Manchester United will hope Michael Carrick can fashion a plan to save some face against Villarreal on Tuesday night, find a way to plug the holes and focus players’ minds.
They will hope he can bring some structure to a defence that has shipped 19 goals in seven matches, despite having a goalkeeper in impressive form. That he can lift standards, restore some pride, bring some order to the chaos and deliver the sort of bounce Ole Gunnar Solskjaer once did.
But, if Tuesday brings more of the same dysfunction that got Solskjaer sacked, then no one will be too surprised.
In United’s first dealings with the media since Solskjaer was dismissed on Sunday morning in the wake of a seventh defeat in 13 matches, Carrick negotiated some difficult questions with the same care and precision with which the former midfielder used to circulate the football.
Ultimately, though, how much can United fans realistically expect to change when the people temporarily entrusted to stop the rot are the same coaches in whom Solskjaer placed his faith?
United’s dishevelled, despondent players who, in the words of David de Gea, “do not know what to do with the ball” or “how to defend properly”, will be taking instruction from the same individuals - minus Solskjaer - who have presided over this mess? The Norwegian has gone but Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Mike Phelan all remain.
Carrick said he was “very clear in my own mind what we want to do, how we want to play, how we want to go about it” but also stressed that his beliefs were “very similar” to those held by Solskjaer.
This is not a position any football club, let alone one of the richest and most powerful on the planet, would ever want to be in: leaning heavily on the coaching team of the manager they have just sacked while they search for an interim to replace the man who was once the interim to get them through the season before a permanent appointment is made.
Events could unfold at Paris Saint-Germain that allow United to appoint Mauricio Pochettino much sooner than the end of the season or maybe another leading candidate for the full-time job will suddenly become available.
But, until that time, United are in the service of Carrick for as long as it takes to find an interim upgrade, and that process may require even more haste and compromise should the slide continue in Spain on Tuesday evening and at Premier League leaders Chelsea on Sunday. And that’s the problem here: what if Carrick cannot buy the club some time? What if Villarreal and Chelsea go the way of the Watford, Liverpool and Manchester City games and the situation gets even uglier? There are, after all, another six months of the season left.
Carrick was keeping his cards close to his chest on Monday when asked if the fans could expect anything different. But it would be nice to think he might emerge, at least in part, from Solskjaer’s shadow and be bold enough to make some of the changes the last manager resisted right up until he was relieved of his position.
Donny van de Beek, the seldom seen Holland midfielder, did enough in the second half against Watford to warrant an opportunity against Villarreal and Jesse Lingard also deserves a chance. The alternative is to keep faith with players who, as Harry Maguire admitted, are going through “the toughest time of their career at club level”.
Maguire clearly counts himself in that bracket. The collapse in the United captain’s game has perhaps been the most startling of the lot and Rio Ferdinand, the club’s former defender, believes it has got to the point where the England centre-half needs to be taken out of the firing line.
Maybe Carrick would be more willing to do that if Raphael Varane was not injured but Eric Bailly’s chaotic performance in the Manchester derby earlier this month might well discourage the caretaker from pinning his hopes on a Bailly-Victor Lindelof partnership. Scott McTominay often plays in central defence for Scotland but the midfielder’s own confidence is fragile enough and a switch there in this of all weeks is hard to envisage.
Maguire spoke on Monday about the players needing to “take responsibility for everything” and “finding something within ourselves and the group to move the club forward” but, as Carrick stressed, only actions will do now.
United have not found it easy in Spain even in happier times. They have won just five of their previous 28 visits to the country. Victory would guarantee progress to the Champions League knockout stages with a game to spare and what a lift - however fleeting - that would give everyone after the events of recent days. But a draw would be good enough if Atalanta fail to beat Young Boys.
What they cannot stomach is another bad defeat, all the less so with the reigning European champions and England’s best team on form to follow at Stamford Bridge.
Michael Carrick verdict: Man Utd's caretaker at his diplomatic best – but jury remains unconvinced
By James Ducker
For a man thrown into an invidious position, Michael Carrick negotiated the questions with all the precision with which he used to circulate the football. Ultimately, though, how much can Manchester United fans realistically expect to change when he was part of the coaching staff of the manager the club has just sacked?
This is not a position any club would want to be in – a caretaker holding the fort while they search for an interim appointment to fill a hole vacated by a man who used to be the interim before landing the job permanently. Perhaps United will get lucky, against Villarreal in the Champions League in Spain on Tuesday night and at Premier League leaders Chelsea on Sunday, and the players will deliver the result or two they desperately need.
