Man United's comebacks and chaos are not a reason to keep Michael Carrick image
OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER — Manchester United's modern history is littered with sliding-doors moments. Admittedly, none bigger than the stable-door moment, through which Rock of Gibraltar bolted at the start of this century, but on several occasions in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson years, things might have been less bad if those making the decisions had any sort of conviction or foresight.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remains, by pretty much any metric, United's best-performing manager since Ferguson. It was not difficult to see that a distant second place behind champions Manchester City in 2020/21 and a penalty shootout defeat in the Europa League final to Villarreal was somewhere close to Solskjaer's ceiling. That was the time to be bold, shake hands and move on to the next guy; someone who might continue the painstaking work of turning United into a genuine force once more.
But Solskjaer remained in post and was waylaid with a reactive transfer strategy that featured the marquee arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho. He was out of a job by fall 2021, the last act a catastrophic 4-1 defeat at Watford. All the foundations Solskjaer diligently put in place were smashed to pieces.
Solskjaer's permanent successor (interim Ralf Rangnick told fans everything they wanted to hear and didn't stick around to act upon any of it), Erik ten Hag, guided United to a third-place finish and the Carabao Cup in 2022/23. The following year was very poor as United finished eighth. Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS brains trust loudly sourced potential replacements, saw Ten Hag upset City in the FA Cup final, dithered, and kept him. The Dutchman was handed a hefty transfer kitty in summer 2024, United started the season abysmally, and he was sacked in October.
MORE: Man United's crazy 4-4 draw against Aston Villa as it happened
There are myriad problems at United, as Sunday's latest protests against their feckless ownership demonstrated. To have stewards as egregiously inept as the Glazer family for two decades, only to add an extra layer of ownership overseen by Ratcliffe that is equally mean-spirited, unpopular and useless, puts us in the realms of Kafkaesque farce.
But the need for any sliver of good news, any faint suggestion that the glory days might return, leads to a sort of dopamine-based level of decision-making. Any rush of adrenaline supersedes the need for sober judgement. Ten Hag won a cup: don't sack him and give him £200 million. Ruben Amorim talks tough, spares no one; never mind that the football is an affront to the eyes. Just keep him until he publicly torches every relationship with his bosses in public.
Which brings us to Michael Carrick, the popular and palpably decent man who was a much-needed balm for the rawness of the Amorim experiment. He has to be relieved of his duties as United manager, for his sake and everyone else's. This can't go on.
Leon Goretzka
It beggars belief that Ratcliffe and his partners in crime Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada — all three seemingly sharing the unhelpful twin traits of being cocksure and clueless — did not spare Carrick after the wretched 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth two weekends ago. Since then, he has overseen a recovery of sorts in the eye of the storm. The past six days at Old Trafford have been thrilling and borderline unhinged.
From 2-0 down, United beat Roma 3-2 in the Champions League. From 2-0 down inside four minutes and 4-2 down heading into stoppage time, they drew 4-4 with Aston Villa on Sunday. A couple of weeks ago, Carrick's United looked like a ghost team. But they have shown fight, spirit and no little attacking quality.
Yet fans chanted that those players were "not fit to wear the shirt" at 2-0 on Sunday, while much-maligned full-back Diogo Dalot was ironically cheered and then booed from the field after he was substituted during the second half. As Carrick said after the match, when he defended Dalot — a flawed player who never shirks his responsibility — the anger is understandable, and it takes a particular form at Old Trafford. Joshua Zirkzee, whose goal sparked the unlikely comeback against Villa, was similarly barracked during a wretched 2-0 defeat to Newcastle in December 2024 and was seen comforting Dalot on the bench. Neither man deserved their ordeal.
United's status as the most successful club in English history alongside Liverpool is built almost entirely upon the dynasties of two great managers. Ferguson and his fellow footballing knight Sir Matt Busby are responsible for 18 of United's 20 league titles and all three of their European Cups. It means there is a thirst for a figurehead, an all-powerful leader behind whom a club can unite and conquer.
Throw in the fact that Carrick was a much-loved and excellent player under Ferguson and the fans will never publicly turn on him. Players roundly lambasted across the churn of the Man United old boys podcast multiverse will always take their ire, along with the ownership. But just as it's ridiculous to suggest that if this group of players tried a little harder, cared a little more and understood United DNA it would herald a return of the glory days, it's also ludicrous that they will spend the November international break in the relegation zone.
"Those four defenders, Mazraoui, Yoro, Heaven and Dalot, that gets you relegated," said Phil Neville on NBC's coverage of the Villa game. Tim Sherwood called it "a Championship defence" on Sky Sports News. Presumably this was also the case when Real Madrid were battling with United for Leny Yoro's signature and Noussair Mazraoui was racking up medals with Ajax and Bayern Munich. You could say people lose the run of themselves talking about Manchester United if they ever had a grasp of it in the first place.
Joshua Zirkzee
Everton, with a squad no one would have swapped for United's at the start of the season, are sixth under the one-time 'Chosen One' David Moyes. They're level on points with Chelsea and above hipsters' favourites Bournemouth and Brentford. At Everton, there is also dissatisfaction with ownership and investment.
Their current lofty position could be a castle built on sand, much like United finishing third with their Carrick bounce and without the distraction of European football last season. It underlines the volatility of a Premier League where everyone can beat everyone, apart from uber-miserly champion Arsenal. United, meanwhile, can't beat anyone. They haven't won domestically since beating newly promoted Ipswich Town in August. No team in Europe's top five leagues have conceded more than United's 30 goals across all competitions — a remarkable statistic even before we consider Lens let in nine in one match last week.
United's players are not close to the standard of the Ferguson years, and there are multiple reasons for that. But they're nowhere near the third worst collection in the Premier League, either. Ten games in 2026/27 is enough of a sample size for that to be damning for Carrick. So much at Old Trafford swirls out of his control and the feel-good factor of earlier this year has been utterly subsumed by misery.
There are green shoots, though, through the past week's comebacks and a willingness to fight. Another manager — Eddie Howe feels like as good a bet as any — should be given the chance to nurture those, without the expectation of being the next Busby or Ferguson. The Glazers and INEOS are a disgrace, but the vast majority of Premier League teams would baulk at their presence and this squad amounting to a hopeless set of circumstances. Carrick should be allowed to leave with appreciation, gratitude and his dignity intact and be replaced by someone better equipped, before this door slides shut and an alternative pit presents itself.