"The biggest criticism of Ruben Amorin was that he never adapted, Carrick has shown he can adapt."
'Results under Carrick speak for themselves'
"I think obviously the results help that the feeling
[of confidence about Michael Carrick] massively. 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.
"Everyone's believed in it, and
we've gathered together. We've got the confidence. We know that we can
score goals from anywhere. I think we can still get a lot better at this
formation as well. I think we can work as a back force, slide across
the pitch a lot quicker, like we should have done.
"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 50/50, 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."
Neville: Carrick getting the maximum out of the United players
"I think if Michael Carrick was speaking honestly, I
think what he'd say at the moment is that he's getting the absolute
maximum out of this group of players.
"Is it 29 points now in 13
games since he came here? That's a brilliant job. It is a really
brilliant job because they played fantastically well in those first two
games against City and Arsenal. I mean, it was absolutely amazing.
"Those
two performances, they really were fantastic, but they've not really
hit that height since. They're getting over the line in games now where
they're not playing as well. And that's something that you've got to do.
"I think you'll realise when he looks at the group of players out on
the pitch, he said before the game that he thinks about the long term
future of the club, even if he's not here at the end of the season,
which I think he is more than likely to be.
"What he did in the
second half was saying, 'I've got the tactical nous to do this. It's not
just about doing it one way. I can shut down a game,' which he very
nearly succeeded in doing. Saying 'I'm a serious manager in other ways.'
"I
think he's proven that he's been agile in games. I mean, if Brentford
had got level, you know, he'd have come under an enormous amount of
criticism for going to that system. In hindsight, after a few minutes he
said, 'this is working.' United's compactness wasn't as good as it
should have been in that first half. And Michael Carrick will have seen
that and he'll have thought, 'right, okay, I can't take that risk'."
Carrick happy to see Man Utd sitting 'in good position' after latest win
Meanwhile, Carrick recognises Manchester United are now "in a good
position" after taking another step closer to Champions League
qualification with victory over Brentford.
United could now clinch
a return to Europe's top competition when they host another of the
contenders, rivals Liverpool, live on Sky Sports on Sunday.
Sunday 3rd May 2:00pm
Kick off 3:30pm"It's another win. We've obviously got an important game coming up with the weekend, so we can look forward to that.
"It's a big game for different reasons but we've put ourselves in a good position."
Brentford fought back in the second half and struck late on through Mathias Jensen but United held on.
Carrick
said: "We could have scored more but it's the time of year when it's a
result business. We needed to take the points and we've had a fantastic
two games on the back of the Leeds defeat."
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