Football moves quickly, and it moves even quicker at Man Utd, as the architect of Erik ten Hag’s sacking at the club is now undroppable for Michael Carrick.
There is a whole era that went by between Erik ten Hag’s time at Man Utd and Michael Carrick working his magic at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim’s time is a complete write-off, although he deserves some credit for refreshing the dressing room culture.
Ruben Amorim deserves ___ % credit for Michael Carrick’s BRILLIANT start at Man Utd
Fill in the blank. Did Amorim lay the foundation for success at Old Trafford?
However, the player who put the final nail in the coffin of Ten Hag’s time at Old Trafford is now undroppable for Carrick as the tables turn.
Erik ten Hag’s sacking was confirmed after West Ham game
The day is October 27, 2024, and Ten Hag is already under immense pressure after struggling to start the season.
His side are in the bottom half of the table, and a fixture against Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham awaits to decide his fate.
United started the first half extremely well, creating chances at will but failing to take any as they went into half-time goalless.
Summerville gave West Ham the lead in the 74th minute, cancelled out by Casemiro’s 81st-minute goal, before a contentious penalty call in injury time gave West Ham the win.
The penalty call was wrong, but it shouldn’t have mattered anyway had United taken their chances in the first half, the biggest one of which fell to Diogo Dalot.
Dalot ran onto a pass over the top in the first half, chipping the goalkeeper with ease and the empty net to slot into to give United the lead.
Instead, he inexplicably shot over the bar despite facing an empty goal, and United’s momentum withered away.
They would go on to lose the game 2-1, and Ten Hag lost his job after the game, ushering in the Amorim era, which made Ten Hag look like a genius.
Diogo Dalot is finally being used correctly by Michael Carrick
Despite putting the final nail in Ten Hag’s coffin at Man Utd with that missed chance, Dalot was also United’s player of the season in the previous campaign.
Therefore, it was extremely confusing when both Amorim and Ten Hag misprofiled him by using him as a last-man runner tasked with creating and scoring.
Are you confident Man Utd will win vs West Ham and end the losing streak at the London Stadium?
Dalot, at his best, is a steady ball progressor who can handle his own in one-on-one defending as well.
That missed chance in Ten Hag’s last game, and his wing-back stints under Amorim exposed the worst of Dalot, as he struggles with the end-ball in the final third.
Carrick has used his skills perfectly, setting him up to get the ball into the final third, but rarely asked to play the final pass.
As a result, he’s keeping Noussair Mazraoui out of the team, and with good reason. That would have been unthinkable a month ago.
It’s easy to say that Dalot’s missed chance led to Ten Hag’s sacking, or his wasted balls led to Amorim’s frustration.
However, Carrick has shown that it is up to the manager to platform the players in a way that maximises their strengths and covers for their weaknesses.
Dalot is a prime example of the same. He cost Ten Hag his job; could he earn Carrick his job now?
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
