MICHAEL CARRICK showed he’s at the wheel by giving Jonathan Woodgate a lift to their first Manchester United training session on Wednesday.
The new Red Devils interim gaffer, 44, and his loyal coach, 45, arrived at Carrington this morning ahead of their baptism of fire against Man City on Saturday.
Carrick and Woodgate looked focused on the task at hand as they rocked up in a luxury Range Rover for the first of just three United training sessions before the big day.
But just like it will be in the dugout this weekend, it was Carrick in total control as he drove himself and Woodgate into Carrington to begin preparations for the derby.
The pair are sure to already have an idea over their formation and style of play, having linked up together at Middlesbrough in 2022.
Carrick, who beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy to his new role, showed himself to be tactically flexible during his time at the Riverside — as well as a previous short stint as United’s caretaker boss in 2021.
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The former Red Devils midfielder has also brought in former Chelsea and England No2 Steve Holland as his assistant, with ex-United defender Jonny Evans and U18s coach Travis Binnion in Carrick’s ranks too.
Reflecting on his staffing set-up, the new interim gaffer declared: “I’m delighted to have Steve, he has an unbelievable wealth of experience at Chelsea in terms of going through a similar situation when the club has changed manager and coach.
“Jonathan is the perfect balance for me. He challenges me and he’ll keep doing that.
“Travis, this club is about young players and about producing young players and having a line with the academy and a pathway and understanding what it means.
“And Jonny is Jonny. He is someone who is close to me and I respect and appreciate everything he stands for. He’s got unbelievable knowledge about the club.
“He’s come through the whole football club and he understands the day-to-day. He’s got such a massive experience to pass on to the players.
“There’s a real balance of personalities, knowledge and experience. And I’m really happy with what we are going into.”
Carrick now has 17 games to prove his worth in the hot-seat, with United facing a 40-game season for the first time in 111 years after Sunday’s FA Cup exit to Brighton.
But the fan favourite, still heralded by Stretford Enders as the “hard-to-believe-it’s-not” Paul Scholes, is confident the season can end on a high.
Carrick said: “It goes without saying, we want to win games.
“There’s different ways of doing it, of course. Different scenarios, different situations in games.
“You might have to play certain ways. But for me, I love working with the players and helping them get better individually, which hopefully will help the team improve and be there to support them.
“I’m one of them. We’re all in it together. I think it’s important that here we all look after each other.
“I know it comes down to results. Hopefully we can play a really exciting type of football. And be positive and express and bring excitement. I want to be on the edge of my seat.
“I want to be enjoying watching the boys play. And results obviously need to come with that.
“I can feel my enthusiasm for it because I’m buzzing to get started and see what we can do.”
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