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Getting rid of head coach is not going to solve the problems that led to his appointment. Perhaps it’s worth, for once, doing something different At the final whistle at Elland Road the TV cameras cut to a lingering shot of Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada, looking down pensively from the stands, deciding, it is to be hoped, on a little clemency, a re-sheathing of the managerial shotgun. Here we have the man who hired the man. The man who fires the man. The man who also hired or rehired the previous two men he had to fire. Berrada was poached from Manchester City on the basis of his ability to grow commercial revenue (yes, OK, stop laughing), and appears, like everyone else with any actual reach around here, to exist in a strangely consequence-free bubble. How do you solve what is, on revenue versus results, the worst-run club in world football? By changing the name of the latest patsy on the touchline, of course. For now a hard-fought point is perhaps enough to stave off that pre-programmed emergency response. Stand down the cowboy cops. Call off the blue and white saloons. Although with a run of Bournemouth, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Liverpool next up in the league it will no doubt soon be time to go out there and arrest Lee Harvey Oswald again. What’s that you say? OK, well, dig him up again. Re-arrest him. Whatever it takes. Someone has to stop these lone gunmen, these managerial magic bullet merchants from derailing the Manchester United supremacy. This was a dual-track football match between Leeds United and Manchester United, on the face of it a good, even game between two teams of well-matched players. A 1-1 draw was fair in the end, although Leeds played well and probably should have won. But of course they won’t be the story. Instead this game had already been billed as that familiar thing, a referendum on the future of Michael Carrick. A stay of execution for a week or two. Or another livestreamed firing squad for the Super Sunday cameras. There has been a predictable sense of low comedy about Carrick’s own transformation in the United dugout this season. It was always going to be the case that his widely praised qualities in victory, blazer, T-shirt, jawline, inscrutable sense of calm, would become his fatal flaws in defeat. Where’s the passion, the whirling arms, the range of tailored collars? At Elland Road Carrick simply looked drained in the second half as United were pegged back and overrun at times, the beard a little more ragged, the hair unkempt but still sweeping, the look of a brave, doomed tugboat captain resigned now to the approaching tsunami wave on the horizon. A point leaves United 13th in the league and still struggling to reverse a dreadful start to the season. But it was a good game for two people. First for Carrick, who remains a million miles away from creating the problems afflicting this club, even if you accept that his presence as head coach is one of them. Michael Carrick did not hire Michael Carrick. Getting rid of Michael Carrick is, by definition, not going to solve the problems that led to his appointment. But it might just help to prolong them. Whatever his ultimate ceiling, it is surely worth keeping him just to try, for once, to do something different. This was also a good game for Lisandro Martínez, who went off injured at half-time with United 1-0 up, and who was also vindicated in his allegedly controversial (translation: entirely correct) comments on the club hierarchy in midweek. United’s energetic first-half performance clarified one half of this. The players are committed in support of the manager, at least to the best of their ability. The second half made the other half of the argument, that this remains a mismatched, lopsided, cut-and-paste squad, always likely to be pulled apart by opponents as urgent as this Leeds team, which fully deserves its current seventh place in the table. The problems are so obvious it is barely worth repeating them. But here goes. The third-richest club in the world played a second half with three of its back four out of position. Harry Maguire, signed under José Mourinho, remains the best straight defender. But Maguire is also essentially a man-shaped solid wood armoire in a pair of shorts at this stage in his career, always the slowest person on any pitch, which means you will not be able to cover space, play a high line or counterattack without leaving yourself exposed to the counter-counter. So good luck, guys. And remember Omar, who gave you this whisky bottle and loaded pistol of a squad, will be watching. This was made painfully clear after half-time as Martínez went off and Noussair Mazraoui came on. Leeds scored an equaliser that felt structurally inevitable. They found space down their right side repeatedly. At times they seemed to be constantly peppering the seats behind the United goal, like a group of kids hammering a ball against a garage door. By the end Leeds had more possession, more shots on target and just looked a happier, better structured entity than the travelling heritage exhibit at the other end. The key point here is to accept that all of this is entirely logical. This is not a mystery, a haunted house, a place of bad voodoo. Why do we talk about Manchester United so much? For obvious reasons. It’s a massive part of the English football landscape. Mainly, though, because