Manchester United

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

If there was one controversial moment for Manchester United to survive, it was Diogo Dalot's high challenge on Jeremy Doku in the opening minutes.

Many felt it warranted a red card but thankfully for Michael Carrick, referee Anthony Taylor and fourth official Craig Pawson came to a different conclusion.

Once they had overcome that hurdle though, Carrick's team delivered the kind of statement performance the home supporters had waited so long for.

From back to front, United were magnificent.

In delivering only their third clean sheet of the season, United were indebted to Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez for neutralising Erling Haaland's threat.

On the one occasion the Norwegian did look like scoring, Martinez slid in to block.

Behind them, goalkeeper Senne Lammens redeemed himself on the one occasion he made a serious mistake, turning away a goal-bound Max Alleyne header from a corner the Belgian had needlessly given away.

Kobbie Mainoo, so often overlooked by Ruben Amorim, flourished alongside Casemiro in midfield as United controlled the game.

By the end, United's fans were singing their song to Michael Carrick. After two wins and a draw in his first spell as interim boss in 2021, he has now added another memorable success to his list of achievements and long after the final whistle, he finally headed to the dressing rooms to huge applause.

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick, speaking to BBC MOTD after the 2-0 win over Man City: "There was so much good in the day. I think I was interested going into the game about how it would come together. It's been a compressed prep, there's been changes and it's not always easy for players to deal with that. So we were well aware of how much information we could give them, how much we had to get a balance on that and simplifying it as much as we could.

"They're an unbelievable team, they make you work so hard for so many things within the game that we had to be aware of. The boys took it on so, so well and were able to control that emotionally. I just felt like they were really desperate to do well, the boys. If anything, I was worried about the desperation over-spilling and making bad decisions because you're so keen, but they managed it so well. To put on a performance like that today, it was a special day. It was a nice feeling."

On how it's been since taking charge: "I think it's always different inside to out, it always is. But for me to come in and feel it, the players really care and want to learn and want to be helped. There's not the egos where they think they know it all. We've got to push them as well and ask a lot from them. As a group, they've been unbelievable. The starters, the boys that were not involved, the subs, the ones that came on, everyone has been top drawer, and it all came together and it all came together nicely.

"It's got to be a start, we've got another big game next week and we've got to build as we go through the season. We're not getting carried away."

On Harry Maguire: "We were going into the game, and he's literally trained two days out of 45 or so, so it was a big ask. He came on the other day for a short period of time but again hasn't really trained a whole lot so we've got to manage him. It shows again how much it means to the boys to play, and the boys were going down with all sorts. He got through it he managed him well. He was a big presence at the back for us. he showed that immense experience."

You can listen to more from Carrick here

Did you know?

• Four of Patrick Dorgu's five Premier League goal involvements for Manchester United have come in his last six appearances (2 goals, 2 assists).

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Manchester United's performance

What did you make of Manchester City's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

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Michael Carrick has made five changes to his first Manchester United starting line-up, bringing back Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo following their return from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko both drop to the bench as Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire are included in a four-man defence, while Casemiro replaces Manuel Ugarte alongside Kobbie Mainoo in midfield.

Joshua Zirkzee is not included in the squad.

Manchester United XI: Lammens, Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Casemiro, Mainoo, Amad, Bruno Fernandes, Dorgu, Mbeumo.

Substitutes: Bayindir, Mount, Cunha, Malacia, Yoro, Ugarte, Heaven, Sesko, J Fletcher.

Three changes for Manchester City following Tuesday's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Newcastle.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Rico Lewis and Rodri return, with James Trafford and Nico O'Reilly dropping to the bench while Matheus Nunes is not in Pep Guardiola's squad.

Manchester City XI: Donnarumma, Lewis, Khusanov, Alleyne, Ake, Rodri, Semenyo, Foden, Bernardo Silva, Doku, Haaland.

