
"I got told it was that there was a lack of force and that's why, so I've not seen it, I don't know, to be honest with you, I don't know. These type of games have swings and momentums and decisions.
"We could have scored more for the slight offsides, however close they were. I've not looked at them back, but I felt we looked dangerous in the game all the time. Even right from the start with Harry's header, I thought we had that, which we wanted to have that intent."