Michael Carrick happy with his start as Manchester United boss

Carrick’s early victories against title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal were unexpected. The matches against Fulham and Tottenham were anticipated but did not come without problems to be resolved.

Combined with the failures of Chelsea and Liverpool, the result was United finishing fourth, with a useful but by no means significant advantage in their quest for a return to the Champions League; It was something few could have imagined after Ruben Amorim was sent off following the draw at Leeds on 4 January.

“We know how difficult it is to come together in this league,” said Carrick, whose side are now unbeaten in nine league matches under three managers, including the mid-term Darren Fletcher.

“Sometimes it comes naturally, it flows and everything goes well. You look really dangerous and there’s a spark. It gets a little boring sometimes.”

The question for Carrick is whether his team can deliver a winning performance against the opponents they are expected to beat.

Many thought West Ham were in this category, although Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were aiming for their fourth win in five league games and took a 2-0 lead away to Chelsea.

Carrick failed to achieve victory.

What he did was take a risk to get something from a seemingly lost game.

When Manchester United drew with West Ham at Old Trafford in December, Amorim’s only substitution involving an attacker was Mason Mount, who replaced Joshua Zirkzee after 12 minutes.

His final changes were defender Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw. Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo and junior forward Shea Lacey remained on the bench.

At the London Stadium, Carrick punted. Not so for Sesko, who replaced the ineffective Matheus Cunha, an accusation that could be leveled at all of United’s attacking players in this case.

Where the risk and reward element came was when he introduced Zirkzee to full-back Diogo Dalot eight minutes later.

Carrick moved into the back three and pushed the men forward.

He knew he had a chance to accept a second. That didn’t happen, thanks to two excellent save tackles from another substitute, Leny Yoro, and a save from Senne Lammens.

This meant Carrick’s side still had a chance, with seven added players passing five minutes of injury time. Sesko’s perfect finish ensured they did not go home empty-handed.

“It’s always valuable to try to get something out of the game,” Carrick said of the substitution.

“We all want to be the best performance we can be.

“Sometimes it doesn’t happen much, but that doesn’t mean you give up.

“Obviously we went for it, three at the back and the rest were basically attacking to get that goal. That’s the way we have to do it.”

It’s a stance straight out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s playbook. He was always ready to gamble to achieve the desired result and felt that this was the reason why he had achieved so much success in his brilliant career recently.

An 87th minute win against Arsenal, a 90th minute win against Fulham and now a 95th minute draw against West Ham.

Carrick is happy with the 13 out of 15 points he got in the first block.

As he recovers before the next three-game series, he will be equally pleased with the spirit and never-say-die attitude that helped achieve them.