Michael Carrick\u2019s first match in charge ended with a 2-0 victory over Manchester City, a result that revived memories of the club\u2019s more celebrated eras and left pundits sharply divided. United welcomed back Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo from AFCON duty; Mbeumo started centrally in place of Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko while Amad operated on the flank opposite Patrick Dorgu.<\/p>\n
Mbeumo and Dorgu were the ones to settle the contest, in which United had several clear-cut chances, and the atmosphere at Old Trafford was raucous. Many supporters described the display as a return to the patterns common under Sir Alex Ferguson.<\/p>\n
Reaction among former players and analysts ranged from cautious to enthusiastic. Roy Keane warned against overreaction in a heated discussion with Daniel Sturridge and Micah Richards. \u201cLet\u2019s judge it over the next few months. The key for him is trying to get momentum in the team,\u201d he said, while adding context on United\u2019s favourable selection on the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is an English coach, the English media will be pushing for him. He has done well today, but let\u2019s see how he does.,\u201d Keane continued. “They\u2019ve won one game! The last manager won one game. He\u2019s only been there three days.”<\/p>\n
Keane also pointed to available personnel and the match circumstances: \u201cEveryone is available, City at home, they\u2019ve been little bit off it, he could have had a man sent off,\u201d and added, \u201cTiming and a bit of luck, they have made the most of it. Take nothing away from him\u2014but everyone just calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary Neville took a different view and used the performance to argue the team had rediscovered elements of its identity. \u201cWe\u2019ve been conditioned to believe you cannot play like Manchester United play. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been told for the last three, four, five years, \u2018Move on, you can\u2019t play that way anymore,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, you can play that way in modern football, you\u2019ve just watched 90 minutes of it, 90 minutes of exactly what I think this club plays like when it\u2019s actually at its very best.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where he\u2019s got to play, be near to goal, be where you can hurt them, because he\u2019s a great player. We don\u2019t want to see him back in a midfield two in front of a back three,\u201d Neville added, reflecting on Bruno Fernandes\u2019s role and what the result might signify for the club\u2019s immediate trajectory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carrick’s 2-0 derby win split pundits. Keane urged calm; Neville said it showed club identity. Today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,969],"tags":[342,260,1087],"class_list":["post-6033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-premier-league","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-bryan-mbeumo","tag-coaching-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}