Manchester United stand one step away from sealing their return to the Champions League after their 2-1 win against Brentford at Old Trafford on Monday.
Goals from Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko ensured that the three points remained in Manchester, despite an underwhelming performance on the night.
The reality is that performances have dipped overall since those two stunning wins against Manchester City and Arsenal early on in Michael Carrick’s tenure.
However, nine wins out of 13 and being in third place in the Premier League table after only four months marks a remarkable turnaround in form, considering the doldrums the club was in under Ruben Amorim.
Amorim experiment failed miserably
Just 15 league wins overall, with the Red Devils finishing a dismal 15th in his debut season before being sacked with the club in sixth, highlights how poor United were under the Portuguese.
The 20-time English league champions did not look capable of securing a return to Europe’s premier club competition, and trailed Aston Villa, then in third place, by 11 points.
And now look where United are, and Harry Maguire was quick to praise Michael Carrick for sparking the turnaround.
In a rare instance, the former skipper also took a quite direct dig at the former head coach and his style of play, which often resulted in the three-time Champions League winners losing close games.
Harry Maguire takes direct dig
“We had two tough fixtures when Michael first come in, and I think everyone was probably looking at them thinking ‘oh no’, with Arsenal and Man City, and we managed to get the six points,” Maguire told Sky Sports after the win over the Bees.
“Everyone’s believed in it, and we’ve gathered together. We’ve got the confidence. We know that we can score goals from anywhere.
“The results speak for themselves – since the manager has come in, and the formation has changed, we just seemed to pick up results. I think that the games previous, when Ruben was here, the games were fifty-fifty, but we always ended up on the back of a defeat.
“Now it seems like it’s the other way around, where we’re a lot better in both boxes. We defend our box a lot better, and we’re managing to be clinical in the other box.”
Not too many people can argue against what the centre-back said, and INEOS now have quite an easy task when naming the permanent head coach at the end of the season.
Feature image Naomi Baker via Getty Images
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