Michael Carrick warned that two Man Utd stars will be ‘exposed’ by Man City

Paul Parker is fearful that two Manchester United players could get ‘exposed’ in Michael Carrick’s first game in interim charge against Manchester City.

Carrick is set for a tough test in his first game back in the Premier League dugout as his side host City at Old Trafford in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.

The former United midfielder is expected to stick with the back four used by caretaker boss Darren Fletcher in a clear parting of ways from the 3-4-3 system used throughout Ruben Amorim’s unsuccessful tenure.

Carrick’s time at Middlesbrough saw him deploy an attacking, possession-based 4-2-3-1 system, but Parker feels that could leave certain United players vulnerable against Pep Guardiola’s in-form side.

In particular, the former Red Devils full-back has questions marks over United’s full-backs, who he believes will have a tough day in store against City’s wingers, Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo.

‘Well, you don’t have to be an ex-full-back or an ex-defender. you can be the man on the street, and you know that the full-backs that United have got are going to struggle,’ he told Metro via online casinos UK.

‘Dalot and Shaw are going to struggle pace-wise. And because there’s no, at this moment, out-and-out defender there, you know they’re going to get exposed in one-against-ones. 

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‘So that’s going to be a big, big problem for Michael Carrick, and generally what it would mean is that you would use one of your wider players to help by trying to help you by not allowing the ball to get to the feet of those players too far up the park. 

‘When it gets close to the goal and then you’re a little bit more congested as a team, compact, then yes, you can understand it and that makes it easier because there’s more players around. But the last thing you want to be doing is getting caught too far up the park one-against-ones. 

‘That’s going to be the problem because there’s going to be a lot of acres for people to run in behind. So it’s going to be a massive problem. I don’t know how Michael Carrick is going to deal with that.’

Morocco’s progression to the AFCON final means United will again be without Noussair Mazraoui, who has proved the club’s best defensive full-back since his arrival from Bayern Munich.

And Parker believes that the 28-year-old’s presence will be sorely missed by Carrick, especially when it comes to nullifying the blistering pace of Doku on the left wing.

‘Mazraoui would always be the first shout because Mazraoui at right-back would be absolutely perfect,’ he said. ‘Mazraoui at left-back would be even more perfect up against Doku.

‘l get groin strains just watching him play, to be perfectly honest. The stop and starts, wow. That’s one I wouldn’t want to play against.

‘You give me Semenyo rather than Doku, to be perfectly honest. Because as defenders, you don’t want to stop and start.’

But regardless of absentees and City’s impressive form, Parker urged Carrick to try and instil a bit of confidence in his side ahead of a crucial second half of the season rather than just sitting back and playing for a point.

‘I think the first thing really for Michael Carrick is to try and get a performance, that’s what he’s looking for,’ he added.

‘If they sit deep and just clear their lines and just hope that they get something out of it and they suddenly do get something out of it, that’s not really good for Manchester United or Michael Carrick, in my opinion. 

‘It’s about some kind of performance that gets the players to express themselves. And if they get beat, they get beat. But there has got to be a method in what he’s trying to do.’

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