Rooney reveals how Carrick produced 'best Man Utd performance in a long time'

Michael Carrick enjoyed the dream start to his interim spell in charge of Manchester United (Picture: Getty Images)

Michael Carrick managed to get the brilliant derby performance out of his Manchester United side because he is an ex-player who knows the DNA of the club, believes Wayne Rooney .

It was the interim manager’s first game in charge on Saturday lunchtime and it looked like a very difficult one against Pep Guardiola ’s men at Old Trafford .

However, Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu scored the goals in a memorable 2-0 win for the Red Devils.

It was the ideal start for Carrick’s short-term stint in charge as Manchester United looked energised and took their chances impressively, with only a very narrow offside call stopping the game finishing 3-0.

Rooney loved what he saw and thinks the arrival of someone who knows how Manchester United fans expect their team to play made the difference.

‘I think they’ve had big results but that performance today I think is the best performance I’ve seen from a Manchester United team in a long, long time,’ Rooney said on Match of the Day .

‘When you ask why Manchester United needed an ex-player back, it’s because Michael Carrick knows the club, he knows the DNA of the football club and we’ve seen all that today. I thought today they were absolutely outstanding.’

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Patrick Dorgu scored Manchester United’s second goal of the game (Picture: Getty Images)

On what ‘Manchester United DNA’ means, Rooney explained that it was demonstrated in Mbeumo’s goal and in Mason Mount’s late strike which was disallowed.

Aggressive, pacy counter-attacking, with no thought but to score whenever the chance arises, which Rooney feels was lacking under Ruben Amorim.

‘When we talk about Manchester United’s DNA, this is it,’ Rooney said of United’s first goal. ‘ Harry Maguire heads the ball out of the penalty box and this, sprinting forward, we’ve seen so many Manchester United goals over the years exactly like this.’

On Mount’s late disallowed effort, he said: ‘Again, Amad intercepts, no other thought but to spring forward long sprints, hard work but it pays off. Great pass to [Matheus] Cunha, great ball across, offside unlucky but great ball across.’

Carrick brought Matheus Cunha off the bench, to some success (Picture: Getty Images)

Alan Shearer feels that Carrick’s switch to a 4-2-3-1 from Amorim’s controversial 3-4-3 formation has helped simplify things for the Manchester United players.

The Premier League legend believes it is clear that the Red Devils stars were not on board with Amorim’s thinking, but they are with Carrick.

‘I think it’s part one, the manager giving them the belief that they need and they want and the belief in the system,’ said Shearer. ‘There’s no doubt they didn’t believe in what the other manager was trying to get them to do, they were never comfortable in doing that, in terms of the system that he wanted them to play.

Bryan Mbeumo. Stretford End. ERUPTION! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/v1RbPqcs9q — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 17, 2026

‘They’ve gone back to basics today. They’ve got players back in the team that obviously make a difference.

‘You’ve seen a different energy and a different performance from so many of those players today.

‘That has to be everything going forward in every single game. They’ve got no midweek games, they’ve got all the time to plan.

‘He’s only had two or three days and you can already tell the difference, that has to be exactly the same like that every single week.’

Carrick was trying to keep his feet on the ground after the perfect start to his stint in charge, saying: ‘I don’t want to get carried away with all of the DNA kind of thing.

Bryan Mbeumo made a spectacular return from AFCON (Picture: Getty Images)

‘We wanted to play well today. We wanted to put things into the game that would help us to do that, we wanted to be good defensively as a whole team.