Neville: Carrick’s brilliance at getting maximum out of Man Utd

0:00Well, hello everyone. Welcome to the Gary Neville podcast. We're live from the gantry at Old Trafford, having just watched Manchester United edge past Brentford by two goals to one. For much of that contest, it didn't feel like they were going to edge past it, but at the end, it was a little bit too close for comfort, was it?

0:18Gary Neville:Yeah, a little bit. Just that goal coming, obviously, very late on meant the crowd, the loudest they were in the second half, was actually the worry that existed for probably three or four minutes after Brentford's score. I actually wasn't expecting the change at half-time that we saw, but it made sense the more you saw the game in the second half sort of play out because it was really a pragmatic, safe... You know, we've won the game already. Brentford are creating a lot of chances. They look quite dangerous going forward, so we need to nullify that and sort it out. And to be fair, they did that in the second half, Manchester United.

0:55Gary Neville:A little bit cheeky going to Ruben Amriam's system. So it's like the 5-2-3. But these players have played that obviously quite a lot this season. They know it. And I think the extra player at the back paid off. I mean, Manchester United didn't concede the goal because of the extra player at the back. It was more like the midfield didn't quite get to Jensen. So I think the five at the back, they seemed to head a lot of balls in the second half. They got quite a lot of blocks in. And it looked like a really, and it has been a really good move by Michael Carrick because I think that he felt maybe punch for punch.

1:27Gary Neville:we could go punch for punch second half and end up coming out sort of the wrong side of it because Thiago could have had two or three in the first half Brentford definitely could have been level that goal on half time was the killer goal really allowed Michael Carrick the sort of what would be the yeah the grace to be able to go and do what he did I think the Manchester United fans I think understood what he was doing in that second I think they realised in that first half that obviously you know their team were winning 2-0 but it could have been 2-2 and that it was a sensible move to make. Michael Carrick would have wanted them to play better football in the second half and score goals on the counter-attack.

2:04Gary Neville:That didn't happen, but they got over the line. The most important thing tonight, ahead of Liverpool on Sunday, was just to be in a place of risk-free. Manchester United are in the Champions League now. They're there. It's just not going to be taken away from them. So they can go into this Liverpool game with a little bit of freedom, knowing that the pressure's off. I say pressure's off it can never be off in a Liverpool game but pressure off in terms of the bigger and wider sort of context of getting into the Champions League which is the biggest goal Just to rewind a little bit it felt like after the defeat against Leeds here and then the perhaps backs to the wall nature of the performance at Chelsea where they got across the line but faced an enormous number of shots that they had a bit of a point to prove they came out of the block so quickly here and Brentford seemed a little bit caught out by that they didn't quite know how to respond at the start Could easily have been more than 1-0 in the first 15 minutes.

2:56Gary Neville:Yeah, I think it's been a very good response since Leeds and getting two victories. But you're right, they were really quick. I thought the first seven or eight minutes, ten minutes maybe, Manchester United were breathtaking at times in their attack and could have been 2-0 up. And I always, it's the old adage, I always thought Old Trafford, you know, it doesn't sometimes happen, but we always start quickly. This crowd are expectant. There's 75 ,000 people that are coming in here and they want to see electric football and they want to see speed. So when Manchester United start like they did today, there's a real sort of lift.

3:28Gary Neville:They get the goal, but Brentford, you know, that was 15 minutes and Brentford come back into it for the next 15 minutes. So that was the unexpected bit, but it was a really quick start after the Leeds game a couple of weeks ago, which was a difficult night. Leeds played really well and Leeds deserved the victory. To go to Chelsea without Harry Maguire and Lissandro Martinez was a big clean sheet and a big victory. That was a big moment because you lose that, all of a sudden there's a little bit of a, ooh, what's going on? But no, that's been gotten rid of now and I think Michael Carrick will feel quite comfortable tonight.

4:01Gary Neville:But you're right, the quick start tonight was helpful. And overall, I think Manchester United just shaded it and sort of the chances, but they just had those moments, didn't they, where Brentford looked like they could have scored. I mean, Wattara has a gilt-edged chance at the back post in the second half, which is probably the best chance of the second half. I guess what happened between the two United goals right at the start of the first half and right at the end of the second half worried Michael Carrick and the coaching staff enough to play the second half the way they did. Yeah, and look, I think if Michael Carrick was speaking honestly, I think what he'd say is at the moment that he's getting the absolute maximum out of this group of players.

