Harry Maguire makes feelings clear on Michael Carrick's major change at Man Utd

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Harry Maguire spoke of how Manchester United's players feel more comfortable playing in a back four after they all but secured their return to Champions League football under Michael Carrick.

The Red Devils' fortunes have been transformed since Carrick was handed the reigns on an interim basis back in January after the club parted company with Ruben Amorim. Monday night's 2-1 win over Brentford , Carrick's ninth victory in 13 games, means United need just one points from their final four games to guarantee a top-five finish.

Amorim heavily favoured a back three formation during his turbulent reign at Old Trafford and was scrutinised for refusing to be flexible in his approach. United's improvements have coincided with a formation change under Carrick, though the 44-year-old did change shape at half-time in a bid to tighten United's grip on the game.

Maguire was superb in both boxes for United with his header setting up Casemiro for the game's opening goal after 11 minutes.

But the England defender was quick to talk up the benefits of playing in a back four when he was asked if some players were more comfortable playing in a back three after Amorim's spell. He told Sky Sports in response: "No, definitely not. I think the formation change has helped us a lot to be honest. I think the results spoke for itself.

"Michael come in and changed to a back four and the results have picked up a lot now. I think we're comfortable that we can play both formations, but yeah, we didn't cover the pitch well enough in the last 20 minutes of the first half and were letting too many balls into the box.

"They had a lot of chances in the last 20 minutes of the first half. I think it was good that the manager recognised that and changed [it] for the second half and we were a lot more comfortable."

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When he was asked to discuss the impact that Carrick has had, including the much talk about change of shape, Maguire lauded United's interim head coach.

"The results helped the feeling massively," he said. "We had two tough fixtures when Michael came in [against Arsenal and Man City] and I think everyone was probably looking at them thinking, 'Oh no'. We managed to get six points and from then on everyone has believed in it and we've got confidence.

"I think we can still get a lot better in this formation as well. As a back four we can slide across the pitch a lot quicker, like we should have done in the first half today, but we will get better the longer we work as a unit in there.

"But the results speak for themselves since the manager has come in and the formation has changed. We just seem to pick up results. I think the games previous, when Ruben was here, a lot of the games were 50-50 but we always ended up on the back of a defeat. Now it feels like it's the other way round where we're a lot better in both boxes; we defend our box a lot better and we're managing to be clinical in the other box."

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