Michael Carrick says Manchester United must ride wave of confidence

LONDON – Manchester United’s stand-in manager Michael Carrick continued his dream start to his second stint in the position with

victory at Arsenal on Jan 25

and said his team must ride the wave of confidence that has swept away the Old Trafford gloom.

The former midfielder answered United’s call in the wake of Ruben Amorim’s sacking earlier in January and his two games in charge have seen

a 2-0 win against Manchester City

and a thrilling 3-2 victory at English Premier League leaders Arsenal.

“We’ve got to ride it and use the emotion, you have got to use the energy and use the confidence,” said Carrick, whose team moved up to fourth in the table.

“You’ve got to be humble enough to understand how we could just achieve these two big results. It doesn’t just come easy, so we need to continue that and bottle it and use it again.”

United had to dig deep on Jan 25 as Arsenal bossed the opening half-hour and led through a Lisandro Martinez own goal.

But Bryan Mbeumo was handed an equaliser and stunning goals by Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha in the second half sealed a first United league win at Arsenal since 2017.

Arsenal looked to have sealed a draw with Mikel Merino’s 84th-minute equaliser, before Cunha intervened three minutes later.

“The goals were fantastic goals and some of the football was good, and we looked dangerous at certain times,” said Carrick, who won five EPL titles as a United player.

“Other times we had to defend, but it was just a performance with a bit of everything, really.”

Carrick was also unbeaten in his three-game stint as caretaker manager in 2021, including a 3-2 win against Arsenal, before handing over the reins to Ralf Rangnick.

With Carrick placed in charge until the end of the season this time, he has the chance to stake his claim for the role on a permanent basis and his stock has risen rapidly.

“What happens next, I’m not going to be answering it every week. I’m enjoying it and I’ll continue to do what I can,” the 44-year-old said, when asked about his ambition.

“I know from our perspective, it’s just about moving forward to the next game. It’s been less than two weeks that we’ve been together, so it’s just keep getting good habits and good routines. The boys have been fantastic with that.

“But I don’t think we can look too far ahead. We’ll finish where we finish by getting the results.”

Manager Mikel Arteta challenged Arsenal to show they have the character to cope with the defeat that breathed new life into the Premier League title race.

Arteta’s side would have moved seven points clear at the top with a win at the Emirates Stadium, but they squandered the chance to consolidate their title charge.

Instead of having a commanding lead in the title battle, Arsenal are now just four points clear of second-placed Manchester City and third-placed Aston Villa, who

won 2-0 at Newcastle United

on Jan 25.

“The margins are extremely small and we made them even smaller. Now we have to react and see what we are made of,” Arteta said.

“Today we were not at our level and we paid the price. We just gave it away.

“We gave them a goal which is unusual and painful, then they had two brilliant moments with incredible goals. We were not at our best.

“In the first 30 minutes we were in total control, scoring a goal, but after that, so many times we gave the ball away in important areas. We started to lose control and dominance and it became a chaotic game.”

It was Arsenal’s first defeat in 13 games in all competitions since

losing at Villa in December

.

The Gunners lost at home for the first time in 18 matches in all competitions since a defeat against Bournemouth in May.

Arsenal still control their destiny but goal-less draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest had sparked concerns from their anxious fan base, and this was another alarming result for Arteta.

He has not lifted a trophy since the 2020 FA Cup and Arsenal, who have not won the EPL in 22 years, face a test of their nerve in the coming weeks after blowing significant leads at the top in previous title races. REUTERS, AFP