CARRICK CAN HELP WITH A QUICK START

BY GIDEON BROOKS

HAVING dedicated the win over Villarreal to his old boss as a leaving present, Michael Carrick is out to deliver the perfect welcome gift to his new one.

Victory at Chelsea tomorrow might have seemed far-fetched when Manchester United were imploding against Watford.

And judged on the league leaders’ shredding of Juventus on Tuesday it will not be easy.

But after a confidence-boosting win in Spain put United into the last 16 of the Champions League, Carrick (above with Cristiano

Ronaldo) insisted he can give incoming Ralf Rangnick a firm platform for his rebuild.

“You have to be hugely impressed by the way Chelsea go about things. They’re on a high and I’m well aware of the challenges we face,” said the caretaker boss. “But I’m looking forward to it. It’s a big test and challenge and we believe we can get a result there.”

Leaving aside his part in creating the crisis in the first place, Carrick has made a pretty good fist of the hospital pass received last week when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked. And while his future and that of the remaining coaching set-up seems up in the air – he admitted he had not made plans for “after Sunday” – beating Chelsea would clearly do none of them any harm in Rangnick’s eyes.

“My thoughts are on the game on

Sunday, they have to be,” said former midfielder Carrick. “I can’t get distracted by anything else, anything else will take care of itself in the days and weeks ahead.

“But I’d say one of the biggest things in Ole’s time as manager was creating and building an environment, backroom staff, culture, day to day stuff not obvious to the eye. It’s there for sure and it’s a great starting point.”

Rangnick will take charge for six months and switch to being director of football at the end of the season.

He looks set to be in position either for the

Arsenal game on Thursday or more likely Crystal Palace at home next weekend.

Carrick added: “The win against Villarreal was a big boost for us, first and foremost for the players to have that feeling again, to get that confidence back.”