Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam believes the club will have to consider putting Michael Carrick in charge on a permanent basis if his flying start at Old Trafford continues.
Carrick has won all four of his games against Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham since being installed as head coach until the end of the season as United prepare to meet West Ham at the London Stadium on Tuesday night.
Stam feels that Carrick’s connection to United and understanding of his old club is just as important as experience, having seen a succession of top coaches struggle to emerge from Sir Alex Ferguson’s shadow in the 13 years since the legendary Old Trafford boss retired.
‘Carrick has shown that he’s been working with the team, and I think that’s very important,’ said Stam. ‘So if he keeps on getting results, then you need to think about him becoming the permanent manager.
‘I’m 100 per cent sure that they need to go into talks with him. I’m not saying that they need to give him the job. There’s always a discussion going on about, do you need to have an experienced manager at this club or not? In the past there have been experienced managers at United, they didn’t succeed.
‘So I think you need to have somebody who’s got a great connection with the players, who feels them, knows how to play nowadays in modern football and what to expect, what the players need to bring.
Carrick has returned the feel-good factor at the Old Trafford club, winning all four of his games against Man City, Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham since being installed as head coach
‘If he (Carrick) keeps on getting results, then you need to think about him becoming the permanent manager,’ former United defender Jaap Stam said
‘But also tactically being clever in how to use your tactics towards the opposition and to confront them, but also sometimes make a little tweak, change, and how they then can get results.’
Carrick has reverted to a back-four in a 4-2-3-1 formation after Ruben Amorim had insisted on using a back-three. Stam believes the players are more comfortable now, and United have become less predictable.
Speaking to OLBG, the 53-year-old Dutchman said: ‘The most obvious thing is, of course, that he changed the system.
‘What’s very important, I think, is for these players that happened because they feel more comfortable in their positions now and how they need to play. It’s not straightforward. I think in the other system, it was straightforward under the previous manager. It was very easy for the opposition to read what they were going to do.
‘But now, you see that they cause more confusion towards the opposition in the press and they’re more comfortable on the ball. They go forward, they attack, they defend well together in a lower block, also they’ve got the confidence to come out and play possession.
‘That’s what we want to see as a former United player, and for him to do that is quite good. It’s very positive that he gave the confidence to these players to play in a way that they feel more happy. Hopefully for him, he can continue this.
‘It’s not easy because in the first couple of games, you always know players are fighting for their positions. There’s a new manager, so they need to work hard. They need to show their ability. That’s what happened now. So hopefully towards the end of the season, they can continue in showing this form and this confidence.’
Stam believes that Amorim’s baffling treatment of Kobbie Mainoo summed up the stubbornness that led to his downfall at Old Trafford.
Kobbie Mainoo has been immediately reinstated under Carrick, and has shown the kind of form that made him a first-choice starter for England
Mainoo was the odd man out in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system, and United’s clash with West Ham comes two months on from their draw at Old Trafford that saw him left on the bench as an unused substitute.
Afterwards the ex-United boss defended his handling of the 20-year-old midfielder who did not start a Premier League game this season until the Portuguese coach was sacked in January.
Immediately reinstated under Carrick, Mainoo has shown the kind of form that made him a first-choice starter for England.
‘There’s been a lot of discussion when Amorim was at the club that he needed to change the system,’ said Stam. ‘He was very persistent in not doing that, in playing his three at the back system. When he sees this, then he must have thought as well that, “okay guys, maybe I’ve done something wrong”, because that’s how it goes.
‘That you leave out a midfield player like Mainoo. It’s a player from the academy, it’s a great player. He’s already shown his ability, what he can do, and not giving him the confidence, I think that’s not good.
‘I would always use him as a player because he’s got the ability to do very well. You can see that now, of course, when he’s playing, he’s producing his qualities.
‘A manager needs to be able to change his system to make it difficult for the opposition. With Amorim as manager, everything was quite straightforward in how they performed. It was very easy to read for the opposition, and also to use their system to their advantage to win games.’