4:38Gary Neville:Is it 29 points now in 13 games since he come 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. And they really are, which really should be respected. They're getting over the line in games now where they're not playing as well. And that's something that you say, you've got to do that. But I think you'll realise when he looks at the group of players out on the pitch, he said before the game I thought I heard him say in the interview with Dave Jones and Jamie Carragher that he's been influencing the sort of what would be decision making in terms of the squad for next season which is something 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's more than likely to be but if he's not I think he'll think this still needs another couple of transfer windows this squad to get to a point whereby I like everything that I see there's a lot of things in there that you'd want better.

5:42Gary Neville:There just is. There's some good bits. There's some lively play. But obviously, I mean, Casemiro one more year. He's not going to be here one more year. He's going to leave. And there's going to need to be a new midfield built. And the back line still isn't right. It just isn't. So there's a lot of work to do still. I think Michael Carrick will recognise that. But I think he'll be happy with the job that he's doing with this group of players right now. There's this strange uncertainty that hangs over the club in that, will he get the job, will he not get the job? Now that Champions League football is as good as secured, the noise is probably going to become bigger.

6:18Do you think, or to what extent do you think, that what he did in the second half was just, look, I've got this tactical now 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. And this will, you know, I'm a serious manager in other ways.

6:33Gary Neville:Oh, no, I think, look, I think he's proven that he's been agile in games. I think, to be fair, at half-time tonight, to do that, I mean, if Brentford had got level, you know, he'd have come under an enormous amount of criticism for going to that system. And when I say get level, I don't mean maybe late on with two late goals. I mean, if, let's say, for instance, Brentford had scored after five minutes in the second half and then gone and scored after 20 minutes in the second half, we'd have been saying, what's he done? Why has he changed? Why has he gone to the Amorim system? So it does take a level of courage and bravery to do what he did in the second half.

7:05Gary Neville:But in hindsight, I think after a few minutes, I think it was 51 minutes, I said, this is working. It stemmed the flow. They were hemorrhaging sort of chances and space and everything in the first half. There was too much. I didn't think that... I didn't think Embermo and Ahmad and to an extent Chesco and Bruno, when I've seen Manchester United play well and defend well under Michael Carrick, that four at the back and that two in midfield have been really connected to the two wide players and the two centre-forwards getting back in, so Bruno and Cescou or whoever it may be, Bruno and Cunha or whoever's up front.

7:40Gary Neville:That front four just relaxed a little bit and just spread themselves. I wouldn't say they were cheating in terms of cheating to try and get on the counter-attack and thinking about attacking whilst the team were defending, but they weren't back in as concentrated and as focused as they should have been. I don't think Brentford's actual players were either, Shada and Wattara. I don't think they got back in tight enough. And I think it meant Manchester United had some space at times. So I think to me, 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, OK, I can't take that risk.

8:14Gary Neville:We've won this game. That second goal that we got to before half-time gives us a sort of cushion to be able to protect a lead. Now, you might say that's dangerous. And it is dangerous at Old Trafford to go in with the mentality of protecting a lead. Because if it goes wrong, you're going to get some massive criticism. Because the idea here is just keep on going, get another, get another. But I don't think he thought that the team were in that sort of mood. I don't think he thought his team were in the sort of form that he could trust them to go and get a third and a fourth. So I had to support the decision that he made, not just because they won, but in hindsight, I don't think they were in control of that game in the first half.

8:48Gary Neville:They were hanging on for dear life at times. And Thiago, the goals he scored this season, he should have had at least one, probably two. I mean, he had big chances and didn't even get a shot away. And finally, Gary, not finally for the podcast, but for this little section, they now do like Mondays, Manchester United. I've come up with the most interesting stat tonight, Bill, haven't I? Manchester United have not won here on a Monday night for 987 days, was it? Had not won. Had not won. Yeah. Yeah, I found that out this afternoon and thought, oh, I actually was quite confident about them tonight.

9:25Gary Neville:And then someone told me that stat and I was like, OK. And you remember the game, it was the Wolves one where Inanna comes out and flattens everybody at the back post over there. Which is the first day of a season. First day of a season, yeah. So yeah, not one here on a Monday night for 987 days. Only played four, but lost three. Give him the job, give him the job. Lost three and drew one. So it's a really poor record in the last few seasons here on a Monday. So yeah, Monday night Blues is over and Manchester United can relax again. They can play on Mondays. Although they don't be playing on Mondays too much because it means usually you're not in Europe.