this is a story of mind-bending waste, real-time elite-level incompetence played out on a weekly basis. Yes, you could sack Michael Carrick. It won’t change much. Let’s destroy Eddie Howe for a bit instead. But the available evidence suggests every single person making executive decisions here is outmatched and outmanoeuvred. There is a reason Manchester United feels like one of those high street legacy chain shops just before it collapses, piles of Quality Street by the door, a rat in the lingerie department, destined to become a pop-up vape shop run by Albanian money launderers. There’s a reason it feels so badly run. This is because: it is. We know the Glazer ownership has zero interest in minding the details, that this has been a wonderful acquisition whatever the performance on the pitch, an asset supremely sweated. We know also that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is pub-level incoherent on the details he promised to fix. Remember when he was going to sit down and decide what the “style of football” would be? How’s that working out? Instead Carrick is left shuffling a first XI acquired by endlessly revolving administrations. Here United had four defenders signed under Erik ten Hag, two Ruben Amorim recruits, two from the mist-shrouded age of Ole Gunnar Solskjær. No players were recruited under Ralf Rangnick, of course. But then Rangnick wanted to sign Erling Haaland, Luis Díaz, and Julian Álvarez, which all sounds far too sensible. An organisation can be built with many hands. But not when so many of those hands appear to be so far from best in class it’s hard to work out which class they’re supposed to be attending. John Murtough, the former Manchester United football director, is currently director of global development at Atalanta, who have a 24,000-seat stadium and almost zero global presence. Meanwhile Berrada, the axeman, seems entirely invulnerable from the axe himself, despite the fact his job seems to orbit around resolving the consequences of his own mistakes. United probably will sack their current manager before the year is out. This is the way this machine has to operate, always looking to buy itself, and those in the executive seats, a little more time on the payroll, an entity that has been hollowed out and allowed to rust, run on buzzwords and brown paper and string. Meanwhile, over to you Michael. We’ll see you next week, and maybe even the week after that, for more of exactly the same.

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Head coach insists ‘we can still have a really good season’ After a week in which Michael Carrick had “the headphones on” to quieten the noise, Manchester United’s head coach claimed Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Leeds “felt like a fresh start” and insisted that the season can still be a good one. Carrick’s team have seven points from seven Premier League games and have won only once in the competition, against Ipswich in August. Sunday’s draw followed the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham. Yet after a week in which United lost 2-0 at Atlético Madrid, after which Lisandro Martínez criticised the recruitment of the director of football, Jason Wilcox, Carrick was relieved at the point against Daniel Farke’s team. “[It’s been] quite quiet inside [the club] – the headphones have been on this week. It felt like a bit of a fresh start today – where we’re at and accepting it and doing something about it,” said the manager. “That didn’t surprise me today. We’re not getting too carried away because we haven’t won the game, but if you keep doing the right things for the right reasons then you get what you deserve in the end.” “It definitely shows that the boys are desperate to do well for each other as much as anything else and how much they appreciate playing for this club, because there was a real purpose to the group over the last couple of days and they took it on the pitch. There was an edge to the game, an intensity. I spoke to the boys this morning about the history and what it means to the supporters, the club, to us coming over here into the territory.” Carrick admitted that United’s league position is disappointing but believes the campaign can still be rescued. “If we keep doing the right things, we can still have a really good season. We’re not accepting it as everything’s great by any stretch, so I’m realistic with that. But sometimes you do struggle,. “We’ve got to find a way through it. We have to be stable enough to keep doing the right things and we’re more than capable of winning matches. I understand the situation doesn’t look too good if you look at it from a certain way, but I have no doubts that we can go on a good run. I’m encouraged by a lot of things.” Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half goal was cancelled out by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s strike after the break, leaving Farke disappointed not to take all three points. “We took it as a compliment that we have done many things right over the last month that we were seen as favourites against Manchester United,” said the Leeds manager. “But we have earned this. We wanted to prove the comments right. We were the dominant side, but we couldn’t capitalise as we lacked quality in and around the box. It is still difficult in this league to win points. You have to be clinical and be very, very effective, but we have to keep going.”

