Man Utd continue to make progress following Ruben Amorim’s exit

Let’s lay out a few facts.

Manchester United were winning their third consecutive Premier League game in the third game of Carrick’s second tenure. It took Amorim 36 to do so, and only once during his 14 months at Old Trafford did he manage to make it three wins in a row, or even consecutive wins.

In response to wins over Chelsea and Liverpool the previous day, United returned to fourth in the standings. Amorim had never placed them this high at the end of a match round.

Carrick has won four of his five league games in charge, including his first spell in 2021.

He becomes the third United manager to achieve this, after Sir Matt Busby in 1946 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019. Amorim needed to win four of 12 league matches and won one of the next 10. Amorim’s Premier League record of 1.23 points per game is the lowest of any United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013.

Then there is the formation and personnel.

Clearly United have not solved their defensive weaknesses but the switch from three to four at the back has not made them worse.

This fundamental tactical shift in the Amorim regime was key in creating space for the return of Kobbie Mainoo. Mainoo has failed to start a single league game under Amorim this season after coming into direct competition for the starting spot with captain Bruno Fernandes.

Mainoo progressed towards the game against Fulham. Defensively, he was solid for his supposed weakness. Going forward, Carrick’s passing and ability to find space were invaluable as his team looked to break through the opposition defence.

“Kobbie’s performance was very good today in many ways,” Carrick said.

“Kobbie and Casemiro had a lot of work to do in the middle of the pitch, it was off-the-ball work and I thought he was brilliant at that.

“I’ve talked about the ball before and he wasn’t impressed at all.

“He understands what is needed and creates quality moments.

“This is what we expected from him but you forget how young he is.

“There’s still a lot to come, but it’s a real joy to see him play today with that kind of confidence in their belief.”

United’s next step is to entertain Tottenham.

Next weekend’s fixture will be a rematch of last season’s Europa League final, in which Amorim failed to formulate a game plan to beat a Tottenham team that was terrible last season and has failed to improve domestically in the current campaign. The visitors will still be encouraged by their own weekend results, however, as they came from two down with Manchester City to ease the pressure on Thomas Frank, who replaced Ange Postecoglou after beating United in Bilbao.

Defeat in the win-or-lose match for a place in this season’s Champions League has come at a huge cost to United, both in terms of prestige and finances. Then Amorim could be dismissed.

Instead the club kept the faith. But following the 1-1 draw with Leeds at the start of last month, United’s front-runners were unwilling to risk missing out on Europe for the second season in a row.

Carrick led the club into a Champions League position in the space of three games, creating a five-point buffer over seventh-placed Brentford; He knew that sixth would unlock entry into the Europa League, United’s stated goal for the season as a whole.

Discussions about whether Carrick will get the job will continue.

But there is now little debate about whether Amorim should have been removed if he had been there in the first place.

As one critic who knows United well observed months ago, “what is he actually good at, other than press conferences?”