Why do Carrick and McKenna escape criticism?

OldSchoolManc

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Maybe the two managers so far (Mou and Ole, but arguably more so Mou) sees good potentials in him and willing to keep him around, and in fact he does contributed even if it's little but significant? Also, to keep his seniority and keeping the players in check but I always find that not effective.

I recall three players have came out now who credited Carrick's influences eg. Lukaku, Pogba and McTominay. The first two there talked about it in interviews during and after season 17/18 where arguably since then Pogba's movements from deep to poach the ball inside the box has improved. McT's passings game have also improved now with more forwards passings and more switching possession to the other sides.
You quote 3 players as proof of being improved by Carrick.

Lukaku - regressed, stopped working as part of a team and was sold at a loss.

Pogba - stagnated, inconsistent and will probably be sold at a loss.

McTominay - has great heart. Only one of those 3 that actually fights for the team.
 

Cloud7

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I wouldn’t be so sure that it is Ole who makes the decisions on backroom staff. I get the feeling that someone completely clueless is steering this ship.
All our managers have brought in their own coaches.
 

croadyman

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Even Mourinho refreshed his coaching staff before taking the Spurs job.

Ed and Ole kept Carrick, promoted Mckenna, and got Phelan out of retirement.
He clearly doesn't want to change things from a coaching point of view which is staggering
 

el3mel

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Carrick has to be one of the most useless assistant coaches I have ever seen. He's literally just there. He does absolutely nothing and no one even knows what he's supposed to do. Won't feel any different if you remove him and put on any United fan on the bench.
 

hobbers

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Because it was Ole's choice to employ them as his left and right hand men so ultimately if they're not good at their jobs, it's all on Ole.

The coaching staff is always a package deal with the manager. Nobody is keeping Carrick and McKenna around once Ole is sacked. They'll be sacked with him.
 

Amerifan

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Why do Carrick and McKenna escape criticism?

Because everyone is already 24/7 complaining about the Glazers, Woodward, Judge, Ole, the organization, and every player. Once Pogba goes it will free up some whine-time for those two until Pogba’s replacement arrives.
 

The Oracle

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Why do Carrick and McKenna escape criticism?

Well because they are in the background and never give interviews.

Interestingly both Solskjaer and Carrick sit on the bench like they are substitutes - and they only go down to the technical area for a few minutes per match... which is exactly what substitutes do - leave the bench for a few minutes during a match to warm up.
It's uncanny.
 

Denis' cuff

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Stop picking on our coaching staff. They’ve turned Donny into a shitc**t (or somebody has) before giving him the occasional gig. Working on Pellistri as we speak. He’ll be instinctively passing back to Maguire and DdG before we know it. We want zombies in the team, not talent ffs
 

SAFMUTD

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I still dont know what does Carrick actually does, we shouldn't be a practice school for any coach no matter if explayer or not. Mediocrity at its best, pure nepotism.

The bullshit tactic of getting explayers as managers so the romantic fans will cut them some slack, feck them. Great as players but embarrasing as managers.
 

croadyman

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I still dont know what does Carrick actually does, we shouldn't be a practice school for any coach no matter if explayer or not. Mediocrity at its best, pure nepotism.

The bullshit tactic of getting explayers as managers so the romantic fans will cut them some slack, feck them. Great as players but embarrasing as managers.
Yeah Carrick & Ole are currently perfect for tugging on the heart strings of our fans who love the ex player returning as some managerial messiah
 

FreddieTheReddie

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Honestly, I have no idea what they are doing or what they should be doing, but I see the end product is quite poor. But there’s one thing which is really surprising and maybe even unacceptable from a PL manager like Ole. He doesn’t have his own coaching staff. Carrick and McKenna were appointed by Jose and LvG, Ole asked Phelan to join when he was appointed as interim manager, but it was no way a professional requirement or well thought out decision. He just asked a good old friend to join the fun.

And I’m not saying there’s no chance that these guys are what we need but the probablility that he accidentally bumps into the best available coaches is very low.

He never felt there might be better guys out there? When he sees our awful defending or inability to break down teams that defend deep, doesn’t he think maybe he should replace someone in the staff? I know he can be cruel with the player but is he too nice to the coaches? I know his staff in Molde isn’t at this level but I find it worrying that he doesn’t have better contacts out there or is too afraid to make big changes.

It is ok if a manager can’t do all the coaching job at the highest level, but he should be capable of identifying the weak links and surrounding himself with the most suitable coaches. Doesn’t look like Ole can do it.
 

hobbers

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Yeah Carrick & Ole are currently perfect for tugging on the heart strings of our fans who love the ex player returning as some managerial messiah
Ole has that heart string factor with anyone old enough to have witnessed 99, but really Carrick has no charisma whatsoever. He was a great player for us but as a person he's dull as dishwater. And he makes Scholes look erudite. Or to put it another way he has no chance of ever being a manager.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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I've been saying for a while that Ole would benefit from an older, experienced assistant manager. Right now that seems to be Phelan who does most of the touchline work like talking to the 4th official. If Ole wants better staff, he can always make those changes but apart from the one guy he brought in from Norway, he hasn't added anyone else to his team over two years.
 