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What next for Michael Carrick and Manchester United? Game-wise the answer is Wednesday’s trip to Como yet after failing, again, to double the campaign’s league wins tally to two you have to wonder where this already flatlining team are heading. Sunday afternoon’s display was the latest unconvincing outing under the 45-year-old. It featured an odd formation, zero rhythm or control, and the same prevailing sense that the wheels could clatter off anytime. Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half opener was answered, inevitably, by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s equaliser after the interval for hosts who were not markedly better but did not need to be so fragile are Carrick’s cadre. Elland Road was the scene of Ruben Amorim’s last stand, Carrick’s predecessor reacting to January’s 1-1 draw by demanding his colleagues in the recruitment department “do their job”. The result? Being sacked two days later. For now Carrick avoids a similar fate but for how long? United remain stuck on a solitary league victory – back at the end of August, versus Ipswich – and so Como, in the Champions League, becomes the next must-win fixture. Five days after his scathing diatribe aimed at Jason Wilcox – for the director of football’s iffy recruitment – Lisandro Martínez was selected by Carrick, the defender’s Thursday apology enough to clear the way though his day ended at the interval. Daniel Farke’s team, unchanged for a fifth consecutive game, were roared on by a crowd who delighted in Martínez’s first contribution, a stray pass hoofed out of play. The visitors lined up in an “Amorim formation” of 3-4-3, a lesser-seen Carrick configuration. In this, Bruno Fernandes was fielded as the nominal central forward, curtailing the captain’s ability to pull strings from midfield, though his was a free role. The noise from a febrile home support was dialled up when Carlos Baleba sent Anton Stach to the turf and Darren England saw no infringement. When Fernandes ran though and a clumsy touch caused him to scythe down Tarik Muharemovic, England did act – booking Manchester United’s captain when play next paused, to the delight of Leeds fans. Gabriel Gudmundsson was also shown a yellow card – for clipping Andrey Santos – in a contest that was blood and thunderous but lacked regular goalmouth incident. Gudmundsson, the left wing-back in Farke’s 5-2-2-1, did splay the visitors’ defence with a cross that wrongfooted Harry Maguire but it found no teammate, before Jayden Bogle, the right wing-back, repeated the act as Leeds exerted momentary control. Stach’s free-kick, from the right, had Nico Elvedi flying at the ball to fashion a header Senne Lammens had to be quick to repel. At last, the match was alive. Carrick’s men carved a clear chance when Youri Tielemans dropped the ball onto Mbeumo’s head at close-range but he missed – badly. But next Mbeumo struck via a quick move that sundered Leeds. Along the right Tielamans found Amad Diallo who returned the ball and the Belgian’s cross was slid home by the forward. Martínez’s removal for the second half brought Noussair Mazraoui to the fray as 45 minutes stood between Carrick and a morale-boosting victory. They held firm for five. A Mazraoui header sent Bogle’s cross out for a corner on the right. When this was swung in Mazraoui was bested by Muharemovic whose flick came to Calvert-Lewin: he outmuscled Mbeumo and crashed home. With the crowd propelling them forward, Ao Tanaka boomed a volley just over and Farke’s men pinned back Carrick’s side, who lacked ideas: Baleba’s unconvincing long-range effort summed them up. Better was Fernandes’s turn and shot that spun narrowly wide but he followed this with a weak attempt that the Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford clutched simply. On 73 minutes Farke took off Noah Okafor for Lukas Nmecha and Carrick removed Baleba for Mason Mount but none of the changes could spark a winner.

