Football

Perhaps it’s fitting that Michael Carrick’s first three Manchester United games have yielded a collective sense of «meh».

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One win, one draw, one defeat. Four points from away games at Hull City and Everton, and a home match against Ipswich Town. Two goals conceded in each one. Hmm… not great.

Seven goals scored at the other end, second only to Brighton and Hove Albion. The highest expected goals figure in the league after two matchdays. No new major injuries. A Champions League return around the corner. Hmm… not bad.

Such was the prevailing mood behind giving Carrick the permanent job in the first place. He produced some excellent results, a handful of excellent performances, and partially rescued a season that was in danger of ending in farce under Ruben Amorim. They suffered painful losses to Newcastle United and Leeds United, but they beat Manchester City and Arsenal. Morale was up among staff and supporters. There were no obvious alternative candidates who represented a huge upgrade. Carrick seemed to know the players’ names. Meh — let’s give him a go.

That’s precisely what they need to do now, of course. Writing off the latest manager after three matches would be patently absurd, especially for a club that long refused to sack the last guy even as he gave them weekly invitations to do so. Carrick earned the full-time contract with big results, like the 2-0 against Man City that kick-started his reign. He has the right to show he can sustain them across a full campaign.

The trouble is that City visit Old Trafford in a week’s time, and Carrick has one glaring problem he needs to fix if he is to show these last three games have been a bit of an aberration.

2 — For just the second time in the last 50 years, Manchester United have conceded 2+ goals in each of their first three games of a league season, along with 2020-21.

Leaky. pic.twitter.com/B2Dk6Ioxkq

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 6, 2026

Michael Carrick has a big Man United problem to solve

Youri Tielemans raised some eyebrows when he suggested in an interview that United’s preseason training was less intense than he was used to at Aston Villa. The fact this preceded a 2-0 defeat to promoted Hull City gave it much greater traction. In truth, Tielemans was largely commenting on how he was (fairly) spared too many physically demanding sessions after a long 2025/26 campaign and a run to the World Cup quarterfinals with Belgium.

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But it offered a warning of an issue that has since become clear. In the loss to Hull, the first half of the 5-2 win over Ipswich — it was 1-1 at the interval, and United’s equaliser came from a slip by Marcelino Nunez — and the 2-2 draw at Everton, Carrick’s team played with an alarming lack of intensity.

In all three of those games, they collectively covered less ground and completed fewer sprints than their opponents, according to FotMob. Following the draw at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, in which Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored a stunning last-second equaliser, United ranked 15th in the league for possession won in the final third, 15th for tackles per match, and ninth for interceptions this season. It might be a small sample size, and the fact they had more possession in all three matches will skew those numbers a touch, but it does paint a picture of a team that lacks either the will or the capacity to do anything with urgency.

Benjamin Sesko’s goal at Everton stood in stark contrast to the pattern. United briefly upped the tempo, passed with greater purpose and speed, Luke Shaw sprinted to overlap Bruno Fernandes, and his cross was headed in by the Slovenian substitute. It was the type of passage of play that United produced so spectacularly against City in Carrick’s first interim game in January, which could easily have ended 5-0, and precisely the sort they will need to repeat if they are to avoid a humbling result next Sunday.

Carrick’s own assessment of the Everton draw was muddled. He admitted it felt «like a defeat» and that the team was «bitterly disappointed» to give up the lead twice, yet he added of the overall start to the season: «It’s not that bad, you know. We were that close to coming away with three points today. That’s football, little moments that we can deal with a bit better, but we’ll be fine.»

Carrick has translated his composed playing style to a certain serenity in the dugout and in press conferences, which has been welcome respite from the combustible approaches of his predecessors. Nobody expects him to drop that facade now and start ranting and raving like Pep Guardiola on a fishing trip with Nathan Redmond.

But he has to find a way to get his players playing like every day is derby day, or the next one could turn a «meh» run of form into something much more concerning.

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