Michael Carrick has paid the price for Manchester United’s collapse, lasting fewer than six months into the two-year contract he signed in May. Mauricio Pochettino looks likely to replace him, and chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox will hope his appointment brings calm after another period of chaos.
The end came after a run that wrecked a season that had started so promisingly. It was just after 6pm on Sunday, 8 November when United, 4-2 down to Aston Villa, looked certain to lose at Old Trafford. They scored twice in stoppage time to salvage a 4-4 draw. Carrick celebrated Patrick Dorgu’s equaliser by raising an arm in the air, then walked around the pitch on what turned out to be a final lap of appreciation.
As the supporters sang his name, Carrick placed himself in the middle of his players. He wanted to ensure the fans did not turn on them as they had after the 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth two weeks earlier. It was a decision that summed up the 45-year-old, who put the collective ahead of himself.
A reprieve that did not last
It seemed there was no way Carrick could survive the Bournemouth debacle. United took 44 hours to tell the wider world they were sticking with him, although Carrick was reportedly told the day before. Since then, the team has won one, drawn one and lost one.
At Chelsea, United were outstanding for 45 minutes before they conceded at the start of the second half. Defender Lisandro Martinez was then sent off for two bookings in five minutes, and they lost 2-0. Against Roma in the Champions League, they were awful and two goals down inside 17 minutes, but they roared back to win 3-2. Against Villa, they were two goals down within four minutes thanks to calamitous goalkeeping, and they clawed back to level before half-time. More abysmal defending followed, but they earned a point.
Those results raised a clear question about Carrick’s standing. United decided the answer was negative. Within days, Berrada and Wilcox were flying to Monaco to tell minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe that change was required.
For the third season in a row, United are replacing the man in charge mid-season. Unlike with Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, however, this decision was not a surprise. The reason is that the current crisis is so at odds with last season. After 12 wins in 17 games under Carrick and a return to the Champions League, the mood in pre-season was overwhelmingly positive. There were no signs of splits, young players such as JJ Gabriel were part of the group, and senior staff spoke optimistically about a proposed partnership between Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans.
Defeats and outbursts
The 48 hours before the season-opener at Hull proved pivotal. Benjamin Sesko was still easing back from the shin issue that ended his previous campaign early, and Amad Diallo suffered an ankle injury that ruled him out for seven weeks. Bryan Mbeumo had to play on the right of attack, and Carrick turned to Matheus Cunha, whose habit of dropping deep took him into the spaces Fernandes likes to occupy. United’s attack was neutralised, and they seemed ill-prepared for the physical challenge of an opponent motivated by its long-awaited Premier League return.
Jan Aage Fjortoft, working as an interviewer for Nordic broadcaster Viaplay, claimed United had lacked passion. Carrick dismissed the idea as “ridiculous.” “It’s one game,” he said afterwards.
The following week, United were losing to Ipswich until a slip from Marcelino Nunez allowed Cunha to tee up Fernandes for an undeserved equaliser. Fernandes, who had just been named PFA Player of the Year for 2025-26, went on to complete a hat-trick in a 5-2 win. United have not won a Premier League game since.
At Everton, United led twice. The second lead came when Sesko struck two minutes from time after coming on as a substitute, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles drove home from long range deep into stoppage time to deny them. Asked how confident he was that his side could react to a disappointing start, Carrick snapped back: “It’s not been that bad.”
Fitness problems surfaced again and again. United struggled badly against a Manchester City side reduced to 10 men in the first half, before City benefited from an Erling Haaland goal that referees’ chief Howard Webb later admitted should not have stood. Carrick’s complaints after that match were justified, but they masked a poor performance. Against Brighton in the EFL Cup, United led 2-0 inside 10 minutes, then were outplayed and beaten after two goals in four second-half minutes. Carrick’s coaching staff, lauded only months earlier, could not find an answer.
Cunha’s injury-time equaliser against a Fulham side that started bottom was a positive to build on. Immediately after the international break, however, United were held to another draw, conceding in injury time to an out-of-form Tottenham side that had played the final part of the game with 10 men. Martinez was at fault for Spurs’ leveller, which made his post-match outburst after the 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid all the more striking. The Argentina defender criticised United’s summer recruitment and placed the blame on “the technical director,” Wilcox.
By then, Sesko and left-back Luke Shaw were injured, and Marcus Rashford had not played since. The left-back rotation eventually led to Carrick starting five different players in that role. After conceding in the opening minute against Atletico, United lost 4-1 to Como, one of their worst European results. Fernandes criticised Carrick’s tactics afterwards. He was dropped for the Bournemouth game but returned as captain at Chelsea.
Injuries and bad recruitment
Carrick made mistakes, and the Hull performance that set the tone for the season was inexplicable. It is also fair to ask how much he was let down by recruitment. A source close to one player questioned why so much attention focused on midfield, when the inevitable result was Fernandes being moved away from the central position where he excelled in the second half of last season.
Casemiro’s exit required a big-money replacement. After chasing Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, United completed the £70m deal for Carlos Baleba from Brighton only on 25 August. A pre-existing ankle injury delayed his debut until 10 October. After starting only five games, he is now out for an extended period with a hamstring problem. Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa for £35m, and Andrey Santos signed from Chelsea in a deal that could eventually cost £50m. Tielemans scored his first goal in the Villa thriller, but Santos has started only four league games.
Obvious gaps in the squad went unaddressed. Shaw started every Premier League game last season, but that was an outlier in an injury-hit career, and clear competition was needed at left-back. Instead, United backed off, thinking they might sign Lewis Hall from Newcastle next summer. The back four for the first home game of the season was the same as for the first home game under Ten Hag in 2022. United have conceded 30 goals so far this term, the most of any team in Europe’s top five leagues apart from Lens. Sesko finished last season injured and had made only two substitute appearances when the transfer window closed. Carrick later admitted he would be out for a “long time,” thought to mean at least January.
A season unravels
Carrick was asked about further signings after Tielemans and Santos arrived during the pre-season camp. “We want more, we need more,” he said. For someone so calm and considered, it was a strong demand for action from those above him. Well-placed sources say it was obvious to Carrick where the holes in his squad were, and that he expected more than a single new signing.
Another club source said United should be judged when the transfer window closed. From this position, that judgement would have to be negative. Other United sources defend the strategy, arguing that it is easy to be wise after the event and that at the end of last season Kobbie Mainoo was their only orthodox midfield option. They also argue the squad is capable of finishing in the Champions League places. More than a quarter of the way into the season, however, United are some way off that target.