GoldTrafford99

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Anybody I talk to at United openly praise and hail the work of the first team coaches. McKenna is a young world-class coach. Extremely intricate with preparations. Carrick talks to players individually and deals with their mentality. He often takes players aside for meetings to discuss their role within the squad. But both - along with Mike Phelan - conduct training. Ole watches from the sides.

I don't think anyone can question that we, mentally, are very strong. Attacking-wise we move better than any team in the league. Yet defensively we are lacking in shape and consistency. I believe this is down to Maguire playing out of position (he is and always was a right-sided centre-back; not a left-sider where he has always played for us due to us not having a left-sided centre half (this is why we have been linked with numerous left-footed centre-halves over the past year)) as well as the fact that we are lacking a defensive shield... the club are in the hunt for Declan Rice and the plan has always been to sign him in the summer 2021. Let's see if it comes to fruition.
 

VP89

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Interestingly, the coaching staff are criticised massively when we are playing shite but not praised at all when we are on point.
 

TheBreadTruck

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Who is the one responsible for shouting "away!" every time a corner is played into our box? Cracks me up every time now there's no stadium noise, it's like being at a Sunday league game.
 

Zlatan 7

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The first page is a good read, there’s some nonsense posted on here fairplay :lol:
 

Berbaclass

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Watching that video he really strike me and being pretty dull. Which may or may not be fair. He just seems to have zero enthusiasm for what he's actually talking about.
 

Grande

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Interestingly, the coaching staff are criticised massively when we are playing shite but not praised at all when we are on point.
It’s interesting to see who feel knowledgable enough to conclude about the quality of coaches based on touchline snapshors. And itmakes you curious about whathappened at the 9th of December to make them reach these deeply felt conclusions.
 

Mihai

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Who is the one responsible for shouting "away!" every time a corner is played into our box? Cracks me up every time now there's no stadium noise, it's like being at a Sunday league game.
:lol: haha, it's like the players forget if we are attacking or defending the corner.
 

Castia

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They worked with Jose and Ole seems happy to work with them as well, they must be decent at the job.

I do worry about our defensive coaching though, I’m not sure who has the experience/knowledge to be coaching our squad out of Ole/McKenna/Carrick/Phelan
 

Zlatan 7

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:lol: haha, it's like the players forget if we are attacking or defending the corner.
Never played football and heard the difference between away, time, turn?

I guess some armchair coaches would moan if we didn’t shout away as we were not communicating which is down to coaching, damn phelan
 

Poborsky's hair

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Ole has that heart string factor with anyone old enough to have witnessed 99, but really Carrick has no charisma whatsoever. He was a great player for us but as a person he's dull as dishwater. And he makes Scholes look erudite. Or to put it another way he has no chance of ever being a manager.
Don´t judge book by its cover. Saying that I havent watched enough of Carricks interview to be convinced he´s not a good mentor. It can be he´s a bit timid but then can certainly have a good effect on players and if anything a knowledge and experience as a player shouldn´t be underestimated. He will have a natural respect. He will also have a certain role which he´s good at I am sure of that rather than being thrown into doing something he´s not erudited.

Saying all this I always much rather preffered Fletcher, even now hee speaks very well and has some good insights and opinions. Just wonder what he´s up to? Think he should be a good manager himself if he gives it a shot, his understanding of the game seems great..
 

Stack

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Don´t judge book by its cover. Saying that I havent watched enough of Carricks interview to be convinced he´s not a good mentor. It can be he´s a bit timid but then can certainly have a good effect on players and if anything a knowledge and experience as a player shouldn´t be underestimated. He will have a natural respect. He will also have a certain role which he´s good at I am sure of that rather than being thrown into doing something he´s not erudited.

Saying all this I always much rather preffered Fletcher, even now hee speaks very well and has some good insights and opinions. Just wonder what he´s up to? Think he should be a good manager himself if he gives it a shot, his understanding of the game seems great..
It wont matter how many interviews you watch it wont help anyone know how good a training pitch coach someone is. Interviews dont tell you how good the training drills designs are, they wont tell you the quality of a training drills delivery or execution and interviews wont tell you how effective or engaging a training drill has been.
 

King Eric 7

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I forgot that this thread was created after a disappointing result. Makes sense of the first page and a half of responses.
 

Raees

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Who is the one responsible for shouting "away!" every time a corner is played into our box? Cracks me up every time now there's no stadium noise, it's like being at a Sunday league game.
As funny as it is, football is about basics - even at the highest level. Imagine a pass being on or a switch of play and player fails to see it and coach doesn’t tell him out of fear of it sounding too Sunday League.

Even at this level basic instructions need to be repeated especially in a high octane sport like football with so many moving pieces and events.
 

Mihai

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Never played football and heard the difference between away, time, turn?

I guess some armchair coaches would moan if we didn’t shout away as we were not communicating which is down to coaching, damn phelan
No, never heard these terms. What are time and turn?
 

