John Terry was blown away by Manchester United’s performance of their 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday, especially impressed by a returning star on the back.
Michael Carrick took charge of his first game since returning to the club as interim manager and it could scarcely have gone any higher.
Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu scored the goals because the Red Devils downed Pep Guardiola’s side and looked good doing so.
They played with great energy and attacking intent, looking a vastly improved team in comparison with the drab reign of Ruben Amorim.
Chelsea legend Terry liked what he saw, saying on TikTok: ‘Wow what a performance from Man United. That is the Man United of old. Attacking, free-flowing football, pace up front.
‘Massive performance from Manchester United today under Michael Carrick. So good to see Carrick get his opportunity.
Terry knows plenty about playing at centre-back at the highest level and he thought Harry Maguire did so with aplomb against Manchester City, calling for the United defender to have a spot in England’s World Cup squad this summer.
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‘Man United is such a greater team with Harry Maguire within the squad today, back playing,’ said the enduring defender.
‘I’m unsure there’s a harder game to come back into. A Manchester derby playing against the very best striker on the earth in [Erling] Haaland.
‘He’s just so good in each boxes and so good on the ball as well. Saw him drive out with the ball and was so comfortable with it. In this type, Harry Maguire needs to be on the plane for the World Cup.’
The 32-year-old has won 64 caps for England although he has not played under Thomas Tuchel, but could still make a late push for the squad.
Maguire had been out with a hamstring injury but Carrick threw him back in on the deep end, which he admitted was a bet.
‘I felt it was a game for experience and knowing what it appears like. It was an enormous ask for H [Maguire] and credit to him,’ said the interim manager.
‘I believe we will take as a right sometimes what players do but for him to play today and are available through it. I’m not going to lie, it was a little bit of a calculated gamble as well of how long he could play and if he could get through it because he’s literally trained for 2 or three days for probably eight or nine weeks, so it just shows you what it means really to him.
‘I believed he was implausible. Between him and Licha [Martinez], they were so solid on the back and gave us the muse to construct on.’
It was an incredible begin to his stint in charge and now expectations have risen at Old Trafford for the remainder of the season under Carrick.
He’s aware that his team needs to provide that level of performance on a much more regular performance than they’ve been doing, starting with a tricky trip to Arsenal next Sunday.
‘Consistency is the important thing to any success and for those who can find that, you then’re on to a winner, in order that’s our challenge,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to search out a way of doing that. Big one next week, obviously one other tough one. But on the back of today, we’ve got an excellent foundation to construct on.’
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