Three wins in fifteen matches across all competitions have left Manchester United stuck in 18th place in the Premier League. The club sits on eight points with a goal difference of minus five, placing them directly above Sunderland and Crystal Palace in the relegation zone. Jason Wilcox, the director of football, is leading a formal review of head coach Michael Carrick’s position following a dismal start to the season. No final decision has been made yet, but there is a growing expectation within the club that Carrick will lose his job. Wilcox consulted with Omar Berrada, the chief executive, before preparing a recommendation for Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy at Old Trafford. The process began after Carrick was given three specific games to turn results around following a 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth on 25 October.
A pattern of early collapse
Carrick came close to being removed immediately after that Bournemouth loss, but Wilcox and Berrada met the next day to discuss his standing. They granted him the Chelsea, Roma, and Aston Villa fixtures until the international break to prove he could reverse the form. United lost 2-0 at Chelsea, beat Roma 3-2 at home, and drew 4-4 against Villa. In each match, the team displayed uneven performances that compounded their overall poor run. At Chelsea, Carrick’s side impressed in the first half but failed to convert chances before conceding twice after the interval. The second goal came from a penalty after Lisandro Martinez was sent off. Against Roma, they were 2-0 behind in a poor opening 45 minutes before scoring three goals in a rousing second half. On Sunday, United twice trailed by two goals and entered added time 4-2 down. Strikes from Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu rescued a point, but the pattern of conceding very early continued. This followed Pablo Barrios’s opener one minute into the 2-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid and Nico Paz’s strike after two minutes in the 4-1 loss at Como.
Fitness doubts and internal friction
Time and again, United’s fitness was called into question during this period. They struggled badly against a Manchester City side reduced to 10 men in the first half before Erling Haaland scored a goal that referees’ chief Howard Webb later admitted should not have stood. Carrick’s complaints about the officiating were justified, but they masked a poor performance from his 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. The fine margins that benefited them during his interim spell are now going against them, and his coaching staff cannot find an answer. Lisandro Martinez, who scored an own goal against Fulham, was at fault for Tottenham’s leveller in a 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid. His post-match outburst criticized United’s summer recruitment and placed blame at the door of "the technical director," Wilcox. By then, Sesko and Luke Shaw were injured, and Marcus Rashford had not played since. Bruno Fernandes also criticized Carrick’s tactics after the Como defeat and was dropped for the Bournemouth game. If Carrick is removed, Mauricio Pochettino has emerged as a potential candidate, while Eddie Howe remains on the radar.
