Manchester United were thumped 4-1 by Como in the Champions League; defeat exposed defensive, attacking and physical issues which have led to dreadful start to the season under Michael Carrick, with team now winless in seven games across all competitions
Thursday marked five months exactly since Man Utd announced Carrick would be staying on as head coach. There will be little mood for celebrating anniversaries the morning after his worst night in the role.
The 4-1 thumping in Como left Carrick, in his own words, “angry”. It also ruptured open divisions in the camp, with club captain Bruno Fernandes criticising the tactical plan.
United have made their worst-ever start to a Premier League season and that European humbling means they are now seven without a win across all competitions.
It’s a shocking collapse in form from the brilliant run at the back end of last season which convinced United to sign Carrick up until 2028. So what’s gone wrong?
This week, it was Fernandes. Last week, it was Lisandro Martinez hitting out at the hierarchy. The centre-back had technical director Jason Wilcox in his sights when he criticised the club for not strengthening the squad further in the summer transfer window.
United spent £163m – less than promoted pair Hull City and Ipswich Town, as well as seven other Premier League clubs. Midfield was the focus but left-back and centre-forward areas weren’t bolstered.
Reasons for the scale of United’s summer outlay are multi-layered – stretching right back to the Glazer takeover – but crucially Carrick was not able to significantly upgrade this group to go from playing just 40 games last season to taking on Champions League football and trying to improve on a third-place Premier League finish this term.
The World Cup made it a draining summer for many players at elite clubs. But when concerns about this season’s increased workload for United were combined with Youri Tielemans suggesting there had been a lighter load of pre-season running, alarm bells began to ring.
United’s intensity – or lack of – has proven to be a standout problem.
Fernandes may have issues with the pressing plan deployed by Carrick and his coaching staff in Como but with just one goal involvement in his past nine games for United, the drop-off from the team’s talisman has clearly been extremely damaging.
All four of his goal involvements in the Premier League came against Ipswich Town (three goals, one assist).
After breaking the assists record last season, his chance creation figures have halved this season.
Fernandes’ figures reflect a wider problem to United’s attack.
Since that Ipswich game, he has had 12 shots – but just two on target.
No team has had more shots than United this season – but they rank joint-worst for xG per shot.
Too often it’s speculative rather than substantial from United’s forwards.
They were the top scorers during the final 17 games of last season, when Carrick was in charge and harnessing the powers of his Portuguese playmaker.
But the continued absence of Benjamin Sesko due to injury and the lack of an alternative out-and-out striker has left United without a focal point to target. Fernandes took on the role of false-nine on Wednesday and it didn’t work. – skysports.
