Will Unwin, our reporter at Old Trafford today, checks in with some pre-match thoughts. He thinks that any announcement over Carrick today would be “highly unlikely”.
For many it is a redundant game at the end of a very long season for Manchester United and Nottingham Forest. There have been many twists, turns and managerial changes but both have achieved their goals; United and back in the Champions League and Forest have survived in the Premier League.
Michael Carrick will be announced as the permanent Manchester United head coach in the coming days but it is highly unlikely to be today at this stage. He has done a fine job and gave United little option other than keeping him on.
The real interest today comes in the form of Elliot Anderson who is high on United’s midfield shortlist but their £80m valuation of the England international may cause them to miss out to rivals Manchester City, who also want him. A big performance today, on Casemiro’s farewell, could make the United hierarchy reconsider the figures because they need to improve the squad going into Europe next summer.
Michael Carrick and Vítor Pereira have both done quite the job. The former, despite only getting the interim gig at Manchester United in January, has even ended up on the Premier League Manager of the Year shortlist (alongside Keith Andrews, Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola, Andoni Iraola and Régis Le Bris) after 10 wins from 15 games, just two defeats and more points than any other side in the division since his appointment. Carrick is expected to be imminently offered a two-year permanent contract at Old Trafford, with an option of a further 12 months. We may well see that announced today in person at the stadium, given this is Manchester United’s final home game of the season. As is customary, the club’s manager will address the crowd after full-time. Maybe the good days really are coming under Carrick.
Today will have a celebratory end-of-season feel that has been missing at Old Trafford for a while now: Champions League football next season is assured, third place can be mathematically sealed against Forest and there will be tributes to Casemiro both before and after the game. A tifo to the Brazilian in the Stretford End is expected to be unfurled as the players walk out for kick-off, while Casemiro will also give a post-match speech.
Credit must also go to Pereira at Forest, another Portuguese speaker who has been something of a slow burn. When he was appointed in February, Forest were 17th in the Premier League, three points above the drop zone, after two wins in their last 10 games. After a win at Fenerbahce in his opening match, the 57-year-old then lost four of his next five matches, with the pressure very much still on.
But a run of five straight wins in all competitions earned both Premier League survival and a European semi-final. Pereira can be proud of what he has achieved It is very much mission accomplished, and Carrick is not the only manager at Old Trafford today being linked with a new contract.
