Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd legacy is taking a hit, one Michael Carrick victory at a time, and now he’s aced a test which always tripped up his predecessor.
Michael Carrick is so close to the Champions League that he can probably hear the music playing at Old Trafford after the 3-1 win against Aston Villa.
Following Chelsea’s loss to Newcastle, Man Utd are now six points clear of the fifth and final UCL spot, also having a three-point cushion over Villa.
Carrick said after the game that the circumstances provided a ‘small test’ for his team. It’s one that always tripped up Ruben Amorim.
Ruben Amorim during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United at Old Trafford in 2025 in Manchester, England.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
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Michael Carrick delighted at Man Utd passing ‘small test’ vs Villa
When it comes to passing tests at Old Trafford, not many people are better equipped to talk about it than Michael Carrick.
He effectively got handed a gauntlet of less than half a season’s worth of Premier League games, and he is being judged brutally on each game and every minute of it.
That’s why it’s so remarkable that Carrick has managed to engineer this turnaround, and he was delighted again at his team passing another small test vs Villa.
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Speaking after the 3-1 win against Villa, he said: “It was a slightly different game today. Being so close in the league and making the small jump that we could if we won and off the back of a defeat, it was a small test in some ways, and we haven’t really had that with the games we’ve had to deal with.
“The boys dealt with it fantastically well. Moving forward, there is a lot to play for.”
Carrick’s small test is what Man Utd fans had been quietly dreading. This side had always failed to turn up when the opportunities presented themselves under Ruben Amorim.
The win against Villa can’t be taken for granted, because under Ruben Amorim, this game had dropped points written all over it.
Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd always ceded the advantage
It became a running theme under Amorim that whenever teams around United dropped points and left the path clear for them to climb up the table, United would drop points too.
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That run-in in November-December when they didn’t face a single top-six side is one whole big mess of missed opportunities.
United dropped points in eight of those 11 games in the lead-up to Amorim’s sacking, a run where they could have cemented a UCL qualification place.
Every time Chelsea or Liverpool dropped points, United would follow their example, have their mentality questioned, and put forward a good performance in the next game when there were no stakes.
Amorim just couldn’t instil that killer instinct into this team of pressing home their advantage when the opportunity presented itself.
The soft underbelly of this squad has been fortified by Carrick in less than three months. The win against Villa was the biggest example yet of this transformation.
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