Published: 02:00, 22 February 2026 | Updated: 02:00, 22 February 2026

Five games, four wins, one draw and a manager of the month award. It has been a remarkable first six weeks for Michael Carrick since being installed as Manchester United’s head coach until the end of the season.

The 44-year-old won the Manchester derby a matter of days after returning to the club where he spent 15-and-a-half years as a player and first-team coach, and hasn’t looked back since.

Arsenal were beaten at the Emirates, then Fulham and Tottenham at Old Trafford, before Benjamin Sesko’s late equaliser at West Ham kept Carrick’s unbeaten record intact and cemented United's place in the top four ahead of Monday’s trip to Everton.

With only one competition and one match a week to focus on for the rest of Carrick's contracted time in charge, they are now frontrunners to qualify for the Champions League next season, a year after the dismal 15th-place finish under Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim. 

So what has changed under Carrick? How has he taken on a squad in such disarray...