9:57Well, exactly. And I think they're certainly there. Let's cast it forward now to who's here next. A small matter of Liverpool. That is set up beautifully. Manchester United, I think I'm right in saying, haven't done the Premier League double over Liverpool for 10 years now. OK, it was before Michael Carrick, that win at Anfield. But to come here and put down, he has a chance, doesn't he, to put down the sort of performance, the sort of marker that will see him get the job. Does he not against Liverpool? It feels like that sort of game.

10:25Gary Neville:Yeah, look, this is a massive game for the fans, first and foremost. Manchester United and Liverpool, great rivalry. But I think this is massive for both managers. I think this is massive for Michael Carrick and big for Arna Slott. I don't think either of them can afford an embarrassment on Sunday. A win for either would be very big. It would give them both confidence. Question marks over whether both are going to be at their clubs at the start of next season. is Michael going to get the job is Arna Slott going to be kept on sort of those questions keep sort of appearing on the Liverpool manager so I do believe it's a very very big manager the game itself in terms of jeopardy of whether what's at stake I actually don't think it's that important for either team I think they'll both get into the Champions League but for both managers I think it's a serious game a serious game of basically seeing themselves against you know a big title rival potentially a big rival for next season, a big rival in terms of just generally United and Liverpool.

11:30Gary Neville:So I think you're right. The Michael Carrick and Arna Slott sort of what would be face-off is, I think, the big thing about Sunday. I think it's a bigger game for both managers than it is actually in terms of what's at stake in terms of the positions in the league. We've seen rip-roaring encounters between the two down the years. We've seen stalemates between the two. Do you think, given the way that you've just described this one is for the two managers, it runs the risk of being the latter? I think you're right. I think Michael Carrick will probably be... Look, if Kunja's fit, I think he'll go with Kunja, Embermo, Bruno Fernandes and Seshko.

12:16Gary Neville:I think he'll go for that four potentially. I'm not sure Ahmad will play. but I think you'll see a more cautious and I think you'll certainly see a more tighter, compact more defensively focused Manchester United than you saw in that first half tonight I don't think he'll start the five at the back I don't think he'll go that far, that would be wrong and he won't do that, so let's be clear he absolutely won't but I think he'll definitely get them a lot more switched on defensively and say you've got to be a lot more compact and tight and it will be I think a case of not making mistakes not giving goals So let's go and sort of make Liverpool nervous.

12:51Gary Neville:And Liverpool, I think likewise, will not want to basically be opened up. So I think you're right. It could be more of a game of chess on Sunday. Not quite as much as it was in the second half, but I just think it could be, you're right, a bit more of a challenging sort of a struggle of a game where both managers are going to be quite cautious in the sense of not necessarily the teams that they pick, but the way in which they instruct them to go out there and be sort of defensively compact and solid. Do you think, obviously United are as good as there as we touched on already. Do you think, given the fact that Chelsea go to Liverpool, they're a little bit vulnerable?

13:22They'll be feeling that they're a bit vulnerable in terms of the Champions League? Or is there enough of a buffer there? I think Liverpool have got eight points, haven't they?

13:28Gary Neville:With four games to go. And with Chelsea to go there? Yeah, I don't... Honestly, I think Liverpool and Manchester United are in there. I think it would be a massive shock. So, United are in there, for me. Liverpool, to be fair, I'm 95, 99 % certain that they're going to be in the Champions League as well. So, look, I mean, they won't be thinking that. Neither of the sort of what will be managers or the players will be thinking that. They think they've got to do the job. But just to me now, I just don't see the teams winning the games that they have to win and Liverpool dropping all the points that they would need to drop.

14:01Gary Neville:So I don't think there's that. It's just a case of, is it a message towards next season? Is it a message towards where each club is at? It has been a strange last few months for Liverpool, hasn't it, in terms of where they're at. So if Arna Slott was to come here and win, it would be big for him. It would be very big for him. If Michael Carrick was to go and beat Arna Slott and see Liverpool off it, it would be massive. As I said, I do think it's the... Games are never about the managers. Of course they're not. They're about the players, they're about the fans, they're about the rivalry. But this one does feel very important for both of the coaches.

14:35Gary Neville:And I'm looking forward to it for that. I wish there was more on the game. I wish it was a title decider. I wish it was all the other things that there was some jeopardy involved, but I don't think there will be. Okay, Gary, I think that wraps it up nicely. Thank you very much. Well done. Thank you very much. Cheers. Thank you.