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Manchester United head coach produced a masterclass in dialling down emotion before a tricky trip to Leeds Michael Carrick returned his most impressive performance precisely when required as he took questions in the midst of the first crisis engulfing him as Manchester United’s manager. His team are bombing in the league after the club’s poorest start since 1986 and out of the Carabao Cup, and after Tuesday’s Champions League defeat at Atlético Madrid Lisandro Martínez showed up ruptures at United by calling out the director of football, Jason Wilcox. All of this two months into a first full campaign piloting United after last term ended so rosily for the former United midfielder. On the final day of last season, United won 3-0 at Brighton and Carrick secured an impressive third-place finish, 48 hours after agreeing a two-year deal to continue as head coach. By last Saturday, United had six points from the first six games after drawing 1-1 with Tottenham at Old Trafford, placing Carrick’s job in jeopardy as the walls closed in on him a fortnight before the clocks go back. A game at Leeds in January proved to be Ruben Amorim’s last in charge at Manchester United after he greeted the 1-1 draw by demanding his colleagues in the recruitment department “do their job”. With an uncanny circularity Carrick heads to Elland Road on Sunday after Martínez made similar comments. Amorim’s team were sixth going into that game; Carrick’s start the weekend 13th. On Friday, though, came a masterclass from Carrick in dialling down emotion as Martínez’s explosive comments about Wilcox – “I expect more [investment], 100%. I expect more from our technical director” – were addressed and he repeatedly referred to the “really good feeling” at the club. “It’s really not a drama for us as a group,” he said. “The boys have trained really well. This morning there was a really good feeling around the squad … so we’ve moved on pretty quickly.” If this seems less than credible, and almost certainly a stance coached by United’s PR mandarins, what else would Carrick be expected to say? More obvious was how the zen-like performance required from the club’s leader was being delivered. Even when he broke from the script to interrupt an inquisitor this strengthened the sense of Carrick being in control – hardly easy given the heightened glare on United since Tuesday evening. When the positive vibes trope was challenged by a questioner saying: “We’ll have to take you at face value”, Carrick’s interjection came with a smile. “I’m telling you the truth when I say that,” he said. “Do you not believe me, no? The players totally believe me. I’m telling you the truth. The squad today was in a fantastic place, better than I’ve seen it for a while, actually, and that’s it, plain and simple, you know? We’re emotional, we’re passionate, we care a lot.” When signing on to be the permanent United manager, Carrick had overseen only 21 games at elite level – in two caretaker spells at the club. United had 17 league games to play when he replaced Amorim, and Carrick has shown signs of faltering this season when having to compete on four fronts. Elimination by Brighton at the earliest stage of the Carabao Cup was not a great calling card regarding an ability to juggle competitions, and there was a surprising reaction from him after the 2-0 opening-day loss at Hull. He bridled at the suggestion United had lacked “passion” during a first-half horror show. “Oh come,” Carrick said. “That’s ridiculous.” A faulty United rearguard is hampering an attack that is functioning far better and has the most shots (125) and most touches in the opposition box (205) in the Premier League. Nine goals from six matches is not paltry but greater ruthlessness would transform a promising front six into a potent one. Carrick has to find the right blend from Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Marcus Rashford, Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba. Baleba has sparkled in his first two appearances – against Spurs and Atlético – and might have provided the shield from the No 6 berth to ensure a less leaky defence had he not arrived injured. This has to be the hope for Carrick. Playing Tielemans at No 10 at Atlético suggests the manager may doubt the 29-year-old’s legs, and questions have been raised about whether United are putting in enough of the hard yards. Their 671.4km distance covered in the league is the fifth-lowest (Arsenal’s 716.2km is the highest), and their 581 sprints the fourth-lowest (Brentford’s 765 the most). The trip to an always febrile Elland Road that saves a particular welcome for their cross-Pennines rivals presents a stern challenge. Leeds are ninth and have lost once. “It’s a great rivalry,” Carrick said, who was full of praise for his Leeds counterpart, Daniel Farke. “There’s big history between the clubs, the areas. That’s what makes these types of games special. You’ve got to embrace the history, what it means. “I’m sure it will be a fantastic atmosphere on Sunday. It brings an intensity and it’ll be a little bit extra again, on Sunday against us … Of course, we have to be ready, and the boys will be.” Carrick requires a positive result, though in denying this, he again sounded the right note. “I don’t need results, we all need results,” he said. “It’s not about me. Manchester United is a lot bigger than any individual, bigger than me, bigger than any player, anyone else who works at this club. It’s not about me, so please … “I don’t go into every day at work, in this situation, this game, thinking about me. It’s about what we stand for, what we live for, the history, the things that we need to live up to, and that’s what drives us. So whatever’s best for the club and for the team on Sunday is the most important thing.”

