Michael Carrick signed off for the season in style, also giving emotional farewell minutes to Tyrell Malacia, but it left one player in a brutal place
The final day script couldn’t have gone better for Man Utd as they trounced Brighton 3-0 away from home and Bruno Fernandes broke the PL assist record.
After Casemiro played his final game at Old Trafford and Tyrell Malacia got a nice shout-out from Michael Carrick, the Man Utd manager went a step further.
He gave Malacia some nice farewell minutes, but it left his teammate in a brutal position.
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A fourth highest points tally since Sir Alex Ferguson retired!⚡️
Michael Carrick’s Tyrell Malacia gesture
The hope going into the Brighton game was that Carrick would heavily rotate his XI and give youngsters and fringe players a chance.
However, he was keen to keep the standards up, selecting an almost first-choice XI that decimated Brighton.
Once the lead was comfortable, he started playing Shea Lacey and Tyler Fletcher, as fringe players like Joshua Zirkzee also made an appearance.
Malacia made an appearance off the bench to sign off with a win he contributed to, which must be cathartic for him after so much injury frustration.
It was another sign of elite man-management from Carrick who has made every member of the Man Utd squad feel valued.
Except one, who had the final nail stuck in his coffin with a brutal verdict as a byproduct of minutes for Malacia.
Malacia minutes are damning for Manuel Ugarte
Malacia’s exit is already official, so United giving him farewell minutes literally serves no other purpose for them except for doing right by the player.
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In contrast, Manuel Ugarte has been told to leave, so putting him in the shop window here would have helped United.
Ugarte remained stuck to the bench as Carrick rolled the dice on the future, giving Tyler Fletcher first-team minutes.
It’s all but certain that Ugarte has played his last game for United, and unlike Malacia, he will leave the club with a whimper.
Even Carrick, now famous for doing right by the players, couldn’t be bothered to give Ugarte the last few minutes in a Man Utd jersey.
That’s as brutal an exit as it could possibly be for the Uruguayan international.
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