Man Utd are conceding too many goals and Michael Carrick knows this is a weakness that is going to cost his team if it isn't fixed soon.
Manchester United
Manchester United are making life hard for themselves with a poor defensive record
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On the face of it, Michael Carrick has improved Manchester United's defence. Having conceded 1.50 goals a game under Erik ten Hag and 1.29 under Ruben Amorim, they are shipping 1.15 in Carrick's 20 games so far.
That remains a small sample size and the evidence of this season is a concern, with Hull City, Ipswich Town and Everton all breaching the United rearguard twice.
The two goals Everton scored at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday mean United have now conceded twice in half of Carrick's games in charge. But they have still only lost three of those matches and alongside the goals conceded, there have also been six clean sheets.
That makes them a difficult team to predict. When either keeping a clean sheet or only conceding once, United have won eight and drawn two. When conceding twice, they have still managed to win five times and draw twice, with three defeats.
It seems unlikely that that record can continue, and Carrick seemed to accept after the draw on Merseyside that his side needed to tighten up if they are to kick on this season.
"There's obviously things we need to get better at as a team," said Carrick. "We obviously can't ignore it. We need to concede less goals to give us a better chance of winning games, but we'll certainly look at that and keep improving."
If anything, Carrick's United have done exceptionally well to pick up the number of points they have when they have conceded two goals in so many games. Going forward, scoring at least three times when you concede twice isn't going to happen 50% of the time.
The challenge for Carrick now is to work out why this is happening and what the fix is. Against Ipswich and Everton, he had what is widely regarded as his best back four on the pitch: Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw.
Martinez's form has been patchy from a defensive point of view, although his passing remains excellent, and the collective defending has been poor. United were passive for Everton's first and unstructured for the second. They conceded twice from crosses against Hull and again from a wide area against Ipswich.
Kobbie Mainoo and Youri Tielemans have been good in midfield and Mainoo was excellent from a defensive point of view last week, but perhaps there will be an improvement when Carlos Baleba is fit and can offer a more robust presence in the centre of the pitch, as well as covering more ground.
Matthijs de Ligt is also pushing for a return after the international break and he could offer something different at centre-back. Leny Yoro has found his game time coming at right-back this season, but he should get a chance in the middle against Sabah in the Champions League or Brighton in the Carabao Cup.
The solution might be less about personnel changes than about improving the structure. One feature of Carrick's reign so far has been the improvement made on the training ground at Carrington.
That could provide the answer again. In Jonny Evans and Jonathan Woodgate, he has two former Premier League centre-backs on his coaching staff, and giving them the chance to lead a few defensive sessions could help bring about the improvement that Carrick knows is essential.