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Manchester United have already eclipsed last season’s Premier League points tally with 13 matches still left to play, evidencing the failures of Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim in a torrid campaign
Michael Carrick may just be four matches into an interim head coaching stint with Manchester United, but he has already shown up the failures that Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim managed in their disastrous time in charge during the 2024/25 season.
There was a wealth of scepticism in the air when the 44-year-old arrived at Old Trafford last month. United fans were well within their right, of course, given that he was only sacked by Middlesbrough in the summer for guiding the club to a lacklustre 10th place finish in the Championship standings in 2024/25.
Meanwhile, Carrick’s caretaker role with the club following the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November 2021 lasted less than a month before he was replaced by Ralf Rangnick.
During his initial stint at the helm, Carrick achieved two wins and a draw from a total of three matches before he announced his shock decision to depart after a win against Arsenal and be replaced by the German – with Ten Hag taking up tenure at the end of 2021/22. What ensued next was two years of rot and questionable choices with an FA Cup trophy lift thrown in before the Dutchman was ultimately given the boot in October 2024, with Amorim left to pick up the pieces.
The Portuguese tactician failed to restore any glory to the Theatre of Dreams in his first season in charge, finishing a lowly 15th in the Premier League standings and losing the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur – albeit, mainly utilising a squad he inherited from his predecessor.
Giving Amorim the benefit of the doubt, the board backed him in the summer transfer window and afforded him a full pre-season schedule to play with to fine-tune his team. And while Amorim was handed a sizeable budget to bring in the likes of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens, the 41-year-old never really managed to get the best out of his new arrivals.
That’s largely down to Amorim being insistent on favouring a failing 3-4-2-1 formation, utilising Amad as a wing-back when he clearly thrives in an attacking role, and dropping Bruno Fernandes deeper into the heart of the engine room alongside Casemiro, despite the skipper proving time and time again he is the club’s most valuable asset in the pocket.
A decision to drop Kobbie Mainoo, meanwhile, rubbed a number of fans the wrong way, especially given how fruitful the England international had been in the engine room prior to his arrival.
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And that’s not to mention his public fallout with Marcus Rashford, pushing away perhaps one of the club’s most talented all-time academy products, who left on a short-term deal to Aston Villa and has since gone on to thrive in a season-long loan with Barcelona when he could have been doing the business at Old Trafford instead.
On the flipside, Carrick has not only managed to forge promising relationships with his squad in such a short space of time, but has also been able to do something that not Amorim nor Ten Hag, nor Solskjaer nor Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal or David Moyes could; get United back to running like the finely-tuned machine it was under Sir Alex Ferguson.
You can see that there’s an air of fresh start fever around Old Trafford at present, revamping it into a genuine Theatre of Dreams as of late compared to the one of nightmares it has been for the past 13 or so years since Fergie’s retirement.
That opinion is backed further by the fact that United have now eclipsed their Premier League points season tally from last season, currently sitting fourth in the standings and on the brink of European qualification with 44 points to the 42 that Amorim and Ten Hag managed in 2024/25.
To add further food for thought, there are still 13 matches remaining in the current campaign, meaning United could potentially bag a further 39 points by season’s end, should Carrick’s undefeated form continue to burn bright. Such events coming to fruition would put the Reds on a staggering total of 83 points – just one less than Liverpool achieved to win the title last time out.
Let’s not get carried away, with the form that Arsenal are in at present, it would take some form of divine intervention to see Mikel Arteta bottle the club’s first league title in more than two decades. But if United could achieve even seven or eight wins from their remaining fixtures it should be enough to seal qualification to the Champions League.
Given the collapse of relationships have been a key factor in underwhelming seasons for United as of late – from Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho’s falling out with Amorim to Cristiano Ronaldo’s alarming spat with Ten Hag – it’s vital that Carrick is able to keep his players content going forward, win, lose or draw.
If he’s able to do so, the future certainly looks bright for the Wallsend-born coach, who could even be awarded permanent tenure this summer for his achievements. While there have been calls from pundits and fans alike for United to consider a more-seasoned head coach when Carrick’s interim role concludes, it’s hard to see past the Englishman given his form at present.
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle for the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.
