Carrick says United's raised expectations prove how far they have come since his return

Michael Carrick says the pressure now on Manchester United is a mark of genuine progress, with the club’s return to the Champions League raising the bar after they finished 15th in the Premier League just a year ago.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s derby against Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City at Old Trafford, Carrick pointed to United’s third-place finish last season and their presence in Europe’s top competition as evidence of how much has changed since he took interim charge and then earned the permanent role.

“I think going into the Champions League game and talking about the expectation there, I think it’s a really good thing that it’s shifted in a way, and all of a sudden there’s different things asked of us now to maybe what was a few months ago, and we’re in the Champions League,” Carrick said. “That in itself shows the steps we’ve made, and we need to be in the latter stages of that, and then the expectations around that.”

Carrick won his first derby in charge — a result that helped define his tenure — but he was quick to dismiss any assumption that history will repeat itself on Sunday. “There’s no way we’re assuming we won last year, we’ll do the same things and everything will be the same,” he said.

United head into the fixture with momentum after a 4-0 Champions League victory over Sabah on Thursday, though Carrick confirmed that Luke Shaw was rested as a precaution and remains a doubt for the weekend. “We just kind of looked after him a little bit. He wasn’t quite ready for it 100 percent, so we didn’t risk it,” Carrick explained, adding that Shaw’s availability would be assessed before the game.

The derby represents Carrick’s second meeting with Pep Guardiola’s — now Maresca’s — City as United manager, and comes at a moment when the club’s trajectory is being scrutinised against the elevated standards Carrick himself has helped set.