Manchester United are back here again. The Premier League’s most successful club are floundering, again.
Sunday’s draw with winless Fulham compounded an already miserable week for Michael Carrick. It began with defeat at home in the derby with Manchester City, despite having a man advantage for 67 minutes plus stoppages. Then came a Carabao Cup exit arguably on par for embarrassment with last year’s defeat at Grimsby, considering they were 2-0 up and cruising at home to Brighton before going on to lose 3-2.
Pressure is already mounting on Carrick after a summer that didn’t satisfy many of the supporters. While City spent north of £300m on their midfield rebuild, United spent £50m on Andrey Santos, who couldn’t get into the Chelsea team. Although £35m for Youri Tielemans is an excellent price for a player of his experience, he hasn’t started in a way that suggests he solves their problems immediately.
After the game on Sunday, he spoke like a man who knows he is vulnerable heading into a three-week-long international break.
“We want better results,” Carrick told Match of the Day afterwards.
“We want more points, we’re going to have a spell where it’s not quite going for you, and we’ve had a spell of that where small things have ended up as big things. We don’t think things are perfect by any means.
“We need to win football matches. The supporters were top-drawer again today, and we have to give them something to keep shouting about.”
There is already a growing clamour for Carrick to be replaced, with European betting sites listing possible replacements. But just like when he came in for Ruben Amorim last season, a managerial change doesn’t get to the root cause of the issues at the club.
They’ve been 13 years in the making, since Sir Alex Ferguson departed after lifting the last of their 20 league titles. To change Manchester United, the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe need to make way for owners who understand the club and what it takes to make it successful.
Yet, Carrick was never the answer. As they did when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho in 2018, the decision-makers mistook the release from a toxic environment under a former player as the way back.
Carrick did very well to get United third last season, but should never have been given the job full time. Having said that, the sort of coach who can change things in this environment are not likely to be interested in joining at all, let alone mid-season. Another interim appointment just resets the cycle again.
Links with Antonio Conte, one of the most demanding and volatile coaches in the world, with no evidence of the long-term vision the club needs, are indicative too.
Former United defender Gary Neville, a prominent and outspoken pundit and podcaster, was far from complimentary on Sunday.
“I’ve watched Manchester United since the age of five, and that’s the worst 15 minutes I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Absolutely pathetic.
“I’ve never seen such a lack of effort. What must [Michael] Carrick be thinking?”
Neville and others have played their own part in this mess. The constant commentating from the side has not helped at all, but it is hard to disprove him here.
There are serious concerns over player development. It almost doesn’t matter who signs for them; they’ve brought in established stars, Premier League-proven talents and young prospects, but you can probably count the success stories on one hand.
Is effort the issue? In part. Standards have been slipping for over a decade; now the stature of the club, once a huge asset, is a burden. They have the expectation of title winners but the consistency of midtable dwellers.
Manchester United have what feels like an annually repetitive story that never changes. There are deeply concerning cultural issues at the club, but the trouble is, it is no longer clear where they start to fix them.