MANCHESTER, England – The London Stadium scoreboard read 1-1. Benjamin Sesko's 95th-minute equaliser had preserved Michael Carrick's unbeaten start. The four-match winning streak was technically over, but the momentum—fragile, hard-won, unmistakable—remained intact.Then Carrick checked the calendar.
Manchester United do not play again for twelve days.
In an era of fixture congestion, of Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday relentlessness, of squads pushed to physiological breaking points, Carrick has been handed an anomaly: a mid-February sabbatical. The unintended consequence of early cup exits and the Premier League's smallest fixture load since 1914-15 means United's next assignment is not West Ham.
That game is already history .
Manchester United do not play again for twelve days.
In an era of fixture congestion, of Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday relentlessness, of squads pushed to physiological breaking points, Carrick has been handed an anomaly: a mid-February sabbatical. The unintended consequence of early cup exits and the Premier League's smallest fixture load since 1914-15 means United's next assignment is not West Ham.
That game is already history .
"We take the point, dust ourselves down a little bit and assess it," Carrick said after the draw. "If you take it over a five-game period, to just have one draw in there is a big positive" .
The assessment is complete. The dust has settled. And United's next genuine test—the one that will define whether Carrick's revival is sustainable or a statistical anomaly—awaits on Merseyside.
THE FIXTURE: Everton vs Manchester United
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2026 (8:00 PM GMT)
The assessment is complete. The dust has settled. And United's next genuine test—the one that will define whether Carrick's revival is sustainable or a statistical anomaly—awaits on Merseyside.
THE FIXTURE: Everton vs Manchester United
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2026 (8:00 PM GMT)
Venue: Goodison Park, Liverpool
Competition: Premier League — Matchday 27
Broadcast: Sky Sports (UK)
WHY TWELVE DAYS MATTER
Carrick, who was only appointed interim manager on 13 January, has described this interlude as a chance to "refresh," to allow players to "clean up their niggles and strains," and "take a bit of a breather" .
The translation is less clinical.
This is a squad that, under Ruben Amorim and Darren Fletcher before him, had been running on adrenaline and tactical improvisation. Carrick's opening block—victories over Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham, and Tottenham, followed by the West Ham salvage operation—yielded 13 points from 15 . It was, by any measure, a miraculous reinvention.
But miracles are unsustainable without structural support.
The twelve-day gap allows Lisandro Martínez to rehabilitate. It permits Kobbie Mainoo to train without match-day load management. It gives Benjamin Sesko, whose late heroics have already drawn comparisons to Ole Gunnar Solskjær's supersub epoch, additional time to integrate Carrick's movement patterns .
It also creates something more intangible: expectation.
THE EVERTON FACTOR: Goodison's Last Stand
Everton await, and Goodison Park in February remains one of English football's more inhospitable environments.
The Toffees are not the composite XI of relegation battlers past. David Moyes's second coming has produced defensive organisation without entirely sacrificing attacking ambition. Their home record against the traditional "Big Six" has improved incrementally, if not yet transformatively.
For United, the fixture carries additional weight.
Chelsea sit one point behind in fifth. Liverpool, with their game in hand against Sunderland, lurk at 39 points . The margin for error in the Champions League qualification race—United currently occupy fourth, six points clear of the chasing pack—is comfortable but not unassailable .
Carrick, ever the pragmatist, has resisted triumphalism.
"We all want the perfect kind of performance, to be the best we can be," he said. "Sometimes it doesn't quite happen, but it doesn't mean you give up" .
The Sir Alex Ferguson comparison, drawn by reporters after the West Ham equaliser, was gently deflected. But the methodology—gamble late, trust your finishers, never accept defeat—is unmistakably from that playbook .
THE ROAD AHEAD: Five Games That Will Define Carrick's Tenure
Beyond Everton, the fixture list offers no sanctuary.
DateOpponentVenueCompetitionFeb 23 | Everton | Away | Premier League
Mar 1 | Crystal Palace | Home | Premier League
Mar 4 | Newcastle | Away | Premier League
Mar 15 | Aston Villa | Home | Premier League
Mar 20 | Bournemouth | Away | Premier League
Broadcast: Sky Sports (UK)
WHY TWELVE DAYS MATTER
Carrick, who was only appointed interim manager on 13 January, has described this interlude as a chance to "refresh," to allow players to "clean up their niggles and strains," and "take a bit of a breather" .
The translation is less clinical.
This is a squad that, under Ruben Amorim and Darren Fletcher before him, had been running on adrenaline and tactical improvisation. Carrick's opening block—victories over Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham, and Tottenham, followed by the West Ham salvage operation—yielded 13 points from 15 . It was, by any measure, a miraculous reinvention.
But miracles are unsustainable without structural support.
The twelve-day gap allows Lisandro Martínez to rehabilitate. It permits Kobbie Mainoo to train without match-day load management. It gives Benjamin Sesko, whose late heroics have already drawn comparisons to Ole Gunnar Solskjær's supersub epoch, additional time to integrate Carrick's movement patterns .
It also creates something more intangible: expectation.
THE EVERTON FACTOR: Goodison's Last Stand
Everton await, and Goodison Park in February remains one of English football's more inhospitable environments.
The Toffees are not the composite XI of relegation battlers past. David Moyes's second coming has produced defensive organisation without entirely sacrificing attacking ambition. Their home record against the traditional "Big Six" has improved incrementally, if not yet transformatively.
For United, the fixture carries additional weight.
