What would have happened to Manchester United if they hadn’t sacked Ruben Amorim? Well, it’s unlikely that he will play in next season’s Champions League.
The job Michael Carrick has done at Old Trafford has been nothing short of amazing. Since taking charge of their first match in Week 22, they have played 14 games and have sat at the top of the Premier League table during that time.
It was an incredible comeback and they beat Liverpool 3-2 in pretty desperate fashion on Sunday to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
During his reign so far, Carrick has largely avoided dramatic and hectic football matches. However, their win against the Merseysiders this weekend was certainly chaotic.
At the center of the performance was Koby Mainu once again.
Koby Mainu back in action for Manchester United
To be honest, we’re still scratching our heads as to why the aforementioned Amorim decided to keep Mainu aside and bench him regularly.
The young midfielder has not started a single Premier League game this season under the Portuguese manager. However, since Carrick’s arrival, the Englishman has started every game apart from the 2-1 defeat against Leeds, where he missed the game due to injury.
During that time, he played the full 90 minutes in 12 of the 13 games he started in the off-season. The turnaround not just in form but in the proceedings as a whole was extraordinary.
In the space of four months, Mainu is now certain to be included in Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad. He also revealed why he is one of the first names on United’s team sheet. So the announcement of a new five-year contract last Thursday came as no surprise.
Under Amorim, it looked like he was about to leave. But Carrick revived his career and, with it, Manchester United.
Mainu vs Liverpool | |
|---|---|
Play time (minutes) | 90 |
touch | 67 |
the goal | 1 |
assist | 0 |
shot | 2 |
shot on target | 1 |
exact path | 48/54 (89%) |
dribbling success | 2/2 |
There is a foul | 2x |
carry | twenty one |
won a duel | 5/7 |
Mainu has improved in recent times, and against Liverpool he once again showed an outstanding performance, scoring the winning goal. The ball broke on the edge of the penalty area and the 21-year-old was the quickest to react.
He got ahead of his opponent and slid the ball past Freddie Woodman. It was a great finish that deserved a win in a game where United had conceded a two-goal lead.
Matthäus Cunha and Benjamin Sesco put the hosts 2-0 up by half-time, but Liverpool fought back after a disastrous second half with performances from Dominik Szoboszlai and Codi Gakpo.
Still, Mainu once again became the trump card and won the match. He is a great talent and so is another young English player who is fast becoming the next big hope.
Manchester United’s new Manu shines against Liverpool
This was one of the most dizzying performances ever.
In attack, United were particularly good in the first half. Cunha, in particular, sent a mock shot to the left side. Liverpool’s backline was no match for the bully in Benjamin Sesco.
However, everything changed in the second half. Two gifts, first from Amad and then from Senne Lamence, both giving the ball afterwards, led to two goals for Liverpool.
Still, he showed solid defense. Such a mistake cannot be explained. A mistake young Aiden Haven never wanted to make.
This child cost £1 million. 1 million pounds. No one noticed when he arrived in February 2025, a prized move from Arsenal. After all, the Gunners already had William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes at the back.
It will be a bit of a pain for Arsenal that Hale End academy product Haven is such an important part of United’s future.
Like Mainu, the 19-year-old has had to be patient to get his chances this season, but is currently performing well for Carrick in the heart of the defence.
His emergence this term is a bit like Marcus Rashford from a few years ago. Ten, thrown into the deep end in the midst of a bucketful of injuries, will either sink or swim. He was definitely swimming.
He started on the bench for Carrick’s first 11 games as manager, but with Lisandro Martinez suspended and Matthijs de Ligt out injured, the young centre-back stepped up when it mattered most.
He kept an excellent clean sheet against Chelsea and scored in the 2-1 win against Brentford, delivering perhaps one of his best performances for Liverpool in a United shirt.
Heaven vs Liverpool | |
|---|---|
Play time (minutes) | 90 |
touch | 50 |
exact path | 34/39 (87%) |
Won a ground duel | 5/5 |
won an aerial battle | 1/1 |
collect | 4 |
Contribution in defense | 6 |
The tackle I made | 1 |
dribbled past | 0 |
Even in such a big match, the teenager remained unfazed. He won all six duels, completed 87% of his passes and had four recoveries. He was never passed while dribbling.
Like Mainu, he has this sense of calm, a sense that he belongs at the top level. Another youngster making waves under Carrick, his rise to prominence in the first team in recent weeks certainly parallels the way the United midfielder has risen to prominence in recent weeks.
Even with Martinez set to return soon, Heaven feel they must maintain their partnership with Harry Maguire for the remaining weeks of the season. He just deserves it.
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