Manchester United have a decision to make at the end of the season over who will be the head coach next term, but Michael Carrick could make a case for himself if the team secures Champions League qualifications.
It has been a challenging season for Manchester United, even with a shortage of midweek fixtures after failing to qualify for European competition last season.
At the beginning of January, poor results led to Ruben Amorim’s dismissal. Darren Fletcher stood in for a brief period, failing to win either of his two matches, before Michael Carrick was appointed head coach until the end of the season.
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Since then, United have won four matches and drawn just one. The team is also playing a more attractive brand of football in a 4-2-3-1 formation, reverting from Amorim’s preferred back-three system.
Carrick needs a lot more positive results to secure a Champions League spot, with United’s next fixture on February 23, away at Everton in the Premier League.
The 44-year-old former United midfielder is making a good account of himself in the job. A strong end to the season may boost his chances of landing the head coach role beyond this season.
Man Utd won’t rush decision over Michael Carrick despite positive start
United have until the summer to decide who they want as head coach.
And, in that time, Carrick has a golden opportunity to make himself a serious contender by guiding the first team to a Champions League spot.
While it’s early days in Carrick’s reign as interim head coach, the results so far have been impressive. They have helped Carrick lift the mood at Old Trafford before United’s 1-1 draw against West Ham on Tuesday night. The only way to maintain and build on that is by winning more football matches.
Respected journalist at The Independent, Miguel Delaney, has heard that United have no plans to give Carrick the job early in the same way they did with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in March 2019.
That suggests that the current board feel a mistake was made by giving Solskjaer the job permanently, even though there will be many United fans who will disagree with that.
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Anyhow, United are understood to be ‘conscious of errors’ that were made during Solskjaer’s spell as interim manager. United got off to a flying start under the Norwegian.
Solskjaer’s best Premier League finish as United manager was second place before he was sacked in 2021. It would take something special for Carrick to achieve that this season.
Speaking on the Indo Sport podcast, Carrick said: “So they still, I mean, obviously, Carrick, as you say, the impact has been really good. The coaching team has been, you know, made an impression. I think that’s one big difference with Solskjaer before.
“And I think this is it. There’s going to be obvious parallels with Solskjaer in all sorts of ways. The biggest being whether United are kind of almost juiced into making an early appointment the way they did with Solskjaer in March 2019.
“I don’t think they will do that from everything I’m hearing. They do want to take the longer game on this. They’re conscious of errors of the past.”
United are currently fourth in the Premier League standings.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  ArsenalArsenal | 25 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 49 | 17 | 32 | 56 |
| 2 |  Manchester CityManchester City | 26 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 54 | 24 | 30 | 53 |
| 3 |  Aston VillaAston Villa | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 37 | 27 | 10 | 50 |
| 4 |  Manchester UnitedManchester United | 26 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 47 | 37 | 10 | 45 |
| 5 |  ChelseaChelsea | 26 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 47 | 30 | 17 | 44 |
| 6 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 42 |
| 7 |  BrentfordBrentford | 25 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 39 | 34 | 5 | 39 |
| 8 |  EvertonEverton | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 29 | 30 | -1 | 37 |
Michael Carrick taking each game at a time
Carrick has already said he won’t be getting ahead of himself following United’s four-match win streak before drawing against West Ham.
The best approach Carrick can take is to take each game at a time and focus on the challenge ahead rather than worrying about landing the job permanently.
That could happen if results go his way, but United must also be aware that Carrick is his own man and not a carbon copy of Solskjaer, even though he was previously part of the Norwegian’s backroom staff.
Carrick has over 10 days to prepare his United players to face Everton and get back to winning ways.
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