As Michael Carrick finally takes off his shoes and changes into slippers for his transition from interim to permanent manager the serious questions will now be asked and, hopefully, answered.
His history of managerial ‘success’ is currently non-existent in terms of trophies but he came close to getting Middlesbrough promoted and had a decent, if very short, run as United caretaker not too long before that.
Under his leadership United climbed to third in the Premier League and are now set to welcome Champion’s League football back to Old Trafford next season. This was achieved with a few tinkerings made to Ruben Amorim’s squad whereby he brought Kobbie Mainoo back into the team and had players playing in their best positions. It wasn’t really rocket science but, along with whatever Carrick does behind the scenes, it worked extremely well.
The weaknesses identified by the new manager are the obvious ones in midfield where Casemiro has departed and the occasionally go-to Manuel Ugarte will now, instead of being sold, spend the next few months on the treatment table.
These problems have been quickly addressed with the additions of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans and, apparently, Carrick wants at least one more to feel secure.
There is also a potential weakness at left back should Luke Shaw suffer any injury. Patrick Dorgu is now seen more as a winger which leaves only Diogo Dalot, who can’t defend with either foot, or playing Noussair Mazraoui out of position.
Where this gets a little out of hand is the prices being quoted for young replacements. Newcastle, for example, are talking in terms of £80million for Lewis Hall which, good though he may be, is a little over the top.
Also, the search for a young left back as cover seems a little superfluous when United have a young left back called Harry Amass who at least deserves a chance. Still, the boffins who know far more about these things than us mere mortals will no doubt sort it out one way or another.
There is also talk of another striker to support or cover for Benjamin Šeško although this talk has gone a little quiet for the moment whilst other positions are catered for.
We may expect more movement now that England’s quadrennial failure to lift the big trophy has ended and players return to their countries of employment.
Whatever happens this is now the acid test for Carrick. With the additional signings, a pre-season and a few friendlies this team is now Carricks and no blame can be laid anywhere else if it doesn’t work out.
However, having seen Carrick raise the quality and standards at United in such a short time, it will be intriguing to see how much better he and the team can become in the longer term.
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