Carrick looks to seize control as Como's slow passing game poses United a different puzzle
Michael Carrick wants Manchester United to dominate possession at Como, but matching Cesc Fabregas's side for patience will require more than reshuffling the back line.
Michael Carrick says Manchester United must try to seize control of the ball in Como, calling Cesc Fabregas's side 'a really good team' ahead of Wednesday's Champions League fixture at the Stadio Sinigaglia, Football Italia reported.
Speaking to TNT Sports before kick-off, Carrick said United wanted to build on their previous result and 'control the game' from the outset, adding that playing away from home in Europe meant his side needed to 'see the ball and try and control the game from that perspective.'
Why United want the ball in Lombardy
Carrick's emphasis on controlling the match is a specific tactical ask rather than a generic one. Como are, by his own description, a possession side who like to dictate tempo at home, so matching or overriding their build-up patterns becomes the central problem United must solve before they can even think about chances created.
That is a different challenge to the transition-heavy games United have often been associated with. Controlling the ball against a team built to control it themselves means winning individual duels in midfield construction, not simply pressing high and waiting for turnovers.
Carrick framed this adaptability as a matter of trust in structure rather than wholesale changes to approach. 'Each week, we trust our shape, we trust our co-ordination and the connections between us to solve so many issues that they pose, because they're a good team,' he said, according to Football Italia.
De Ligt's recall strengthens the base United build from
The return of Matthijs de Ligt to the starting line-up, his first start since November last year, is central to that defensive coordination. Carrick praised the centre-back's patience through a long rehabilitation, saying it was 'fantastic' to have him back after weeks of training, and that he had 'worked so hard for such a long period of time.'
A settled centre-back restores a reference point for the rest of the structure. Against a side happy to probe patiently rather than break quickly, having an experienced defender capable of stepping into midfield or holding the defensive line without panic matters more than it would against a pure counter-attacking opponent.
The numbers complicate the contrast between the two managers
Guardian Football's live coverage framed the fixture around the managers as much as the teams, recalling how Carrick was once dismissed in passing as a 'gifted water carrier' by the late David Lacey in a 2009 column that praised Fabregas's 'reliable brilliance'. Seventeen years on, the same two men meet again in contrasting roles, this time as head coach and opposing head coach rather than team-mates.
Transfermarkt's valuation puts Como's squad at €568.15m against Manchester United's €928.80m, a gap that on paper favours Carrick's side heavily, the Guardian noted. Form tells a different story: Como have lost only once in Serie A this season, while United have managed only one league win. In the Champions League itself, both clubs arrive with identical records from their opening two fixtures, one win and one defeat apiece.
That symmetry undercuts any simple narrative of favourite against underdog. Como's result against Fiorentina on 18 October, in which Mattia Liberali scored, was cited by Football Italia as part of the evidence for Carrick's assessment of them as in good form, while the broader financial gap is set against a Serie A table that currently favours the Italian side's consistency over United's.
What control will actually look like on the pitch
Carrick's repeated use of the word control points to a specific intent: minimise the number of moments Como get to execute their preferred patient build-up by taking the ball away from them rather than simply sitting in a low block and absorbing it. That is a higher-risk strategy away from home, since it invites United's own structure to be tested in possession rather than in reaction.
Whether that approach survives contact with Como's home form will depend on how well De Ligt and the rest of the back line manage the moments when United do not have the ball, since no team controls every phase of a match. Carrick's own words, that his side trusts its shape and connections to solve the problems a good team poses, suggest the plan is less about a single tactical trick and more about repeating a framework his squad already knows.
The result in Como will be read, as Guardian Football suggested, as much for what it says about Carrick's own position as for the three points themselves, given United's modest league form this season set against a squad valued far above their hosts.