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Manchester United coach accepts defender’s apology ‘He’s realised he’s made a mistake and that’s enough’ Michael Carrick brushed off Lisandro Martínez’s failure to offer Jason Wilcox a public apology after the defender criticised Manchester United’s director of football in the wake of Tuesday’s defeat at Atlético Madrid. Martínez referred directly to Wilcox after the 2-0 Champions League loss, saying: “I expect more from our technical director.” On Thursday Martínez issued an apology that did not mention Wilcox or withdraw the essence of his outburst: the need for more squad investment. “The frustration of the defeat led me to express how I felt at a time and place that perhaps were not the right ones, and for that I want to apologise,” he said. Carrick was asked whether he respected Martínez for not saying sorry to Wilcox. “He’s released his statement, he’s realised he’s made a mistake and that’s enough for all of us to move on with,” United’s manager said. Carrick was pressed on whether it would have been better if Martínez had apologised to Wilcox and for his wider comments about investment, rather than just saying sorry for the timing and location of his interview. “From our point of view, the acknowledgment of what’s been done has certainly been enough, we’ve moved on and we’re definitely not looking back at it now,” he replied. Carrick said Martínez was available for Sunday’s trip to Leeds, where Manchester United go having taken only six points from their opening six league games. They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton last month and have one win and a defeat in the Champions League. Poor form has increased the pressure on Carrick, who was asked whether Martínez’s comments were an unwanted distraction that had annoyed him. “No, I understand emotion at times,” he said. “We ask for passion, we ask for emotion, we ask for fire and we ask for players to care. There’s a way of doing that, and that’s already been acknowledged, but we need to carry that intensity and that willingness and that togetherness and that spirit. As a group, we need to use it, and we’ve got to use it in the right way.” Wayne Rooney, United’s record goalscorer, claimed Martínez’s comments “will rip the dressing room apart”. It was put to Carrick that they may have an opposite, unifying effect. “There’s a lot of things that can affect the group in all sorts of different ways,” said Carrick, who went on to highlight his players’ reaction to conceding inside a minute at Atlético. “It’s one of the toughest places to play in the Champions League, so to go a goal down so early, and the way we responded shows an underlying belief and spirit and a togetherness,” he said. He indicated that events on and off the pitch this week had brought the squad together. “Certain situations can galvanise the group, and it’s certainly galvanised the group as this week’s progressed. The boys are in a really good place right now.” Carrick was asked why anyone outside the club, including former players such as Rooney who have criticised Martínez, should believe there is unity. “There’s a lot of people that say a lot of things, and ex-pros or not ex-pros, it doesn’t necessarily mean you understand what’s going on here,” he said. “I’m telling you the truth. The squad today [Friday] was in a fantastic place, better than I’ve seen it for a while.” Carrick said Luke Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo faced fitness tests.

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Defender says sorry after talks with Michael Carrick Any disciplinary action will not be made public by club Lisandro Martínez has apologised for claiming that Jason Wilcox, Manchester United’s director of football, failed to strengthen sufficiently in the summer window after discussions with the manager, Michael Carrick, and executive on Thursday. While any disciplinary action taken against him will not be made public by the club, it is thought Martínez has been fined. The defender’s apology came on Thursday evening after the 28-year-old failed to offer one when issuing an initial statement on Wednesday regarding his outburst that came after Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League loss at Atlético Madrid. He posted on Instagram: “Today I met with the club’s leadership and the manager. It was a very positive conversation, where we were able to exchange views and speak openly about what happened after Tuesday’s game. “Everyone knows that I am a passionate person and that I live football with great intensity. The frustration of the defeat led me to express how I felt at a time and place that perhaps were not the right ones, and for that I want to apologise.” The apology is a considerable climbdown. After the Atlético defeat, Martínez was scathing of Wilcox and his recruitment in the last window. He said: “I expect more [investment], 100%. I expect more from our technical director [Wilcox]. As players we have to do more but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night. Last season we did everything, we created the base to create an amazing team.” Martínez claimed that Carrick had not been backed sufficiently. “I don’t think so. He does his best. You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager. What about other areas?” he said. While it is understood Martínez’s apology was his decision alone, United spent £155m in the market – all on midfielders, Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans, and Carlos Baleba, despite Wilcox targeting a left-back. The wider squad agrees with Martínez’s stance regarding recruitment and has been left frustrated following a poor start to the season, with Carrick under considerable pressure. A return of six points from six league games is United’s poorest since 1986 and Carrick’s side have already been eliminated from the Carabao Cup by Brighton.