ROFLUTION

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Some of the over-the-top reactions in this thread :lol:

Could be mostly summed up like this:
*We don't know what they're doing, so it'll be wise not to lay judgme... AH feck IT WE LOST, FECK CARRICK, FECK MCKENNA; NOW I SUDDENLY KNOW EVERYTHING THEY DO, AND IT'S NOT F**KING GOOD ENOUGH!! THEY DON'T DO _ANYTHING_ givetaaerrrhhh ggigggssaayyyy or a random fan*
 

lysglimt

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McKenna isn’t really nepotism seeing as he was a very highly regarded youth coach at Tottenham and then did exceptionally well with our u18s. He’s worked his way up to his position.
Stop bringing facts into the discussion please :)
 

Isotope

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Rio is very eloquent on his interview, and he excludes charisma but approachable. Maybe Ole can ring a bell? Although sometimes/most of the time, former world class player just can't teach others because everything came naturally for him that made him so good.

Maybe Ole should use Vidic? He wouldn't coach them anything, other than stare at them every day. Our defense would just improve massively for fear of their lives.
 

Maagge

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Don´t judge book by its cover. Saying that I havent watched enough of Carricks interview to be convinced he´s not a good mentor. It can be he´s a bit timid but then can certainly have a good effect on players and if anything a knowledge and experience as a player shouldn´t be underestimated. He will have a natural respect. He will also have a certain role which he´s good at I am sure of that rather than being thrown into doing something he´s not erudited.

Saying all this I always much rather preffered Fletcher, even now hee speaks very well and has some good insights and opinions. Just wonder what he´s up to? Think he should be a good manager himself if he gives it a shot, his understanding of the game seems great..
I'm sure Carrick is very good at something like how to position yourself to close down passing lanes instead of marking the player. It's something he was very good at and something that needs to be taught rather than being a "natural" talent. The midfielders will certainly benefit from it.
 

Solius

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Don´t judge book by its cover. Saying that I havent watched enough of Carricks interview to be convinced he´s not a good mentor. It can be he´s a bit timid but then can certainly have a good effect on players and if anything a knowledge and experience as a player shouldn´t be underestimated. He will have a natural respect. He will also have a certain role which he´s good at I am sure of that rather than being thrown into doing something he´s not erudited.

Saying all this I always much rather preffered Fletcher, even now hee speaks very well and has some good insights and opinions. Just wonder what he´s up to? Think he should be a good manager himself if he gives it a shot, his understanding of the game seems great..
See Gary Neville for why there isn't always a correlation here.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Although this thread was clearly created for the wrong reasons I do think its a valid discussion point. From all reports, McKenna is really highly rated and was behind our pursuit of Fred which is looking like a masterstroke. Carrick is up and coming but he appears to have the right demeanour for the job and has always been an intelligent player and person. They both fundamentally seem to be aligned with the culture and playstyle that Ole has implemented and that's vital for the club moving forwards.

Personally, I think Phelan is the one I would look to change over the next 18 months. He specializes in man management and working closely with the players which has been fundamental in lifting the shadow cast by the toxic one. However, it's now clear that the mentality in the squad is in a stronger place and Ole has shown his own strong man-management capabilities. In the same way that Fergie used to seek out and employ new and innovative coaches with European experience, maybe Ole could think about introducing a new mind to take a look at the ongoing project and see if that will allow us to take the final steps into becoming a real force both domestically and in Europe. Obviously, let's see how this season pans out but if we come close then that could be the right time to look for that last bit of inspiration.
 

Gythio

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No, never heard these terms. What are time and turn?
Not from UK but would assume time means to time the run and turn is to signal to your teammate that there’s noone behind him closing down, and he’s free to turn and attack. At youth level we also used to shout left or right after playing a pass to make it easier for the receiver.
I’d guess it’s De Gea shouting away at corners, he seems to be more vocal than people give him credit for.
 

slavishduke

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Personally, I think Phelan is the one I would look to change over the next 18 months. He specializes in man management and working closely with the players which has been fundamental in lifting the shadow cast by the toxic one. However, it's now clear that the mentality in the squad is in a stronger place and Ole has shown his own strong man-management capabilities. In the same way that Fergie used to seek out and employ new and innovative coaches with European experience, maybe Ole could think about introducing a new mind to take a look at the ongoing project and see if that will allow us to take the final steps into becoming a real force both domestically and in Europe. Obviously, let's see how this season pans out but if we come close then that could be the right time to look for that last bit of inspiration.


I 100% agree, every coach should look to change his personel from time to time. SAF did it, klopp has and even pep have. I feel Phelan is kinda outdated, and I'm also wondering if he's the one who pushes for the zone marking at corners. I read recently that Mark Dempsey has been moved into the academy, so should be a spot for another coach. I do like the addition of the GK coach from Burnley who did wonders with Heaton and Pope, our GKs looks better
 

spiriticon

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I still don't think they are anything to shout about. The pair of them have been here for absolute years and the defence is still a bit dodgy (albeit on good form because of Bailly's rejuvenation) and the finishing of the forwards is still quite inconsistent. These are problems that have plagued us for years, not just under Ole.

I feel we need just a couple more experienced coaches to take us to the next level of consistency and maintain it.