Substitutes: Trafford, Bettinelli, Reijnders, Cherki, Ait-Nouri, O'Reilly, McAidoo, Mukasa, Mfuni.

There are seven games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Man Utd v Man City (12:30)

• Chelsea v Brentford - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Leeds v Fulham

• Liverpool v Burnley

• Sunderland v Crystal Palace

• Tottenham v West Ham - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Nottingham Forest v Arsenal (17:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Chelsea v Brentford" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Nottingham Forest v Arsenal", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds

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Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Darren Fletcher about recent events and what happens next at his former club.

He gives his thoughts on incoming interim boss Michael Carrick, what skillset a United manager needs and how that person should be someone who will "ruffle feathers".

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

Chris Adams
BBC Sport journalist

New Manchester United interim head coach Michael Carrick will be hoping his record as a player against derby rivals Manchester City is a good omen upon his return to the Old Trafford hotseat.

Carrick the midfielder recorded 13 victories against City, his highest number of wins against any Premier League opponent bar Sunderland. As the 198th Manchester derby beckons on Saturday (12:30 GMT), both teams are on a run of three consecutive league draws.

Derby dugout debut

This will be the first time in the history of the fixture that either club has gone into the game with a new boss in charge.

If Carrick's men do go ahead, the five-time title winner will be wary of their inability to hold onto a lead; they have lost 14 points from winning positions this season, a problem that the now-departed Ruben Amorim struggled to address.

The Red Devils, who sit seventh, will also have to contend with the visitors' relentless running power. City players have covered more ground than any other team in the division this season, collectively running an average of 115.6 km per game.

Semenyo shining

Pep Guardiola's squad has recently been bolstered by the addition of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth. The Ghana forward has hit the ground running with two goals in his first two games and is aiming to become first player to score in his first three appearances for the club since Jackie Dyson in 1955.

Excellent returns from Erling Haaland and Phil Foden mean City's current squad have scored a combined 18 league goals in Manchester derbies.

In Haaland and Semenyo, City have two of the Premier League's three top scorers. Haaland, who scored a hat-trick in his first Manchester derby, had a hand in all three goals on his most recent visit to Old Trafford in October 2023 - scoring twice and assisting Foden in a comfortable 3-0 win.

Second-placed City have won nine Premier League away games against United, more than any other visiting side.

Well, I know who is going to win this. I'm just not sure about the score.

What on earth is going on at Manchester United? It just seems like they are making it up as they go along.

I don't get the thinking at Old Trafford, so I'm probably wrong here, but it looks to me like they are waiting to try to get England boss Thomas Tuchel in the summer, or maybe even United States manager Mauricio Pochettino - who could also be free after the World Cup.

In the meantime, here we are with United treading water again. It would have been interesting if Darren Fletcher had won the two games when he was manager - would he still be in charge?

We will have to see how caretaker boss Michael Carrick lines United up - whether he plays with a back four and what shape he will use - but I don't see it making much difference against Manchester City.

I was at St James' Park on Tuesday and City were really comfortable against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup. That was the first time I've seen Rayan Cherki in the flesh and when he came on you could tell what an intelligent footballer he is.

Erling Haaland has only scored once, a penalty, in his past six games and he did not get on the scoresheet when City scored 10 against Exeter in the FA Cup.

So he is due a goal and he usually gets at least one against United - he has scored eight in six league games against them - so they need to find a way of stopping him this time.

This is such a tough start for Carrick. I am going to give United a goal for their fans to get excited about, but City will still take the points pretty easily.

Sutton's prediction: 1-3

Read the full predictions and have your say

Four years, one month and 15 days separate the final game of Michael Carrick's first stint in charge of Manchester United and his first match back against Manchester City on Saturday - and it is fair to say that a lot has changed at Old Trafford.

Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw, Amad Diallo and reserve goalkeeper Tom Heaton are the only players at the club today who were part of Manchester United's 2021-22 squad.

