The former midfielder is on the cusp of making history at the Riverside, which could earn him a one-way ticket back to Old Trafford
"I couldn’t have hoped or asked for anything more," Michael Carrick told reporters after seeing his Middlesbrough side beat Chelsea 1-0 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie. "I keep saying the next one is a totally different one, it’s a new challenge totally. The boys will be ready for it and we’ll be ready to perform. We’ll look forward to it and embrace the challenge because it’s an unbelievable position that we find ourselves in."
It was quite miraculous that Boro managed to keep a clean sheet against the Blues, who had 18 shots at goal compared to the home side's six, with Cole Palmer spurning their best opportunity from just a few yards out. But Carrick was missing 12 senior players heading into the game, and suffered a double injury blow in the first 20 minutes as Emmanuel Latte Lath, Boro's top scorer in 2023-24 so far, and full-back Alex Bangura had to be replaced.
The hosts never stopped believing, though, and stunned Chelsea seven minutes before the break, with Hayden Hackney sliding the ball past opposition goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic after ghosting into the box to meet an Isaiah Jones cross. Boro had to dig in to hold onto their advantage, and rode their luck at times, but the final result was all that mattered.
Carrick is absolutely right that his team will face a completely different challenge at Stamford Bridge. But he has instilled an inner belief in the dressing room, which Chelsea have so far been lacking under Mauricio Pochettino, and his players will give everything to finish the job.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team might just be watching on with a curious eye from Old Trafford. Erik ten Hag has reportedly been told his position as Manchester United is safe, but it won't be if their disastrous 2023-24 season continues, and Carrick now has a real chance to put himself forward as a potential replacement for the Dutchman.
Getty'Manager I've been dreaming of'
Carrick landed his first permanent head coaching role at the Riverside back in October 2022, inheriting a side languishing down in 21st in the Championship with just two wins from 11 games. The former England and Manchester United midfielder lost his opening game against Preston North End, but he then guided Boro to 16 wins from their next 22 matches, lifting them to third in the table.
A spot in the play-offs was eventually secured, and although Carrick's men went on to lose their semi-final tie against Coventry City 1-0 on aggregate, there was a real sense that something special was brewing on Teesside. Boro fans had very little to cheer about during Chris Wilder's ill-fated 11-month spell at the club, but Carrick transformed them into the second-best attacking side in the division, with a total of 84 goals scored by the end of their 2022-23 Championship season.
“It’s entertaining,” Boro captain Jonny Howson told last May. “We attack, create, score and control possession. That’s the way Michael played the game." Chuba Akpom, who scored 28 goals to clinch the Golden Boot in the second tier last term, was even more effusive in his praise of Carrick.
“He’s the manager I’ve been dreaming of my whole career,” Akpom, whose form earned him a summer transfer to Ajax, said. “I want to fight for the manager because he’s shown so much trust and confidence in me. He came in and put me in the No.10 role and gave me the licence to roam around. I go right to left; he gave me the freedom to express myself and I appreciate that so much.”
AdvertisementGettyMixed fortunes in 2023-24
Unfortunately, Boro were unable to kick on at the start of the current campaign. Carrick was hampered by the loss of Akpom, while Boro were also unable to negotiate a permanent transfer for talismanic loanee forward Cameron Archer. Boro plummeted to the bottom of the Championship with just two points and two goals scored across their opening seven games. Carrick had lost his most dangerous attacking duo, and Boro were also struggling for any kind of cohesion at the back.
It would have been very easy to panic, especially as critics started to question whether Carrick's lack of experience was beginning to outweigh his obvious talent. But the 42-year-old remained calm and backed his players, with everything falling into place after a disappointing 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday on September 19.
A run of seven wins from their next nine games took Boro to within two points of the play-off places, with summer signing Rav van den Berg among those to credit Carrick for turning the situation around. “The gaffer was never screaming at us," the 19-year-old defender said. "He just wanted to help us – never negative, only positive. I think that was amazing, and the right approach."