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Defender may not be blameless in team’s struggles but his criticism goes to the heart of what has gone wrong at the club Heartbreaking: the worst defender you know just made a great point. And no, nobody would describe Lisandro Martínez as the ideal person to scrutinise Manchester United’s indifferent start to the season, given that his high-profile defensive errors against Fulham and Tottenham are partly responsible for it. “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this,” Martínez burbles on Amazon Prime after United’s 2-0 defeat by Atlético Madrid on Tuesday night, dressed in a hot dog costume and throwing his arms out in mock innocence. For those with no interest in engaging with what Martínez actually had to say, this alone will be sufficient grounds to ignore him. Already you can sense the squeamishness of former players for whom the violation of an omertà is the real cardinal sin here, a phantom limb that still tingles years after they last stepped into a dressing room. “Disrespectful,” reckoned Wayne Rooney. “I don’t feel like he’s got the right,” agreed Ashley Young. “These things don’t end well, man,” Rio Ferdinand observed on his podcast. But traducing the messenger will always be easier than hearing the message, even if Martínez’s views are widely shared within the United dressing room. If the fallout from the Manchester City legal case has demonstrated anything, it is English football’s ingrained reluctance to scrutinise the owners and executives who hold more influence over the sport than anybody else. Men in boots, not men in suits. Hey, watch the ball. It’s going to move! All the same, it’s worth parsing exactly what Martínez was complaining about, because it’s a good deal more complex than it may appear on first viewing. Player calls out board – and specifically “technical director” Jason Wilcox – for failing to invest sufficiently in the squad over the summer. This was a summer in which United brought in three midfielders (Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba), a reserve goalkeeper (Karl Darlow), nobody up front and nobody in defence. So far, so simple. But let’s begin to unpick the threads. Why did United not buy a defender in the summer, despite pursuing deals for Lewis Hall and Myles Lewis-Skelly? Because they were unable to sell a defender. There was no interest in Diogo Dalot or Noussair Mazraoui, nor in Harry Maguire, nor in Luke Shaw or Martínez, whose contracts are up next summer in any case. This is the product of recruitment decisions made and deals signed years ago. But why do United, one of the world’s most lucrative clubs, need to sell to buy in the first place? Perhaps for the same reason they baulked at the asking price for Elliot Anderson and decided to sign the inconsistent Santos and the adequate but overpromoted Tielemans instead: this is a club in austerity measures, whose part-owner Jim Ratcliffe has been furiously cutting costs and raising ticket prices, determined to curb the years of excess that preceded him, where mediocre players were signed on ridiculous money, where failing coaches were paid to leave. But why would United, one of the most commercially successful clubs in footballing history, ever need to cut costs? Perhaps as a result of the more than £1bn drained out of the club by the Glazers in their 21 years of ownership, not just in dividends but share sales and interest payments on the debt they undertook to buy the club, while neglecting the maintenance of Old Trafford and the training ground at Carrington. Whether he knows it or not, when Martínez is criticising the lack of investment he is in effect holding the Glazers accountable for more than two decades of avarice and mismanagement. All of which lends a certain significance to Martínez’s intervention that goes beyond the churn of the weekly news cycle. Has any serving United player spoken out so frankly about the ruins of the Glazer ownership? Ole Gunnar Solskjær made a minor stand in early 2005, before they had arrived at the club. Cristiano Ronaldo threw some hand grenades over his shoulder a few days before he left for the second time in 2022. Countless others waited for the safety of retirement, when their disgruntlement could be monetised for personal gain, rather than used to stigmatise them, as Martínez will doubtless be stigmatised in the coming days. Does any of this help United to win games in the short term? Almost certainly not. Martínez attempted to clarify his comments in a social media post on Wednesday night. He may still be dispatched to the bomb squad anyway, for the crime of pointing out that the emperor secured his throne almost entirely through the use of payment-in-kind loans. Inevitably Michael Carrick too will be gone before long, away to the great Overlap podcast in the sky. A few months ago I wrote hopefully that Carrick might be the ideal man to cut through the noise and nonsense. I was wrong. The noise has beaten him; the nonsense always wins; any accumulated credit from last season has long since evaporated. Of course it’s not Carrick’s fault that United haven’t signed a new defender in almost two years, that Bruno Fernandes is so clearly playing through discomfort, that Joshua Zirkzee is still somehow hanging around the place, that the ownership decided to embark on a purge of season-ticket holders in the summer, generating a huge wave of ill-feeling and apathy that can be felt at Old Trafford on matchdays: an entire fanbase trying to work out whether they actually still care about this. But accountability is for the little people, and far easier to replace a coach on a modest 20-month contract than to oust Ineos or the Glazers, to replace Wilcox or Omar Berrada, even if we now know they partly built their reputations on the success of a club that has been found to have serially cheated. Bumper returns for the owners, price hikes for the fans, corners cut on the pitch; this is the story of the modern Manchester United, which by no coincidence is also the story of modern football.