Dire form and a crisis of confidence would suggest that will be a tall order, even forgetting that they will have a novice in the technical area. But what happens if the alarming slide that cost Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job continues? What if United lose against Villarreal and then again against Chelsea? United, for the record, have won just five of 28 visits to Spain and Chelsea are playing the sort of football they can only dream of at the moment. How desperate will the situation look then?
“We'll have to see, really,” Carrick said when asked if supporters could expect changes. “Obviously I've worked closely with Ole for a long time now and we do have very similar beliefs.
“We did as players and we certainly do as coaches and manager, so yes of course I've got my own personality to Ole, but of course it’s very similar, that's why we worked together for so long and it went so well for a period of time, so we'll have to wait and see.
“I'm not giving too much away of what my plans are but I'm very clear in my own mind what we want to do, how we want to play, how we want to go about it and I'm looking forward to seeing that on the pitch.”
So Carrick could make changes, but then equally he says he thinks along the same lines as Solskjaer, so what may be different? It is an extraordinary predicament in which United find themselves.
As it happened
01:26 PM
On Villarreal
They're a very good team. I thought that in the [Europa League] final we played very well and stopped them playing for long periods. To lose like we did hurt but in the end, we weren't good enough.
Then this season's first game we saw they're good on the ball and have good technical players who can frustrate you. They got a good balance and we respect that. We know each other well and we have a plan to come out on top.
01:21 PM
How did you hear of Ole's sacking?
I found out at the training ground yesterday morning. I don't think anyone did. I spoke to Ed, spoke to Oli when I arrived but that's how it came about. It was a bit of a rush to organise training but it went really well, all things considered, and [they] dealt with it in a classy manner, especially Ole.
Shows the real class of the man and how humble he is. It's now about me preparing the team for tomorrow night.
01:20 PM
Short and sweet
As the players are about to fly to Spain (Salamanca?) to play Villarreal tomorrow.
01:16 PM
Not looking further than Villarreal and Chelsea
I'm throwing myself into doing everything I can. That's the challenge I'm relishing at the moment and I've got great people helping me and it's a fantastic group and they will prove that again.
01:14 PM
On Solskjaer
It's been an emotional time for everyone at club. To see him lose his job was tough for me and a lot of people at the club. You can tell by the emotion around the place yesterday. Ole will understand when he said results are everything and it's about creating the right foundation. I want to say a massive thank you from me and the staff as well as the players.
01:12 PM
Do you want the job full time?
I haven't had time to think [that far ahead]. I'll be here as long as the club wants me to be here. We will have to wait and see [what happens next]. I'm prepared to do it for however long it takes - whether it's one game, two games, right now I'm not sure but I'm not thinking about that, it's about tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it and preparing the players but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.
01:11 PM
On the short time to prepare
It's a challenge. The initial reaction and coming to terms with the situation yesterday but you have to focus. It's such a privilege [working for] this great club. Of course it's a limited time but it's a challenge I relish, a big responsibility and I'm looking forward to it. It's a great group of players. They might not have shown it [much recently but ...]
01:09 PM
Tactical changes?
We'll have to wait and see. I've worked closely with Ole for a very long time and we have the same beliefs - we did as players and we certainly do as coaches.
Of course I've got my own personality to Ole but we're very similar and that's why we worked together for so long. I'm not giving too much away about what my plans are but I'm very clear in my own mind about how we want to play. I'm not going to give [them] away just yet but you'll see it on the pitch.
01:08 PM
Carrick on what went wrong
It's not for me to look back now. I know in my own mind what I could have done better and what I could have done to improve. It's down to us [as individuals to reflect on that].
01:07 PM
Now it's Carrick
I'm preparing the team, I know the club, the staff and the boys very well. The club has been my life for a long time. Whether it's one game or two games I'm not sure and it's not on my mind. It's a big game for us and I will prepare us right. It's a fantastic game to have, one where we find out what we've got and where we're at.
We understand and Ole understands it's a results business so as much as you build the right foundations and environment and you show people the way, you sometimes don't get what you deserve...
On the flip side football is football and it's business as usual today in terms of preparing the team for tomorrow's game. It's a privilege for me to sit in this position and I understand the possibilities that come with that.
The focus now is on flipping our mindset very quickly and that's something this club has done very well historically
01:05 PM
Maguire rounds off
We know it's not been good enough, individually or collectively. It's snowballed from one thing to the other. We have to find something in ourselves [to change that].
01:03 PM
Still Maguire
As a group of players, we are in it together, a good group of lads who want to succeed who are giving it everything. The results aren't what we want them to be. We take a huge amount of responsibility for that/ Ole is a legend of the club and will remain so. It was an emotional day
01:02 PM
Maguire continues
We were in this together, the manager paid the price but we take responsibility. We weren't good enough and we need to make sure we get this club back to where we want it to be. The emotion around the place was difficult to be in. We wanted to succeed and the result wasn't good enough. It's a results business. We know we haven't been good enough. We have spoken about that. The lads want to succeed.
