MANCHESTER UNITED have already dropped almost as many points under Michael Carrick this season as they did last season.
Since the opening weekend horror show at Hull, much of what has said and done has been unbecoming of a coach or manager.
Matchgoers started to turn at when they in the 90th minute. Even Carrick’s ghostwriter questioned him in an online post.
Substituting was not an obvious mistake but Carrick has made plenty in the first month of the campaign and it could yet cost him.
After two wins from seven games, here is where Carrick has gone wrong:
Starting Heaven at Hull
Hull was hell for Ayden Heaven, who has not started in the Premier League since on August 22.
Heaven started in all six pre-season games, purely through his left-footedness. With Lisandro Martinez unavailable following his World Cup commitments, Carrick turned to the only other leftie at centre half.
Pitting the 19-year-old Heaven against Oli McBurnie was a major misjudgement. Choosing Noussair Mazraoui or Diogo Dalot is a toss of a coin but Mazraoui was patently not ready to start at right back at the MKM Stadium.
Starting Dorgu on the left at Hull
United have three left wingers and Patrick Dorgu is the weakest, yet he lined up at Hull on the back of a full pre-season.
Dorgu’s day lasted 45 minutes. Carrick had a blindspot with the Denmark international, on the scoresheet in the United head coach’s first two games back in charge in January. He now seems to have opened his eyes to Dorgu’s limitations.
Man Utd ratings v Fulham
MANCHESTER UNITED salvaged a 1-1 draw as Fulham narrowly missed out on their first Premier League win of the season.
Matheus Cunha’s late deflected strike
Lisandro Martinez’s embarrassing own goal after Senne Lammens parried out Calvin Bassey‘s shot in the 63rd minute summed up a dreadful afternoon for the Red Devils.
By playing Dorgu on the left wing, Matheus Cunha went up front when Bryan Mbeumo had played the entirety of pre-season there. The planning went out the window.
Playing Cunha up front
Look at Cunha’s goal against Fulham again and note where he receives the ball. On the left wing, where he played every time he appeared for Carrick last season.
This season, Cunha has moved to the tip of the arrow and not been as sharp. Mbeumo, who scored every time he had a stint up front for Carrick last term, has returned to the right wing.
That is partly due to the absence of Amad through injury yet switching Dorgu to the right was worth a go at some stage, if only to have two of United’s most threatening forwards in roles they thrived in in the second half of last season.
Substituting Rashford at Everton
Carrick said Rashford “felt something” with United 1-0 up at Everton. Fair enough. But removing him for Dorgu sent out the wrong signal.
Everton, becoming increasingly dominant, had sent on an actual left winger in Jack Grealish and received an adrenaline shot. They equalised.
Rashford had requested an energy gel, so if he absolutely had to go off then Benjamin Sesko should have replaced him.
Cunha could have shifted to the left to accommodate the striker and signal United’s attacking intent.
Substituting Shaw at Everton
Dalot had gone off for Leny Yoro after Everton made it 1-1. Luke Shaw then made way for Mazraoui in added time, minutes after United had regained their lead.
Shaw would go on to miss three games yet he had four more minutes to see out at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and overlapped to cross for Sesko’s goal in the 88th minute.
Dalot was hooked as he was on a booking. From Carrick’s viewpoint, withdrawing book full backs may have been enforced, though that is debatable.
The knock-on effect was ruinous. Yoro, a centre back, was narrow and afforded Grealish too much room to pick out Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Mazraoui, conscious of fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall inside the area, did not fully commit to the tackle and unwittingly teed up Ainsley Maitland-Niles to sweep in a spectacular 95th-minute leveller.
Not sending Sesko on sooner against City
Phil Foden’s 23rd-minute red card gave Carrick 22 minutes to assess 11-versus-10. United made little headway with the man advantage and lacked a focal point against a City back four that comprised three centre backs.
Sesko warmed up at the start of the second half. The Stretford End chanted his name. He did not come on for another 19 minutes.
By then, Erling Haaland had scored the only goal of the game. Carrick’s only other attempt at game-changing was to introduce the harmless Joshua Zirkzee.
Moving Fernandes into midfield against City
When Sesko crossed the white line, it was for Youri Tielemans. Cunha withdrew into the hole and Bruno Fernandes dropped further back into midfield.
Fernandes has had some brilliant games in a deeper role yet moving him farther from the City goal with 20-odd minutes remaining and United trailing was counter-productive.
United did not have a sniff until Bryan Mbeumo was played in by Fernandes in the 95th minute. Fernandes was occupying the space that a No.10 operates in.
Too many changes against Brighton
Brighton had won at Old Trafford four seasons running. United have won two trophies in nine years and went out of both domestic cup competitions at the first hurdle last season.
It was not the night for eight changes, never mind the inclusion of a 15-year-old on the bench.
After much talk, JJ Gabriel never got his call-up .
But starting Yoro and Heaven in front of debutant goalkeeper Karl Darlow asked for trouble and United got it. The trio were culpable for all three goals as Brighton became the first team to win at Old Trafford from 2-0 down since Tottenham in September 1976.
Repeatedly turning to Zirkzee
Since his two goals in Ruben Amorim’s first Premier League win on December 1 2024, Joshua Zirkzee has scored two Premier League goals.
United were prepared to offload him in the summer and Everton came calling on deadline day. United decided they needed the extra body.
Zirkzee has subsequently emerged in three games with United losing. Carrick has been without Amad and Sesko was missing again at Fulham but he needs to be more imaginative than summoning a flop. Zirkzee has done nowt.
Reverting to the same XI at Fulham
Carrick picked the same starting XI against Ipswich Town, Everton and Fulham. A win, a draw and a near-defeat.
Even the 5-2 victory against Ipswich had dollops of good fortune. United seized on a slip for their equalising goal and there was a
The back four in those games was Dalot, Maguire, Martinez and Shaw. David Moyes did the legwork on the Shaw deal that was signed off by Louis van Gaal in 2014. Jose Mourinho signed Dalot. Maguire was Solskjaer’s signing and Martinez followed Erik ten Hag to Old Trafford.
That was the back four in the 4-0 drubbing by Brentford in August 2022, United’s worst-ever performance in the Premier League era.
Carrick’s United have sieved five goals in four games with the quartet and it could have been more.
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