Michael Carrick Prepares for Crucial Clash Against Manchester City

Michael Carrick will wait as long as he dares on Luke Shaw.

The 31-year-old left-back, missing from the 4-0 Champions League win over Sabah FK, faces a late fitness test ahead of Sunday’s clash with Manchester City. Shaw had already come off in the 2-2 draw with Everton, and Carrick refused to gamble in midweek.

“We'll have to see,” he told reporters, outlining a deliberately cautious plan. Shaw, he stressed, simply wasn’t at “100%” for Sabah and the staff chose protection over risk. The next 48 hours will decide whether one of his most reliable outlets is ready for the champions.

For Carrick, City at home is not just another fixture. It is the fixture that launched his tenure.

Back in January, thrown into the dugout after Ruben Amorim’s departure, he walked into this same showdown as an interim manager under pressure and under scrutiny. United responded with a sharp, disciplined display, snapping a four-game winless run and beating Pep Guardiola’s side through goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu. That afternoon changed the mood. It also changed his future.

Now, with the interim tag long gone and the Theatre of Dreams finally feeling like his stage, Carrick is determined not to let nostalgia cloud the preparation.

“It’ll definitely be different, just because no games are ever the same,” he said, batting away any notion that last season’s win offers a ready-made blueprint. There will be no copy-and-paste plan, no lazy assumption that history repeats just because the badges and stadium are the same.

What he does lean on is the body of work since that first City scalp. Twelve wins in his first 17 matches built more than a case for the job; they built a dressing room that believes it is on an upward curve. Carrick talks about confidence “built over a period of time” and a team that feels it is “getting better all the time”. That sense of progression, not one famous result, is what he wants to carry into Sunday.

He knows exactly what this game means. Title races, top-four battles, bragging rights – pick your storyline. “We know it's a big game, we know it's an important game,” he said. “There's a lot riding on it.” The schedule offers little mercy: a short turnaround from European duty, limited time on the training pitch, and the champions waiting. Carrick’s answer is simple – squeeze every hour, every meeting, every session. “We'll make the most of it.”

If the outside noise once suggested INEOS might chase a superstar name in the summer, Carrick never allowed that speculation to dictate his work. The former United midfielder insists he always approached the role as if he would be here beyond a few months, even when the contract said otherwise.

“I think I said it pretty early on, I was always planning to be [manager beyond the summer],” he admitted. Every decision, from tactical tweaks to squad management, came with a long-term picture in mind. He still doesn’t know how long this chapter will last, but he has never coached as if it were temporary.

From “day one”, as he puts it, the project has been about direction – where United should go, how they should play, what kind of team they must become to compete with the likes of City not just on a Sunday afternoon, but season after season. Performances like the demolition of Sabah FK feed that belief. So did that first win over Guardiola.

Now comes the next examination of whether this is a moment or a movement. Shaw’s availability may tilt the tactical board, but it will not alter the scale of the occasion. City again. Carrick again. Another chance to show this version of United is built to last, not just to shock.