Chelsea sit one point behind in fifth. Liverpool, with their game in hand against Sunderland, lurk at 39 points . The margin for error in the Champions League qualification race—United currently occupy fourth, six points clear of the chasing pack—is comfortable but not unassailable .
Carrick, ever the pragmatist, has resisted triumphalism.
"We all want the perfect kind of performance, to be the best we can be," he said. "Sometimes it doesn't quite happen, but it doesn't mean you give up" .
The Sir Alex Ferguson comparison, drawn by reporters after the West Ham equaliser, was gently deflected. But the methodology—gamble late, trust your finishers, never accept defeat—is unmistakably from that playbook .
THE ROAD AHEAD: Five Games That Will Define Carrick's Tenure
Beyond Everton, the fixture list offers no sanctuary.
DateOpponentVenueCompetitionFeb 23 | Everton | Away | Premier League
Mar 1 | Crystal Palace | Home | Premier League
Mar 4 | Newcastle | Away | Premier League
Mar 15 | Aston Villa | Home | Premier League
Mar 20 | Bournemouth | Away | Premier League
Newcastle away, nestled between Palace and Villa, represents the most obvious hazard. St James' Park has become a graveyard for sides with European aspirations. Carrick's tactical flexibility—his willingness to shift to a back three and commit attacking numbers in pursuit of results—will face its sternest examination on Tyneside .
THE LONGER VIEW: Sunderland, Liverpool, and the Run-In
The complete fixture schedule, as published in June 2025 and still accurate per current reporting, confirms United's trajectory through spring and into the season's final weeks .
March 21 brings Bournemouth away. April opens with Leeds United at Old Trafford, followed by Chelsea away and Brentford at home. May is brutal: Liverpool at Old Trafford on the 2nd, Sunderland away on the 9th, Nottingham Forest at home on the 17th, and Brighton away on the final day, May 24 .
Carrick, when asked about the broader campaign, offers only measured optimism.
"We know how hard it is to put a run together in this league," he said. "Sometimes it comes naturally, it flows and everything clicks. You look really dangerous and there's a spark. Sometimes it's a little bit stodgy" .
The West Ham draw was stodgy. The four wins preceding it were not.
THE CAVEAT: Women's Champions League, Not Men's First Team
It must be noted that Manchester United Women face Atlético Madrid in the Champions League on February 12—a significant fixture for Marc Skinner's side, but entirely distinct from the men's first-team schedule .
The proliferation of "Manchester United" search results necessitates this clarification. The men's next game remains Everton, February 23. No amount of European pedigree from the women's team accelerates Carrick's return to competitive action.
THE VERDICT: Twelve Days That Feel Like Twelve Weeks
For Carrick, the enforced hiatus is both gift and burden.
Gift: three senior players on the cusp of full fitness. Gift: tactical analysis without immediate match pressure. Gift: a squad that has, by his own admission, exceeded expectations since his appointment.
Burden: momentum, once accumulated, dissipates without expression. Burden: the narrative of United's revival will be reset, re-examined, potentially rewritten by the time his players next take the Goodison pitch.
"In the grand scheme of things, we take the point," Carrick said .
The grand scheme now includes a twelve-day pause. Whether United emerge from it refreshed or diminished will determine whether this season—already rescued from the abyss of Amorim's dismissal—can deliver the Champions League football that seemed impossible when Carrick accepted the interim role.
Everton, February 23. Goodison Park, 8PM.
The wait begins.
THE LONGER VIEW: Sunderland, Liverpool, and the Run-In
The complete fixture schedule, as published in June 2025 and still accurate per current reporting, confirms United's trajectory through spring and into the season's final weeks .
March 21 brings Bournemouth away. April opens with Leeds United at Old Trafford, followed by Chelsea away and Brentford at home. May is brutal: Liverpool at Old Trafford on the 2nd, Sunderland away on the 9th, Nottingham Forest at home on the 17th, and Brighton away on the final day, May 24 .
Carrick, when asked about the broader campaign, offers only measured optimism.
"We know how hard it is to put a run together in this league," he said. "Sometimes it comes naturally, it flows and everything clicks. You look really dangerous and there's a spark. Sometimes it's a little bit stodgy" .
The West Ham draw was stodgy. The four wins preceding it were not.
THE CAVEAT: Women's Champions League, Not Men's First Team
It must be noted that Manchester United Women face Atlético Madrid in the Champions League on February 12—a significant fixture for Marc Skinner's side, but entirely distinct from the men's first-team schedule .
The proliferation of "Manchester United" search results necessitates this clarification. The men's next game remains Everton, February 23. No amount of European pedigree from the women's team accelerates Carrick's return to competitive action.
THE VERDICT: Twelve Days That Feel Like Twelve Weeks
For Carrick, the enforced hiatus is both gift and burden.
Gift: three senior players on the cusp of full fitness. Gift: tactical analysis without immediate match pressure. Gift: a squad that has, by his own admission, exceeded expectations since his appointment.
Burden: momentum, once accumulated, dissipates without expression. Burden: the narrative of United's revival will be reset, re-examined, potentially rewritten by the time his players next take the Goodison pitch.
"In the grand scheme of things, we take the point," Carrick said .
The grand scheme now includes a twelve-day pause. Whether United emerge from it refreshed or diminished will determine whether this season—already rescued from the abyss of Amorim's dismissal—can deliver the Champions League football that seemed impossible when Carrick accepted the interim role.
Everton, February 23. Goodison Park, 8PM.
The wait begins.