01:01 PM
Harry Maguire joins Michael Carrick in the pres conference
Maguire: The result on Saturday wasn't good enough and it's a results business. Ole paid the price for that.
12:59 PM
A fond farewell
He’s been my striker when I first came to Old Trafford and he’s been my coach since I came back to Man. United. But most of all, Ole is an outstanding human being. I wish him the best in whatever his life has reserved for him.
His column is free to read in the UK for the next hour or so and can be read by registering if you're outside the UK:
United have missed out on so many brilliant coaches who were available over the last three years, including Conte, Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel; managers who could have delivered title bids and successful Champions League campaigns here and now, given the talent in the squad and the vast sums spent.
Instead, the club has hidden behind the notion of a gradual rebuilding, when they have spent £312 million on new players under Solskjaer - the highest in the Premier League - and have the highest wage bill. Manchester City and Chelsea demand instant returns for that kind of investment. The United squad should have been doing so much better than it is, not just this season but in the last couple of years.
Is history repeating itself but not necessarily in the right order
Ferguson = Busby
Moyes = O'Farrell
Van Gaal = Sexton
Mourinho = Docherty
Solskjaer = McGuinness.
Who will be their Bog Ron?
12:20 PM
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Carrick
Michael Carrick is going to be in charge vs Villarreal. Michael, I have the utmost respect [for], I love Michael to bits. I’m becoming emotional now because he’s top. They’ll be fine. I’ll watch them and support them.
Solskjaer and Carrick - John Walton/PA
12:15 PM
Back in 2018 Michael Carrick published his autobiography
Sam Wallace spoke to him about the stress and anxiety that afflicted him during the 2010 World Cup in this fascinating interview on publication.
“I was thinking about Trescothick and Trott, they came out and spoke about it and theirs [stress and anxiety] was being away with England and travelling and that kind of struck me about the 2010 World Cup.
“It was just like ‘Get me out of here’ and as much as I was fighting it and thinking ‘What’s wrong with you? You have got nothing to worry about’, I just struggled. I couldn’t deal with it. I don’t know why. I still don’t know why. It just happens and you deal with it. I didn’t speak to anyone about it and my mum and dad didn’t know until the book came out. We are really close. I think they were a bit disappointed that they didn’t realise or I didn’t tell them.”
On Sunday Michael Carrick followed a path trodden before by TJ Wallworth, Walter Crickmer, Jimmy Murphy, Sir Matt Busby, Ryan Giggs and his predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, by becoming Manchester United's seventh caretaker manager (or, more precisely in the cases of Messrs Wallworth and Crickmer - in his first spell - caretaker secretary-managers).
Carrick, who joined United's coaching staff in 2018 at the end of his playing career, graduated from his Uefa Pro Licence course with the class of 2020-21 alongside Casey Stoney, Kolo Toure and his former team-mate Quinton Fortune, and will take charge for the visits of Villarreal on Tuesday and, presumably, Chelsea on Sunday at least. Given how determined they were to stand by Solskjaer and how seemingly unprepared they were for having to sack him, United would be keen to make Carrick the interim manager until the end of the season, giving them time to appoint a new CEO and lure their preferred candidate away from his current job.
The end of the first part of World Cup qualifying does open up the intriguing possibility of them appointing someone who has already qualified with his national team until the end of May, 'the Hiddink option' as its known, given the World Cup is not until November 2022. There are so few 'elder statesmen' candidates around, despite them being likely to earn several million quid should they help United qualify for the Champions League, that employing someone on a job-share might be the best route should Carrick, who was part of the previous two management teams, fail to make an instant impact.
Of the currently unemployed management Lao Tzus, one would have to say Marcello Lippi (73) Fabio Capello (75) and Sven Goran-Eriksson (73) are probably too old to come under consideration despite Jupp Heynckes' successful last stint at Bayern at the age of 72. Steve McClaren has the Manchester United background but is entirely implausible, Jogi Low hasn't managed in club football for 17 years and Ronald Koeman's stock has fallen through the floor. Arsene Wenger? Give over.
Of the World Cup managers, Carlos Queiroz would be a strong candidate given his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo and Sir Alex Ferguson, but Egypt have still got another round of qualification to go in March. What about the manager of Holland who has won six domestic titles in Germany, Holland and Spain, the Champions League, hasn't much on in the first half of next year and knows Manchester United intimately? Ladies and gentlemen I give you ... Louis van Gaal.
Join us for Carrick's first words in the hot seat from 1pm.
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