Michael Carrick calms growing skepticism as Man Utd move closer to Champions League

It took a first home defeat to Leeds since 1981 for the real groaning to begin.

‘Is Carrick ready for the job?’

What was once seen as an asset, peace, turned into a negative. Inaction was seen as conservative. The question that has been asked all week is, ‘Is Carrick ready for the job?’

Well, there was nothing aesthetically pleasing about this latest conquest.

But of all the bosses since Sir Alex Ferguson, only Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had experienced the feeling of victory at Stamford Bridge, style being a secondary element.

Chelsea has probably hit the woodwork three times. They may have posed a more consistent threat. But only Carrick’s team was successful.

“It was a game focused on achieving results,” he stated. “And we managed to find it.”

There was more to it, though. Carrick faced the challenge of knowing he would be missing three central defenders—Mathijs de Ligt due to injury and Lisandro Martínez and Harry Maguire due to suspension—before losing a fourth, Lenny Yarrow, to a training ground injury.

He arrived so late in the week that his chosen pair, Noussair Mazraoui and Ayden Haven, could only prepare with a walk-through.

“I love when you see players get excited in those moments,” Carrick said.

The 19-year-old Haven had not started a game under Carrick before being handed his chance by first Ruben Amorim and then his immediate replacement Darren Fletcher.

“Aiden hasn’t played a lot of football recently and entering that environment is not something you can take lightly,” Carrick said.

“We say the same things to young players all the time. Sometimes they look at you like they’re like, ‘Yeah, good,’ but in terms of training every day and looking after yourself and being ready ’cause you never know when that opportunity will come’, they might not have thought that at the time.

However, he was prepared and handled it exceptionally well.