Manchester United can’t sleep on talks with a Michael Carrick replacement after watching him do nothing as his side were torn apart by Leeds at Old Trafford.
This was a far, far bigger game for Leeds than it was for Manchester United, but few would have expected that discrepancy in importance as the visitors fight for survival and the Red Devils enjoy a cruise back into the Champions League to manifest itself through quite such a staggering difference in desire and quality to raise doubts over the futures of several United players and indeed their interim manager.
Leeds should have been in front after three minutes, took the lead in the fifth, Senne Lammens nearly dribbled the ball into his own net in the sixth, and it’s not too much of an exaggeration to suggest the chances came as thick and fast as that for the rest of the first half.
“He’s got plenty to think about here,” Neville said as the camera panned to a contemplative Michael Carrick on the touchline after that first barrage of Leeds attacks, which saw Jayden Bogle and the outstanding Gabriel Gudmundsson tear down the flanks unchallenged and deliver for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to bully his frankly pathetic centre-back opponents.
Quite what Carrick was thinking about was never made clear to the Manchester United fans, who displayed either stunning entitlement or doubt over their direction under the caretaker boss, maybe a combination of both, by booing their team off at half-time and again at full-time on the back of five wins from five under Carrick at Old Trafford.
He made no substitutions until the 69th minute despite Leeds having an xG of 2.03 to their 0.19 by half-time, and there was no notable tactical change in that time either as he watched each and every member of his starting XI get outplayed by their opposite number.
Manuel Ugarte was predictably awful as a late replacement for Kobbie Mainoo; there’s surely no world in which he remains at Old Trafford beyond this season. Leny Yoro looked shaky and weak again to raise questions as to what exactly it was United spent £52m on.
Casemiro saved himself from a Jamie Carragher dressing down for failing to “leave the football before the football leaves you” through a typical bullet header to give United hope in the second half after giving the ball away as regularly as he did in his bleakest period at Old Trafford.
And Lisandro Martinez did his level best to gift Paul Scholes ammo in his vendetta against the United defender by losing aerial duels, passing teammates into trouble, failing to clear his lines and then rounding off a terrible display by pulling Calvert-Lewin’s ponytail before unashamedly playing dumb when shown a red card.
United were much, much better after going down to ten men and could easily have snatched a point as Casemiro saw another header cleared off the line by Calvert-Lewin and Karl Darlow saved Benjamin Sesko’s effort.
But Leeds were well worth the points. Ethan Ampadu and Tao Tanaka were brilliant in midfield – in contrast to the Tottenham duo on Sunday – Calvert-Lewin was a menace up front, if a profligate one, and Noah Okafor deserved the slight fortune of the deflection on his strike for his second goal after beautifully controlling his volley to score the first.
It’s a result which leaves Leeds six points above the relegation zone and as Daniel Farke dropped to his knees in celebration he might reasonably think it’s a win which confirms their Premier League status for next season. At the very least they’re nearly there.
Manchester United are too in their bid to secure Champions League qualification. Even defeat to Chelsea next weekend would keep them four points above sixth-place and possible exclusion from UEFA’s showcase competition (even sixth might be enough), and a) Chelsea are terrible and b) United surely won’t be this bad again.
A dramatic sh*tting of the bed will be required from United to miss out from here, but Carrick could still very easily be denied his goal of securing the permanent job at Old Trafford.
If reports claiming INEOS are yet to hold talks with alternatives are accurate, this was a game to expedite that process.
There’s a place for the calmness that stands Carrick in stark contrast to his jittery counterpart in the process of bottling the Premier League title, but this game called for action and Carrick did nothing but stand and hope that a combination of individual quality and Old Trafford vibes could lift his side from the hole Leeds had plunged them into.
Luis Enrique would have done something. Mauricio Pochettino would have done something. Julian Nagelsmann would have done something. Any manager worthy of Manchester United would have done something.
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