Ralf Rangnick, Carrick's successor at Old Trafford, pointed out the need for the club to perform an "open heart operation" in order to get back to competing at the highest level - and the sheer turnover in players since then would suggest that some kind of drastic change has happened.

There is no denying that there are players from the current squad who would have been regular features in Carrick's last team - but the fact that the Red Devils sat in seventh place in the league when he left in December 2021 and will also be in seventh place at the start of Saturday's match tells you a lot about the success of that overhaul.

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

If anyone was in the slightest of doubt Michael Carrick's press conferences are going to be different to Ruben Amorim's, Friday's will have dispelled them.

Carrick just is not the type of character to get drawn into slanging matches, to make jaw-dropping statements or fan the flames of controversy.

Wayne Rooney says there is steel to Carrick's character, which I do not doubt is true.

However, I suspect Carrick has one version of himself for the dressing room and training pitch and another in front of the media.

He responded to my questions about the weight of opinion around United politely and clearly. But he could not have done a better job at shutting the conversation down.

Equally, whatever he thinks privately about Roy Keane and his comments relating to his wife, Lisa, he is keeping them to himself.

Carrick will be judged on results, not what he says in press conferences. I suspect he is quite happy with that.

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Manchester City at Old Trafford (kick-off 12:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Carrick began by joking about the "two very different roles" of being back at the club - speaking to the media and the coaching side - but said it was "fantastic to be here" and a "great feeling for me to be in this position".

• He added: "I fell in love with this club, it's been a massive part of my life and has been for so long. I'm fully aware of the position I am in, in so many different ways. As well as that, I'm eager to succeed. We've got a big job to do, it's an important job and it always is to win games and play well. One side of it is it is nice to be here, the other side of it is focus and drive to improve the team and improve the results."

• Asked what success would look like this season, he responded: "Improvement. A big part of what I enjoy is improving individuals and I think if you improve individuals then you create a better team."

• He continued: "There is an element of performances, an element of results and and element of doing what it takes to win in certain ways and certain games. We want to keep pushing and finish as high as we can and we'll see where that takes us."

• Carrick said he had not been set expectations by the club's leadership group, but as a team they "want to take small steps" to be near the top and "European football would be a step forward".

• He said he has spoken with Jason Wilcox an "awful lot" and is "working closely" with both him and Omar Berrada, and has also met with Sir Jim Ratcliffe who "wished him all the best".

• On whether comments from ex-United players, including Roy Keane, have put pressure on him: "They don't put more pressure on me. I don't feel that. It's just part of the role, I understand it. There are plenty of opinions around, some positive and some not so much. For me, in terms of pressure, it's totally irrelevant in terms of me and what I'm focusing on. I know what we want to improve on and how we want to work with players."

• He added: "There are a lot of opinions. A lot can be said, it's the way of the world. I won't pay too much attention to that. It's not for me to do that. For me, the players and staff, our focus is on how to succeed - that is our responsibility."

Hear more from Carrick on BBC Sounds

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

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He may be a total novice compared to Pep Guardiola when it comes to preparing a side to play in a Manchester derby but I am guessing Michael Carrick will not want to give much away about his likely line-up or the formation he is going to play at Old Trafford tomorrow.

However, there is one glaringly obvious issue he needs to navigate.

Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo are both back from the Africa Cup of Nations and have been, arguably, United's most creative players this season.

Amad was on the bench for the opening game of the season against Arsenal and started all the rest until his departure for Morocco. Mbeumo has started all the Premier League games he was available for.

But it is not expected Carrick will use wing-backs and no-one views Amad as a full-back, even though Sir Alex Ferguson converted Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia back there during his time as United boss.

To get them both into a 4-2-3-1 formation, it would either mean Bruno Fernandes continuing in the deeper role he didn't look suited to under Ruben Amorim - which leads to leaving Kobbie Mainoo on the bench, Matheus Cunha getting dropped, or the former Wolves man being picked as a number nine, with no room for Benjamin Sesko.

