Michael Carrick has been performing miracles at Man Utd, but fans burned by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s past euphoria have just been told to calm down by Harry Maguire.
He might have joined Man Utd as an interim coach, but Michael Carrick has made such a huge impact in just two games that it’s impossible not to entertain the thought of him becoming the permanent choice.
Ironically, the biggest thing working against him is the manager under whom he was an assistant, with the club having been in this position under Solskjaer.
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However, Harry Maguire has just revealed a training ground secret of Carrick’s that should end these lazy Solskjaer comparisons at Old Trafford.
Harry Maguire celebrates against Man City
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Harry Maguire reveals Michael Carrick training secret
The impact Carrick has had while training with this squad for less than three weeks has been simply unbelievable, almost too good to be true.
That has led many to arrive at a simple conclusion that he has done nothing except tell the players to go out and enjoy themselves.
The “new manager bounce” will soon give way to another clamour for “identity”, but Maguire has just revealed that things aren’t as simple as this.
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Speaking on the Inside Carrington podcast by the club, Maguire gave an insight into Carrick’s training methods and why the truth is more complex than this narrative.
He said: “[Carrick] spoke really well in the dressing room [under Solskjaer] and he was really new in the coaching team.
So I am not surprised with the way he’s come in, spoke, and how the sessions have gone. He’s got a great staff in terms of them being on the same page.
“He takes most sessions, he’s very hands-on in training, still does demos in passing drills and bangs it through the line like he’s still got it. I’ve been really impressed.”
Maguire’s Carrick secret should end lazy Solskjaer comparison
Solskjaer got saddled with the “vibes coach” tag that still haunts him to this day, when the reality is never that simple, especially for a manager whose league finish hasn’t been matched since at Man Utd.
Therefore, calling Solskjaer a failure was dishonest and lazy punditry from the very beginning.
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Even so, Carrick, being compared to Solskjaer, went a step further and compared two completely different scenarios to reach a false conclusion.
If anything, Carrick and Kieran McKenna were credited with doing the “coaching” under Solskjaer to take credit away from the Norwegian.
By that logic, isn’t Carrick the ideal man to take over at Man Utd permanently? But no, the lazy comparison, which stems from just being two ex-United players, is now saddling Carrick with the same tag which was used to discredit Solskjaer.
Maguire’s statement is a crucial retort to that lazy theory, as he says Carrick is very hands-on in training and takes the sessions.
Simply “vibes” doesn’t win you games against the two best teams in the league, and attributing those wins like that is dishonest and lazy at best, and ill-intentional at worst.
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