Man United vs Man City: Team news and line-ups from Premier League clash

There are plenty of Manchester United fans arriving early at Old Trafford today.

There seems to be a renewed sense of belief in the supporters who will back Michael Carrick to turn around their team’s fortunes.

Whether that remains after the 90 minutes on the pitch is another matter.

How will today’s match play out?

It’s easy to say that Manchester City will win, I do think that’ll be the end result.

But, Michael Carrick’s previous tenure as United boss saw him win two and draw one of his three matches so he is unbeaten thus far.

I think it’ll be a closer affair than many realise and the additions of Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo give United extra, and needed, firepower.

Couple that with a weakened City defence and should the hosts score first it could be a close contest that goes down to the wire.

Michael Carrick has taken on the responsibility of finding a way for Man Utd to be successful and win games.

Of today’s team selection, and that of the squad going forward, he said: “Nothing different to any other team in terms of putting players on the pitch that we think will fit in a good balance and depending what game, who we’re playing against, what it looks like, where’s our strength.

“That’s it, that’s on me and my coaches and the staff to put that together. I’m flexible at times, as I said, we’ve been in here three days, so it’s a big game. Playing against a tough team, obviously a very good team, playing well.

“So, there’s challenges within that. But yeah, it’s obviously up to me and my staff to find that formula.”

Pep Guardiola was also full of praise for his opposite manager today.

The Spaniard revealed that Michael Carrick’s role as a holding midfielder makes him an ideal candidate to become a successful manager and Guardiola believes the players with the best view of how matches play out have better insights when it comes to management.

“I would say maybe central defenders and holding midfielders, because of their position, have a better global vision than playing as a winger for example,” he revealed.

“I’m not saying that a winger cannot read perfectly the game but it’s different. All I can say is Michael [Carrick] as a player was extraordinary.”

The new United head coach faces Manchester City in his first game in charge on Saturday to a background of noise from some of his former teammates.

Pep Guardiola would have liked a bit more time to study how Manchester United will play under Michael Carrick and says his team must adapt to how the new boss sets up their opponents today.

“When you have more info of what the opposition manager does, you can give more info to the players,” the City boss said.

“When you don’t have any info, you can’t give any info to the players so you focus on yourself.

“Maybe with the line-up [announced] tomorrow we will have an idea, you can see what he did at Middlesbrough or the first part at Man United, but tactics are about the players and who they have will be different to Middlesbrough. So what they are going to do I don’t know.”

Pep Guardiola says his first instinct when realising that Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol were both injured was that the team ‘was in trouble’.

However, Max Alleyne has stepped into the hole left by the two defenders and has performed admirably limiting the damage losing the centre-backs has made.

“What I thought? We’re in trouble, that was my first thought,” Guardiola said of losing his defenders.

“But that’s why we had the option to recover loan players. I knew Max from training for two years with us.

“He still has a big margin to improve but in general comparing not sessions because we don’t have them but from video, how quick he got the things is really, really good.”

The new United boss says that he hopes to bring a ‘fresh start’ for the players and has belief in their ability to perform in the Premier League.

“It’s a fresh start, and I’ve got a lot of belief in the group, individually, and collectively,” said Michael Carrick ahead of today’s game.

“I’ve got a lot of belief in that, and as I’ve just said, confidence and a feeling, and things can go in a different direction very quickly, and I’ve got a lot of belief in the boys.

“I think it’s so half-full, half-empty, it’s what players can’t do or the team can’t do, we actually forget what they can do, what they’re good at and believe in that and work on their strengths and feed off that energy to make you better.

“There’s a lot of players and a lot of teams in the world that can’t do things, but that doesn’t stop them being successful. So, we need to find that ingredient, and I fully believe we can do that.”

Michael Carrick is not thinking about taking on the Manchester United head coach role on a long term basis and says he is realistic about the goals the club want from him.

“I think we’re realistic as well, and where we are at the moment, why I’m here and the role I’ve got to do,” Carrick explained.

“That doesn’t change how we go about it in the day-to-day and the focus and making decisions for the long-term kind of strategy of the group and the playing squad and whatever that kind of adds on extra and the layers after that.

“I think I’m certainly not coming in thinking it’s a time where week-to-week, game-to-game, we’ve got to get through it and we’ve got to tick each one off. I think we’re on a plan to improve and improve beyond this season, and however that looks at this moment, all I can control is what we give the players and how we kind of create the atmosphere around the group.

“So that’s the main focus and then we’ll see what happens after that.”

As Manchester United properly begin the process of appointing a new head coach, one consideration now stands above many others: how a manager looks and feels the moment he “walks in the door”.

It may sound simplistic, but as they found with Ruben Amorim, it remains hugely significant. The club’s leadership – and especially Sir Jim Ratcliffe – believed the Portuguese coach had the personality to carry the weight of such a club. Over time, however, sources say they came to feel he lacked the necessary “emotional maturity”. He simply was not ready.