EIGHT OF the questions at Michael Carrick’s post-match press conference related to Manchester City’s illegitimate goal. Just as well for Carrick.
Greater Manchester-born VAR Matt Donohue’s cock-up for Erling Haaland’s winner kept the heat off Carrick, at least until Monday morning.
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Staff at United quickly realised referee Michael Oliver should have been sent to the monitor, and that the Premier League Match Centre feed was erroneous.
But the bigger picture is Manchester United have had as bad a Premier League start as last season. Carrick’s predecessor was sacked in January.
Ironically, Ruben Amorim’s departure was not influenced by results. His abrasive personality railroaded United into cutting the cord.
Carrick’s compliant character is one of the reasons he was installed in permanent charge. But his uninspiring demeanour on the touchline and in press conferences does not wash when United have four points from 12.
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For the third time in four games, United lost against ten men. Two of those defeats came under Carrick.
The red cards against Newcastle and City were both brandished at 0-0. And yet United meandered in both.
Their game management against City was amateur hour. Carrick had 22 minutes in the first half to assess 11 vs 10. Bar Marcus Rashford’s free kick that smacked the post, United were blunt.
For the second week running, they lacked a focal point. The Stretford End sang Benjamin Sesko’s name to the old Andy Cole song. United strikers past and present.
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Monday 14 September
Leeds
20:00
EPL
Newcastle
Friday 18 September
Brentford
20:00
EPL
Chelsea
Saturday 19 September
Spurs
12:30
EPL
Villa
Brighton
15:00
EPL
Arsenal
Everton
15:00
EPL
Ipswich
Sunday 13 September
Man Utd
0 – 1
EPL
Man City
Coventry
0 – 5
EPL
Brighton
Saturday 12 September
Sunderland
0 – 2
EPL
Arsenal
Spurs
0 – 0
EPL
Everton
Liverpool
0 – 0
EPL
Fulham
Palace
2 – 3
EPL
Ipswich
English Premier League
Pld
Pts
GD
W
D
L
Form
1
4
12
7
4
0
0
2
4
12
6
4
0
0
3
4
8
3
2
2
0
4
4
7
8
2
1
1
5
4
7
1
2
1
1
6
4
6
3
1
3
0
7
4
6
2
1
3
0
8
4
6
2
1
3
0
7
On the pitch, they had no striker. City did and Haaland got the game’s only goal. Sesko came on 19 minutes after United supporters urged Carrick to send him on.
Sesko ought to have emerged at half-time. Many United fans would have liked to have seen him start. That was a moot point as his starting role against Sabah three days earlier practically confirmed he would be back on the bench for the derby.
He sat on it too long. The only genuine chance United fashioned was for Bryan Mbeumo in the fifth minute of added time.
What was troubling about Carrick’s team is that, had Luke Shaw been fit, he would have picked the same XI that gifted Everton a draw a week earlier.
That performance was passive and the pace of United’s play glacial. There was more of the same against City.
At full back, United are beyond complacent. Patrick Dorgu was signed on the strength of playing at left back for relegation fodder Lecce. He is not good enough there in a credible United side.
For the second week running, Dorgu’s positional indiscipline contributed to the game’s decisive goal. Desperate to atone for his clumsily skewed clearance, he hared from left to right, which left Lisandro Martinez with two opponents to mark. Haaland was unmarked.
Carrick has a blind spot with Dorgu, perhaps out of gratitude for his goals in his opening two games against City and Arsenal in January. It is easy to forget Dorgu was having a wretched time at the Emirates before he imitated Tony Yeboah.
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Inexplicably, Dorgu became United’s attacking left winger in the final 12 minutes. Carrick felt Joshua Zirkzee (two Premier League goals since December 1 2024) for Rashford was a game-changing move. No, me neither.
Around 18 minutes after kick-off, a press release arrived celebrating Diogo Dalot’s 250th United appearance. It was not long after that Dalot seemed intent on evening up the 11 vs 10.
Dalot is a buoyant personality, speaks multiple languages, is the second-longest serving squad member and is rarely injured. It is easy to see why teammates value him, hence his players’ player of the year award in 2024.
Yet his form is consistently sub-par. Dalot’s best spell for United was in the first third of the 2022-23 season. So four years ago.
Sir Alex Ferguson once remarked that Denis Irwin was an “8/10” every week. Standards at United have generally nosedived and this is Dalot’s ninth year at the club.
The United hierarchy have sold Carrick short by not signing a single defender and they left it too late to acquire Carlos Baleba. His debut will come not long before the clocks go back. By then, Baleba will not have played in two-and-a-half months.
That mitigation does not account for United losing a derby when they had a man advantage for 68 minutes. Haaland’s goal patently should not have stood but City generally looked likelier when they had the ball in the final third.
They masterfully managed the balance between defence and attack. United are too loose and too often resemble their unflappable coach in the technical area.
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And now we start to wonder whether Hull was Carrick’s moment. It happens to them all.
David Moyes had Olympiakos, Louis van Gaal in Midtjylland, Jose Mourinho at West Ham, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer against Liverpool, Erik ten Hag against Tottenham and Ruben Amorim at Grimsby.
It is the point of no return. United must have hoped that Hull was an aberration. Their performances since suggest otherwise.
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Even the 5-2 win against Ipswich Town was fortuitous. There was a game-changing slip by Marcelino Nunez with Ipswich 1-0 up and a handball by Harry Maguire for United to go 2-1 up. Sabah should have equalised.
The heat has to be on Carrick, as well as VAR.