Michael Carrick has paid the price for Manchester United’s chaotic start to the season, lasting less than six months into the two-year contract he signed in May. Mauricio Pochettino looks likely to succeed him, and chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox will hope his appointment brings calm after another period of turmoil.
It was just after 6pm on Sunday, 8 November when the message landed. Manchester United were 4-2 down to Aston Villa, and Old Trafford had resigned itself to defeat.
The predicted ending did not come to pass. United scored twice in stoppage time to salvage a 4-4 draw. Carrick celebrated Patrick Dorgu’s equaliser by raising an arm in the air, then walked around the pitch on what has turned out to be a final lap of appreciation.
As the United supporters sang his name, Carrick placed himself in the middle of his players to ensure the fans did not turn on them, as they had after the 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth two weeks earlier. It was a decision that summed up the 45-year-old: he put the collective first rather than looking after himself.
That desire to do the best for his club and his players, along with his storied past, explains why Carrick’s song continued to ring out from the stands when just about everyone else at United was attracting fury and derision.
A decision that came late
To get this far has taken longer than many expected. It seemed there was no way Carrick could survive the Bournemouth debacle. United took 44 hours to tell the wider world they were sticking with him, although it is understood Carrick was told the day before.
Since then, it has been chaos. United have won one, drawn one and lost one.
They were outstanding in the opening 45 minutes at Chelsea, but conceded at the start of the second half. Defender Lisandro Martinez was then sent off for two bookings in the space of five minutes, and United lost 2-0.
Against Roma in the Champions League, they were awful and two goals down inside 17 minutes. They roared back with the kind of thrilling comeback Carrick was part of so often during Sir Alex Ferguson’s days, winning 3-2.
Then came Villa. Two goals down in four minutes thanks to calamitous goalkeeping, United clawed back to level before half-time. More abysmal defending left them with another mountain to climb, but they emerged from the carnage with a point.
Try picking the bones out of that. Had Carrick’s stock risen, or had it merely proved he was not the right man for the job? United decided it was the latter.
Berrada and Wilcox celebrated Dorgu’s stoppage-time equaliser in the directors’ box, but they had a slightly detached perspective. Within days, they were flying to Monaco to tell minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe that change was required.
For the third season in a row, United are replacing the man in charge mid-season. Unlike with Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, however, this decision is not a surprise. It is not because of what is happening now, but because what is happening now is so at odds with what happened last season.
After 12 wins in 17 games under Carrick and a return to the Champions League, the mood in pre-season was overwhelmingly positive. There were no signs of splits, young players including JJ Gabriel were part of the group, and senior staff spoke optimistically about the potential of a partnership between Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans. Recruitment was clearly an issue, but more of that later.
Defeats and outbursts as the season unravels
Looking back, the 48 hours before United’s season-opening match at Hull were pivotal. Benjamin Sesko was still trying to ease his way back from the shin issue that ended his previous campaign early, and Amad Diallo suffered an ankle injury that would rule him out for seven weeks. Carrick was deprived of his first-choice striking alternative, so Bryan Mbeumo had to play on the right of the attack.
Carrick turned instead to Matheus Cunha, whose tendency to drop deep took him into the spaces captain Fernandes likes to occupy. It neutralised United’s attack on a day when they seemed ill-prepared for the physical challenge of an opponent motivated by their long-awaited Premier League return.
In his role as interviewer for Nordic broadcaster Viaplay, former Norway and Middlesbrough striker Jan Aage Fjortoft claimed United had lacked passion. Carrick dismissed the claim as “ridiculous”. “It’s one game,” he told the media afterwards.
The following week, United were losing to Ipswich, another newly promoted side. Only a slip from Marcelino Nunez inside his own half allowed Cunha to tee up Fernandes for an undeserved equaliser. Fernandes, who had just been crowned PFA Player of the Year for 2025-26, went on to complete a hat-trick in a 5-2 win. United have not won in the Premier League since.
