The questions that the fanbase need to ask
The first aspect has been fixed with the official announcement of the appointment of Michael Carrick. His backroom staff has also been confirmed yesterday with the announcement of Michael Carrick naming Steve Holland, Jonny Evans, Jonathon Woodgate, and Travis Binnion. But there are other outstanding issues that have yet to be answered.
What tactical approach will he employ.
Pretty much every manager in the past decade seems to have arrived with a pre-determined system of play. Louis Van Gaal demanded we play possession style football, Jose Mourinho preferred a counter-attacking approach, Ole Solksjaer was slightly more scattershot, Erik Ten Hag seemed to want to copy and paste what was employed at Ajax and Ruben Amorim was welded to his three at the back strategy.
Carrick tended to employ a 4-2-3-1 set-up when he was at Middlesbrough. This possession-heavy, patient style gathered him plenty of praise in his first season after taking charge where the side finished fourth and reached the Carabao Cup Semi-Finals. Fans began to lose patience though as the side finished eight and then tenth in his last season.
He will need to be flexible in his approach as fans are tired of watching teams that do not resemble the spirit of the club.
How will the players respond to him?
With him being an interim manager, there is a risk they could struggle to impose their ideas on the players. Managers can take some time to get to know the players under their charge and implement the style of play they want to go with. This can be made even harder if the person in charge is not going to be there beyond the short-term.
The senior players have been through a few managers that had their own viewpoint in terms of discipline and set up. It would be easy for them to down tools and wait and see what happens in the summer. He did demonstrate at Boro that he brought Hayden Hackney, Latte Lath, Morgan Rogers, and Chuba Akpom to a different level under his charge.
He needs to bring the players together and get them to work together to achieve the only remaining goal for the season. We have been within touching distance of the top four and European spaces for most of the season. Any level of consistency would see us succeed. It is an daunting start for him with Man City at the weekend and Arsenal away though.
Transfer dealings in and out
This is perhaps one of the most complicated issues. We as fans do not know what kind of budget, if any, there is for new faces to arrive at the club. It may be that Amorim had pin-pointed certain players such as Ruben Neves, Conor Gallagher or others to buy. If he had been in discussion with him, are they likely to join if he is gone and an interim in charge? The need for midfield recruitment and full-backs/wing-backs is drastic at the moment but clubs are often reluctant to sell in January at prices we might afford.
And the possible out-going players might have to hang on as well. Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee and others had been strongly linked with either loan or permanent moves in this window. And that’s not even mentioning the players currently out on loan like Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund, Andre Onana, and Jadon Sancho. The likelihood of these all returning are remote but it is possible if they cannot secure a permanent move.
It also leaves many of the younger talent up in the air as they seek playing time at other clubs for their development. They are seeking some clarity on what their future is.
Relationship with the hierarchy
This was cited as being one of the reasons why Ruben Amorim left the club. He had claimed that more players were needed if he was going to incorporate his 3-4-3 system effectively. This topic was then shut down in subsequent press conferences in a terse comment after the Leeds game. The budget he expected for transfers looks to have decreased or none at all. Unfortunately, the club needs to sell at the moment to bring players in. We are particularly bad at doing that though.
There appears to also have been a falling out with Jason Wilcox over the style of play incorporated by Amorim. Reverting back to a three at the back for Wolves at home raised eyebrows with many of the fans. It may have led to a clash between the two men also. But that again goes back to hiring a manager who expects to play a certain way.
Carrick is a very affable person who does not speak himself up too much in the media. If managing the personalities of the team itself is going to be a challenge, then keeping those above him happy is also going to be a headache.
The majority of match-going fans will get behind the manger in charge regardless of the personality in the dugout. It still makes us worry nonetheless.
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