EXCLUSIVE | Louis Saha on Manchester United: ‘Ratcliffe should extend Carrick’s contract.’

EXCLUSIVE | Louis Saha on Manchester United: ‘Ratcliffe should extend Carrick’s contract.’

Get French Football News sat down with former France, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton striker Louis Saha this week for a wide-ranging football chat.

In this first of a four-part interview, Louis spoke about Manchester United’s turnaround under Michael Carrick.

Obviously, you’re very associated with Manchester United, you had a very good career there, won a lot of medals. They’ve completely transformed their season since Michael Carrick arrived. For you, what does he bring to the team and, if you were Jim Ratcliffe, would you keep him for next season?

I think that he has brought a certain simplicity, a cohesion in the group that suits the players. He didn’t arrive saying “this is my style of play.” No, he came in with the attitude that, in order for the players to feel comfortable and play to their maximum potential, I have to make them understand a system of play that is simple, that plays to their strengths and that allows them to be that second or split-second ahead of their opponent. Period.

Because logically these players have more quality than most Premier League players, they were recruited because they are good, because they have great stats. So to get the players to recognise this and give them the roles that suit them, I think that has been his major strength.

His second major strength is really knowing the place and being able to say this is the way that this institution is run because it has always got results in this way. I think it brought a lot of confidence both to those who didn’t yet understand this and to those who did.

So yes I definitely ask Sir Jim Ratcliffe to think like me and to not only extend Carrick’s contract but to strengthen his position because I think that with the support of a few signings, with the support of a staff who will be able to work on a form of progression with this group, that would be the coherent thing to do, working with the very good spine of the current team, with a clear plan for the future, with two or three signings of key players in midfield who will have more running in them, more creativity, maybe more defensive potential, to be able to change system from time to time. I think they have that but some defenders are still a little young, some midfielders are a little old, some strikers a little young too. Those little things need improving and then I think things can progress very quickly.