Next came a trip to Everton. United led twice, the second time when Sesko struck two minutes from time after coming on as a substitute. Deep into stoppage time, Ainsley Maitland-Niles drove home from long range to deny the visitors. Asked how confident he was that his side could react to a disappointing start, Carrick snapped back: “It’s not been that bad.”
Time and again, United’s fitness was called into question. They struggled badly against a Manchester City side reduced to 10 men in the first half, before City benefited from an Erling Haaland goal that referees’ chief Howard Webb later admitted should not have stood. Carrick’s complaints after the match were justified, but they masked a poor performance from his own team.
After taking a 2-0 lead inside 10 minutes against Brighton in the EFL Cup, United were outplayed and beaten, thanks to two goals in four second-half minutes. Carrick’s coaching staff, lauded only months earlier, could not find an answer.
The head coach said Cunha’s injury-time equaliser against a Fulham side who started the game bottom was a positive to build on. But immediately after the international break, United were held to another draw, conceding in injury time to an out-of-form Tottenham side who had played the last 10 minutes with 10 men. The familiar downward spiral was getting out of control.
Martinez was at fault for Spurs’ leveller, which made his post-match outburst after the 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid all the more striking. The Argentina defender criticised United’s summer recruitment and placed the blame at the door of “the technical director”, Wilcox.
By the time of Martinez’s outburst, Sesko and left-back Luke Shaw were injured, and Marcus Rashford has not played since. The rotation at left-back eventually led to Carrick starting five different players in that role. After conceding in the opening minute against Atletico, Como scored inside the first two in a 4-1 win. Fernandes came out afterwards and criticised Carrick’s tactics. He was dropped for the Bournemouth game, but returned as captain at Chelsea.
Injuries and poor recruitment
There is no doubt Carrick made mistakes. The Hull game, a performance that set the tone for the season so far, was inexplicable.
But it is also fair to ask how much he was let down by the recruitment side. A source close to one player questioned why so much attention was focused on midfield, when the inevitable consequence was Fernandes being shifted away from the central position he excelled in over the second half of last season.
Casemiro’s exit necessitated a big-money replacement. After heading down one-way streets in pursuit of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, United did not complete the £70m deal for Carlos Baleba from Brighton until 25 August. A pre-existing ankle injury meant Baleba did not make his debut until 10 October. After starting only five games, he is now out for an extended period with a hamstring problem.
Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa for £35m, and Andrey Santos signed from Chelsea in a deal that could eventually cost £50m. Tielemans scored his first goal in the Villa thriller. Santos, though, was left on the bench and has started four league games.
Meanwhile, obvious issues in Carrick’s squad were left unaddressed. Shaw started every Premier League game last season, but that was an outlier in an otherwise injury-hit career, and clear competition was needed in that area. Instead, United backed off, thinking they might be able to sign Lewis Hall from Newcastle next summer.
United’s back four for the first home game of the season was the same as it was for the first home game under Ten Hag in 2022. They have conceded 30 goals so far this term, the most of any team in Europe’s top five leagues apart from Lens. Up front, Sesko finished last season injured and had made only two substitute appearances when the transfer window closed. Carrick later admitted he would be out for a “long time”, thought to mean at least January.
Where it went wrong
United’s players were booed down the tunnel by their own fans after the 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth. Carrick was asked about further signings after Tielemans and Santos arrived during the club’s pre-season training camp on 13 August. “We want more, we need more,” was his response.
For someone so calm and considered, it was a strong demand for action from those above him. Well-placed sources say it was obvious to Carrick where the holes in his squad were, and he expected more than a single new signing.
Before Carrick spoke, another club source said United should be judged when the transfer window closed. From this position, that judgement would have to be negative.
Other United sources defend the recruitment strategy, arguing that it is easy to be wise after the event and that, at the end of last season, Kobbie Mainoo was their only orthodox midfield option. It is also argued that the squad is capable of finishing in the Champions League places. More than a quarter of the way into the season, however, United are some way off that target.
Carrick has paid the price, and Pochettino looks set to take over. Berrada and Wilcox will hope that his arrival brings calm after another period of chaos.