The festive period didn't run quite so smoothly for Boro as they fell to another five defeats, including a 1-0 home loss to Coventry on New Year's Day, but upsetting Chelsea gave them a fresh injection of confidence. A hard-earned 3-1 win at Millwall then took Boro back to within touching distance of the play-offs, and Carrick is optimistic that a strong second half of the season is on that cards.
“Even when you aren’t getting results you can be performing really well, feel good and know it’s coming right,” he recently told reporters. “There are always ups and downs, but it’s about sticking to your beliefs and principles.”
GettyOld-school style
A lot of managers in the modern era get bogged down in tactics, with Pep Guardiola having initially inspired a shift in the general school of thought when implementing his 'tiki-taka' philosophy at Barcelona. It's now trendy to attack with inverted full-backs and defend by pressing high up the pitch, but Carrick is old school, and favours the more direct approach that saw him enjoy so much success as a player under Sir Alex Ferguson at United.
“I enjoy playing football a certain way,” he said in the build up to Boro's first-leg clash with Chelsea. “I’m not about formations, particularly. You have to express yourself, players have to try things.” Carrick decided what kind of manager he wanted to be far earlier, though.
He was appointed United's assistant back in 2018, and initially worked alongside Jose Mourinho, who insisted he had "all the qualities to be a good coach". Mourinho was sacked in December that year, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer drafted in as his replacement, and together he and Carrick turned United back into a free flowing, attack-minded outfit.
Before the start of Solskjaer's second full season at the helm, Carrick sat down with the to offer a wider insight into his methods, which would ultimately help the Red Devils rise to second in the Premier League in 2020-21. “Spaces to attack is really my main focus when watching the games,” he said. “Whether that’s looking at: how to attack when the goalkeeper has the ball, where the space is and how we can build-up through the pitch.
“It’s also about having an idea of how we can hurt the opposition from all areas of the pitch. That’s my first thought, really. My instinct takes me to that. Within that, there is observing the general game: how the opposition set up and what their strengths are.”
GettyStepping out of his comfort zone
United looked poised to challenge for the title in the 2021-22 summer window after signing Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, and optimism around Old Trafford skyrocketed when Solskjaer managed to broker a deadline-day deal for Cristiano Ronaldo. The return of the Portugal striker came somewhat out of the blue, as the Red Devils reportedly swooped in to prevent him from joining their arch-rivals Manchester City, but he made an immediate impact by scoring twice in a 4-1 home win over Newcastle.
Ronaldo kept delivering the goals thereafter, but it soon became clear that United had altered their style to accommodate a 36-year-old who was no longer physically able to press and get involved in the build-up play for a full 90 minutes. Results inevitably took a turn for the worse, and Solskjaer was dismissed in November 2021, with Carrick stepping up to fill his seat in the dugout on a caretaker basis.
The change seemed to have the desired effect initially, as Carrick oversaw a 2-0 win away at Villarreal in the Champions League before a 1-1 draw with Chelsea. He took the bold decision to drop Ronaldo for the clash with the Blues, but restored the striker to the starting XI for a huge clash against Arsenal.
Ronaldo scored twice as United earned a 3-2 victory, after which Carrick announced his decision to leave Old Trafford ahead of Ralf Rangnick's arrival as interim head coach. "I thought it was the right thing to do for the club and for Ralf. I'm quite happy with that," Carrick said. "The loyalty to Ole is a little bit of a factor, but there were a lot of things that came into my decision."
Carrick showed a lot of bravery to leave United after so many years of dedicated service as a player and coach, backing himself to carve out his own unique reputation as a manager instead of remaining in his comfort zone. And in an interview with last year, Solskjaer revealed that Carrick actually turned down the chance to manage the Red Devils all the way through to the end of the season.
“I love him as a person, but while he never said anything to me about it, the day I got booted, I went to see him and said: ‘I’m gone, they want you to take over.’ I told him that I wanted him to do it," admitted the Norwegian. "After 10 days, Michael came to me and said: ‘I don’t want to do this.’ We were in it together and we were no longer together."