This pre-season has given us a real test of what Michael Carrick’s ball is all about, clarifying why, in missing out on Elliot Anderson, the Red Devils may have dodged a bullet.
Manchester United endured a shaky start to the 2024-25 season, and by midseason, qualification for Champions League football even looked unlikely.
However, a bold decision from INEOS to sack Ruben Amorim and salvage United’s season changed everything.
Carrick the difference maker
The United chiefs turned to Carrick to steady the ship, and he did far more than that. The former midfielder restored winning habits, and he had the team fighting and playing with real zeal and passion.
Ultimately, under Carrick, United looked like a proper team, a far cry from what Amorim had been working with.
Given the Red Devils’ resurgence, handing Carrick the job felt like the right call. Yet earning the job was only the first step; he then had to sell his ideas to the squad.
Looking at United’s transfer activity and pre-season performance, it is now clear how Carrick wants this team to play.
Carrick wants this United side to move away from relying on transitional football. Instead, his aim is for United to control games, dominate possession, and dictate matches.
Consequently, he is prioritising technicians over pure athletic profiles, and this is evident in United’s midfield rebuild.
Pure technicians over athletic midfielders
Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos are both technically gifted, and their arrivals will give the midfield far greater composure, technical quality, and control in possession.
Moreover, while the pair are yet to play together, a midfield pivot of Santos and Mason Mount this pre-season, built entirely from pure technicians, has hinted at the new direction the team is taking.
Carrick’s priority, then, is pure technicians and fluid control, rather than the pure physicality and athleticism Amorim once demanded of his engine room.
Of which, while there is a suggestion that the third midfield signing should bring a destroyer profile or an athletic box-to-box presence, this may not be the route INEOS take.
Instead, United may well sign another technician, which raises the question: while many fans demanded the signing of Elliot Anderson, was he ever truly the type of midfielder this team needed?
Elliot Anderson: Manchester United dodged a bullet
Yes, Anderson’s elite defensive work rate, duel-winning ability, and constant movement are excellent qualities. Yet they suit teams chasing games, ones not necessarily keen on exerting control.
For a possession-based side, however, like United want to be, such qualities remain secondary to the composure, intelligent progression, and tempo-dictating control needed. Anderson is clearly not a “technical controller,” and this was evident given how little influence he and Declan Rice carried for England at the World Cup.
Indeed, Thomas Tuchel opted to capitalise on physicality rather than turn to technicians such as Kobbie Mainoo, who might otherwise have offered control and dominance.
Carrick, though, is showing a bold new approach with his squad. He wants technical controllers, and splashing over £100million on a player not suited to that vision would have been a significant blunder, one that could have genuinely held this United team back.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Daniel Onguko
Dan is a writer with The Peoples Person, an avid Manchester United fan whose passion for the Red Devils evolved into writing about them. He was introduced to United back in 2008, and his love for the club has continued to grow ever since. Like every other United fan, he believes the club will soon return to its rightful place and strives to reflect that belief in his writing. While he has also written about other Premier League sides, including Arsenal for Just Arsenal and The Arsenal Analysis Blogspot, Dan lives and breathes Manchester United.
