Manchester United's latest reboot is off to a flying start.
In his first game in charge, Michael Carrick saw his team pull off a stunning 2-0 win against Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday to lift the gloom hanging over Old Trafford.
“It’s a great start, there’s no getting away from that,” Carrick said after goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu sealed victory in the 198th Manchester derby.
The job now is to keep the good times going.
“That’s the challenge ultimately, and I think it needs to be a version of normal,” said Carrick, who was appointed head coach this week.
The former United midfielder has only signed a contract until the end of the season and has 17 games to convince the club's hierarchy to give him the job on a permanent basis after Ruben Amorim became the sixth permanent manager or head coach to be dismissed since club great Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
He could not have made a better first impression with a dominant performance against all-conquering City manager Pep Guardiola, who could do nothing but congratulate his opponent after the game.
“The better team won. There’s nothing more to say,” The Associated Press quoted Guardiola as saying. “When a team is better you have to accept it. They had an energy we didn’t have. Congratulations.”
Victory had United fans singing in full voice inside Old Trafford and drowning out their fierce cross-city rivals.
“The supporters were incredible and I said yesterday that this could be a magical place,” Carrick said. “To get that feeling is exactly what we want. Hopefully it’s just the start and something that we need to build on.”
The win could have been even more emphatic, with United twice hitting the frame of the goal, forcing a string of saves from City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and having three goals ruled out for offside.
Not only did victory give United local bragging rights and boost its chances of Champions League qualification, but it also delivered another blow to City's title challenge. Defeat extended City's recent winless run in the league to four games.
United dominated the chances before and after halftime.
Harry Maguire headed against the bar inside three minutes and United saw two goals chalked off by VAR for offside before the break.
In the second half Donnarumma denied Amad Diallo, Casemiro and Mbeumo before the deadlock was finally broken in the 65th minute.
It came from another swift United attack with Bruno Fernandes leading the breakaway after a City free kick came to nothing.
Racing into the City half Fernandes slipped a pass into the run of Mbeumo and the Cameroon forward unleashed a first-time left footed shot low into the far corner.
Old Trafford erupted with chants of “United!”
It was the least Carrick’s team deserved after a performance full of attacking intent.
Dorgu doubled the lead in the 76th, converting from close range after beating Rico Lewis to substitute Matheus Cunha’s cross.
Amad then hit the post as United looked to press the advantage and there was still time for another substitute, Mason Mount, to find the back of the net with his first touch in the 89th, only for it to be deemed offside.
By that point, it mattered little. The day belonged to United and Carrick, who had a beaming smile on his face as he congratulated his players after the final whistle.
Up in the stands, watching on was managerial great Alex Ferguson, whose smile was as broad as anyone's inside Old Trafford.
