[James Ducker] Carrick is under pressure after Man Utd’s worst start for 40 years | Fears emerge that even Manchester United’s dismal points return fails to fully illustrate extent of team’s underwhelming performances

**Article:**

It is almost five years since Manchester United last won an away game in the Champions League and, coincidentally, it occurred in Spain under the watchful eyes of Michael Carrick, then caretaker manager.

That was against Villarreal at El Madrigal in November 2021, when he was in interim charge following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking and United deserved their 2-0 victory

What Carrick would give for a repeat of that result and performance against Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid at the Metropolitano Stadium on Tuesday. United’s head coach is desperately seeking a spark following the club’s worst start to a league season for 40 years after taking just six points from as many games.

It is still a fortnight before the clocks go back, but already this is shaping up to be a big week for United and Carrick.

The Metropolitano is not an easy place to go at the best of times and neither is Elland Road, where United face bitter rivals Leeds on Sunday.

That was the scene of Ruben Amorim’s final match (and meltdown) in charge of United, but 10 months on, his successor is already feeling the pressure.

Beating Atlético or, at the very least, coming away with a point against a side who have won all four La Liga matches since losing 2-1 to Liverpool at Anfield and 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao early last month could help lift the mood a little before Leeds.

**But the concern for fans, and the Old Trafford hierarchy, is that United’s performances have, in many respects, been even more worrying than the results so far.**

Carrick can point to some misfortune. Erling Haaland’s winning goal in the Manchester derby last month should not have stood and United were a stoppage-time wonder strike from Ainsley Maitland-Niles away from taking three points at Everton a week earlier.

But a 4-0 win over a very weak Sabah in their opening Champions League game aside, **United have been underwhelming and, at times, deeply unconvincing in almost all their games so far bar a rampant second half against Ipswich Town and the opening 10 minutes of the 3-2 League Cup defeat at home by Brighton.**

The first period in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham was particularly alarming. When United did press higher it was far too easy for Spurs to play through or around them and with Bruno Fernandes, whom Carrick suggested was now mostly over an injury, positioned so far up the pitch, there is invariably a huge amount of space for Youri Tielemans and Kobbie Mainoo to cover.

**Spurs exploited that time and again – there were shades here of how exposed United used to look under Erik ten Hag – and it did not help that United’s midfield pairing routinely lost track of Conor Gallagher, who had great success operating in the hole behind them.**

Matheus Cunha does not help the balance of the team either and at times appears a liability defensively. Archie Gray and Tottenham exploited his reluctance to track back or read danger.

Had Benjamin Sesko not again been sidelined by a worrying recurrence of a shin injury that kept him out for almost four months between early May and late August, Cunha’s starting spot would not be guaranteed. United are expecting a full prognosis on Sesko this week and are hoping the Slovenia striker does not face another lengthy lay-off.

There has already been talk internally of United missing Casemiro’s presence and leadership, on and off the pitch, and one thing Carrick must resolve is the balance between his midfield and attack, all the more so given the defensive shortcomings. It was troubling to see United’s back line left four on four at times against Tottenham.

Carlos Baleba’s availability will give the manager the chance to mix things up and there will be a strong argument to run with a three-man midfield against Atlético – and probably beyond then, too.

Mainoo and Luke Shaw have not travelled to the Spanish capital because of fitness issues, and with Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui also among the absentees Carrick will have to improvise at left-back in addition to re-jigging the midfield. At the very least, he has to find a way to stiffen the middle of the pitch and bring more coherence and intensity to the front line.

**When they do settle into a mid-block, they often lack the aggression and urgency to shut down space and it does not help that he lacks dynamic full-backs who can help them overload.**

One of the big considerations during the summer was ensuring they landed on the right midfield configurations, but Tielemans, a £35m recruit from Aston Villa, alongside Mainoo, lacks the athleticism required at this level.

**As for Andrey Santos, who was brought in from Chelsea for £50m, the Tottenham draw was his third successive league game as an unused substitute.**

United wanted Elliot Anderson but, unable to land him, ended up settling for numbers over premium quality and must now watch the England international running Manchester City’s midfield with envy.

Baleba, a £65m signing from Brighton, will at least bring something different. The uplift once he was introduced for his belated debut around the hour mark against Spurs was marked and United badly needed his energy and industry around the pitch.

