This is shaping up to be a perfect storm for hiring Carrick for all the wrong, feel-good, Ole-at-the-wheel reasons:
-Results very lucky compared to underlying performances.
-Playing minimum number of games this season and catching a lot of other sides when they are very jaded.
-Good health luck has allowed Carrick to play nearly the same first XI every match.
To me the main difference is defensively to be honest. I happened to have watched a lot of their games this season (either out of boredom or by having a bet on them) and they were as good if not better going forward as now.
They dropped a lot of points out of bad luck with their finishing or their opponents scoring with the first chance they got.
I rate Carrick but I think he’s managed to reap the rewards off of Amorim’s work finally clicking and the overload of their rivals for the CL spots.
No coincidence that every time they’ve had shorter gap between games they’ve failed to win.
Look at the pattern here:
Love this. Been saying for a while (as you have too) that this team isn’t anywhere near where their recent run of results might suggest they are.
It is very much a perfect storm of a relaxed schedule, good health, playing teams at the right time and essentially just playing what’s in front of them with minimal pressure to achieve anything.
When you take a serious look at that squad, it’s a case of finding what position you don’t need to upgrade rather than finding a couple of players to complete the squad.
I really hope they hire Carrick.
They are on a training trip over here at the moment I read. Dubai/Dublin…close enough.
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