It feels like the biggest call Carrick has to make, beyond whether to recall Harry Maguire in central defence and Luke Shaw at left-back.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

There's been talk about how Manchester United need to recapture the club's DNA and be more attacking than they were under Ruben Amorim, which is strange because they're already one of the best attacking sides in the Premier League and they've conceded the most goals they ever have at this stage of a Premier League season.

So surely the defence has to be Michael Carrick's focus?

After all, there's more to the DNA talk than just attacking - trusting youth, for example - but it seems to be a large part of it.

Some data points to their attacking improvements:

• 36 goals is the most goals United have scored after 21 games for five seasons - since scoring 37 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2020-21 (not a particularly high bar, but still).

• United have already improved a lot attacking-wise this season - scoring 10 more goals than at this stage last season (26) and 50% more goals than in 2023-24 (24).

• They have taken the most shots in the Premier League this season (351) - 38 more than any other side.

• United have the second-highest expected goals (xG) in the Premier League this season (38.6) - only arch-rivals and this weekend's opponents Manchester City can better that (40.6).

• They are averaging 16.7 shots per game in the Premier League this season - the most per game in a season since Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge in 2011-12 (17.0).

Instead of the attack, it would arguably make more sense for Carrick to say he wants to instil the defensive resilience that is part of the club's DNA - to make United hard to score against again.

• 32 goals is the joint-most United have ever conceded after 21 games of a Premier League season (also 32 in 2018-19).

• They have conceded 25 goals or more at this stage in the past eight Premier League seasons - they had only conceded so many goals after 21 games in four of the first 26 Premier League seasons.

• The average number of goals United have conceded after 21 Premier League games is 21 - 11 fewer than they have this season.

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

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One of the big plus points of Michael Carrick's coaching team is that all the component parts have experience of ultra high-pressure environments, either at Manchester United and Real Madrid, or with England.

So they are all used to scrutiny and used to – sometimes damning – opinion.

Roy Keane has clearly not forgotten the blunt response of Michael Carrick's wife Lisa to his criticism of the former England midfielder, even though it was 12 years ago, and has taken the first available opportunity to fire a cheap shot at her, and then launch into a wider attack on Carrick's coaching team – and in particular Jonny Evans.

Carrick is bound to get asked about Keane – he inherited the former United skipper's number 16 shirt when he joined from Tottenham in 2006 – when he speaks to the media for the first time later.

Then his response will be dissected and then Keane will be asked about it and the circle will continue.

This is what happens as Manchester United manager. Ruben Amorim clearly felt those in charge of the club listened to external opinions too much.

Manchester United should not extend caretaker manager Michael Carrick beyond this season, says former United team-mate Gary Neville.

"I hope he does really well," Neville told The Overlap. "There cannot be any consideration that Michael takes the job beyond this season, for Michael and for the club.

"If he wins every game, we could be sat here in the season where he's done unbelievably well, and we're always thinking if the fans are up and they're in the Champions League places, fifth or whatever, it could happen if there's a good run and we could all be getting swayed with it.

"I honestly feel like at the end of the season, when you've got [Mauricio] Pochettino, [Thomas] Tuchel and [Carlo] Ancelotti.

"I've said Ancelotti as I just feel purely because he's 66 years of age, he's got probably the best job in the world right now [Brazil national team]. He's probably got one job left at club level. If there's one person who's got the patience, the composure, the experience of the Premier League."

Another ex-team-mate Wayne Rooney believes Carrick's appointment is the "right choice" for now.

"It is probably the obvious choice really because I don't think there are any top, top managers available at the minute," he said on the latest edition of BBC podcast The Wayne Rooney Show.

"I think it is the right choice at this moment in time.

"It is a difficult task of course. Where Manchester United are at the minute is not a good place and Michael has to go in and steady the ship."

Listen to more from Rooney on BBC Sounds