Manchester United’s season was full of dramatic peaks and troughs, shaped by several pivotal decisions. Michael Carrick presided over the season’s brightest moments after initially returning to Old Trafford as caretaker manager.
The 44-year-old made an ideal start to his spell with victories over Manchester City and Arsenal in January. The side’s form remained consistently strong under Carrick, whose team comfortably secured third place in the table and concluded with a 3-0 triumph at Brighton on Sunday.
Yet United’s prospects looked far more uncertain during former boss Ruben Amorim’s time at the helm. The Portuguese manager was sacked at the turn of the year, bringing his 14-month reign to a close.
Amorim had steered United to 15th position the previous campaign, though there were glimpses of progress this time around. The club sat sixth when he left and were within touching distance of a Champions League place but the team were still clearly underachieving.
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The choice to replace managers and appoint Carrick has been widely credited with breathing new life into the Reds Devils’ season, though other elements also played a part. Here, Mirror Football examines how three alternative decisions might have sent United’s campaign down a completely different path.
Michael Carrick recently penned a two-year contract to take charge at United on a permanent basis. However, it is conceivable that the club’s hierarchy could have resisted making a managerial change and backed Amorim to deliver results.
The team were in contention for a Champions League berth, despite struggling to produce persuasive performances. Amorim’s side had collected 31 points from 20 matches, averaging 1.55 points per game.
While that remains some distance from Carrick’s impressive 2.29 points per match, Amorim’s side were on track to finish with just under 59 points. In the final Premier League standings, United would be sixth, narrowly missing out on the last Champions League spot.
However, this is an overly simplistic assessment. While the squad secured notable victories, there was often a lack of self-belief and confidence in Amorim’s preferred formation, which would likely have led to a decline later in the campaign.
View 3 ImagesKobbie Mainoo struggled for regular minutes under Ruben Amorim at the start of the season (Image: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
One ramification of Amorim staying on as United manager in an alternative reality would be that Kobbie Mainoo might have followed in Marcus Rashford’s footsteps and left the club. The young midfielder had not started a league game at the time of Amorim’s exit and was regularly linked with moves elsewhere, both in the summer and ahead of the January transfer window.
Rashford faced a similar fate after falling out of favour with Amorim, subsequently securing loan moves to Aston Villa and Barcelona. Fortunately, United have sidestepped that scenario with Mainoo, as the 21-year-old academy graduate has enjoyed a revival under Carrick.
The England international has since put pen to paper on a new five-year contract. Mainoo triumphed in 12 of his 16 league starts under the new manager and demonstrated what the club stood to lose had Amorim remained at the helm.
Furthermore, Mainoo could not break into the side at the time because Bruno Fernandes was occupying a deeper midfield position, limiting his creative impact. While the United skipper finished the campaign with a record 21 Premier League assists, he only managed seven of those under Amorim.
View 3 ImagesSenne Lammens enjoyed an impressive debut season at United(Image: Mark Cosgrove/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
United beginning the season with Altay Bayindir between the sticks feels like an age ago. Amorim had lost confidence in Andre Onana and selected Bayindir as the club chased a new goalkeeper in the closing days of the summer transfer window.
The Reds were keen on Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez and could have plumped for the World Cup winner to address their significant goalkeeping concern. The 33-year-old would have delivered immediate experience and dependability to United’s defence, as evidenced by his contribution to Villa’s Europa League success and fourth-place league finish.
Eyebrows were raised when United eventually signed Royal Antwerp’s Senne Lammens. Yet the Belgian swiftly exceeded expectations and settled into his position. At 23, he could remain United’s number one for the next decade, making him a shrewder signing than Martinez.
United had shown improvement from their rocky start under Amorim, boosted by a new attack signed over the summer, but there was little to suggest the side would scale the heights achieved during Carrick’s reign. A steady decline in form during the second half of the season, coupled with the potential disruption caused by Mainoo’s exit, would have seen the club fall short of the Champions League places and limp into a Europa Conference League berth by finishing eighth.
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