**He cannot do it alone, though. United have to get their act together. And fast.**

I assume this is the hierarchy now making their concerns known. I think the Leeds game and the manner of performance we see there may be more important than we think.

It’s laughable how much focus has been put on qualifying for CL in the post SAF years, and basically every season we get in the CL we inevitably blow up our season within 2 months.

We’ll lose to Atletico and Como, Carrick gone by Xmas, and Howe comes in to get the team running. It’s so predictable at this stage.

It gets to a point as a manager where it becomes impossible to turn it around. Especially if you don’t have a record that proves you’re capable of much better.

If the fans lose confidence, you can imagine the players are as well. The problem is, and it’s why I think we ended up with Carrick in the first place, is there’s no real viable alternatives.

Every season its the same debate. The team is shit, we blame the manager, sack him by Jan, rinse and repeat. If folks can’t see that there are deep structural issues at play then I don’t know what to tell you.

Not enough is being made of the fixtures United have had this season, This has been one of the softest starts to a premier league campaign in the clubs History. We’ve played two teams newly promoted, two teams that when we played them were bottom of the league, an Everton Side that have had one of the worst Transfer windows in their History and a City team that were down to 10 men for 60 minutes. In all those fixtures they’ve managed to perform well for 45 minutes against Ipswich….

In each of the games where the opposition have been down to 10 men, if you missed the red card at the time the only way you’d realise they were down to 10 men is because of the little red card under the score graphic.

Ok here’s something i havent really seen many people mention.

its not the points. its not even winning games. its the way they play, the passion out on the pitch.

i remember in the 80’s as a kid and what made me fall in love with them (alongside living behind the stadium) was the passion and energy. knowing they had to leave everything on that pitch.
now, i dont see that. i see in city, i see it in liverpool, brighton, fulham…. but havent seen it in a utd team for a long time now. theyre just after a pay day and theyve all made it before they win a game.

guarantee you if they move to a performance based pay system rewarding winning theyd all suddenly play a bit better or fuck off somewhere else

I’m tired of this cycle.

No more caretaker coming in when there is nothing left to play for and the expectations are at the lowest. We all know those are the conditions where there’s nothing to lose and the players performances peak.

They need to start figuring out whom they want next and bring him in if the situation doesn’t change. In parallel Wilcox needs to have the “come to jesus” meeting with Carrick and the coaching staff asap – change the tactics and shake things up or you’re on your way out.

I sympathize with Carrick in the sense that we have a dreadful window and now all thing risks that we had identified are a reality, like Sesko being the only striker, lack of defensive quality, casemiro not being effectively replaced and LB options being stretched. However still no excuse with us not winning Hull, Everton, Fulham and Spurs. It’s awfully sloppy at the moment and I think the only way to deal with it now is to change your approach quickly.

Since INEOS came in 2 and half years ago we’ve had three managers, two worst ever league campaigns and three worst ever PL starts.

They’ve made the wrong footballing decision every time they’ve had to make one and it was obvious to most people that strengthening only one area of the pitch every summer was stupid and was never going to work.

Agree with some of that but this is complete bollocks: “It was troubling to see United’s back line left four on four at times against Tottenham.”
We used to leave Rio and Vidic 2 on 2 and 3 on 2 all the time to allow us to attack with more players. The issue is the huge gap between midfield and defence and players that can’t press and Bruno a headless chicken

I want to be angry at his tactics but my god how unfit do we look. I cannot believe how little conditioning we have done over the summer which means now no matter what, this season will be an absolute write off. Embarrassing. Infuriating. Pathetic.

I just don’t understand any of it anymore. I don’t understand how we go from absolutely battering City in his first game to this. 

I think he’s finished now. I can’t see how performances improve quickly enough to save him, it’s just a question of how fucked the season is when the time comes. 

Another season over by October. Another manager through the meat grinder. And every time it happens the managerial options available to decrease in quality and number. If we end up with Eddie fucking Howe I’ll completely lose it. 

Today’s game will be pivotal. If we win he’ll turn it around because we are aa team that lives and dies based on momentum but if we lose he’ll be gone in a month.

The poisoned chalice indeed