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From Jason Wilcox’s role to the views of the rest of the squad, we tackle the major talking points at Old Trafford after the defender’s outburst After Manchester United’s 2-0 loss at Atlético Madrid, Lisandro Martínez teed off at the director of football, Jason Wilcox, and the rest of the executive. “We don’t have the best squad at the moment compared with other top teams,” said the defender. “I expect more [investment], 100%. I expect more from our technical director [Jason Wilcox] … Really poor [the Atlético defeat] – I have to control myself a lot but something is a reflection of the mirror of how our club is at the moment.” Here we consider the key questions emerging from Martínez’s explosive remarks. Yes is the short answer. The Guardian has been told the decision to target three midfielders in Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba caused bemusement in the squad that no other areas were strengthened in the summer. Carrick led United to third last term after the side only had 17 league games remaining when he took over in January, having been eliminated from the other competitions. The need for defensive reinforcements is particularly acute because the back four of Diogo Dalot, Martínez, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw has been together since 2022. Martínez is out of contract next summer and it is thought the 28-year-old may not be offered a new deal or have his one-year option triggered by the club, so teammates are conscious his outburst also came because he expects to leave. As United’s director of football the 55-year-old wields near-unilateral power on football decisions, with only Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy, above him. If the buck stops with the executive, the most recent transfer window was Wilcox’s responsibility. This was the latest in a line of missteps on his United record. One concerns when Dan Ashworth (Wilcox’s predecessor) was on gardening leave from Newcastle in the first half of 2024, Wilcox interviewed potential replacements for Erik ten Hag before, oddly, deeming that the head coach should stay. The Dutchman signed a fresh contract but was sacked that autumn. Another involves Wilcox’s major falling out with the man he hired as the Dutchman’s successor, Ruben Amorim, after which the Portuguese said the director of football had told him he should change his favoured 3-4-3 shape. “I came here to be the manager of Manchester United – not to be the coach of Manchester United,” said Amorim, after a 1-1 draw at Leeds on 4 January (his job title was head coach). He was sacked the next day. Wilcox worked with Omar Berrada, United’s chief executive, at Manchester City, where Berrada rose to become chief football operations officer, and Wilcox became academy director. Wilcox moved to Southampton and became director of football from summer 2023 until April 2024, when he joined United, having been identified by Berrada, so there is scrutiny of his experience at elite level. The 45-year-old’s ability to prosper is related to the quality of Wilcox’s work, primarily in the market, so he cannot be solely responsible for a dire six points from six league games and two victories in all competitions all season. Yet by definition his role as head coach demands Carrick do the best with his resources, and that progress is made on the training ground. On matchdays there is scant excuse for United’s disjointedness, inferior running stats and inability, twice, to take advantage against 10 men: the 1-0 loss to City and Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham. How is Carrick viewed by his players? According to Santos they back him. “We believe in the manager, we believe in the whole staff, we believe in [ourselves as] players,” he said after the Atlético game. “We are in a bad moment but we have to work to change this result.”. For further evidence see Amad Diallo’s Snapchat post after the defeat by Atlético: “Fucking disgrace; I have no words.” So United have a World Cup-winner, Martínez, aiming shots at Wilcox and by implication Ratcliffe and Berrada, and a fellow senior player, Diallo, cursing but in ambiguous fashion, adding to the sense of meltdown at the club because it is unclear whether the “disgrace” meant the performance, Martínez’s diatribe, the squad his teammate referred to as not good enough, or something else. All of this is mirrored on the pitch, where United’s 671.4km run in the Premier League is the fifth-lowest (Arsenal’s 716.2 is the highest), and their 581 sprints the fourth-lowest (Brentford’s 765 the most). In mitigation Wilcox can point to the six American siblings, who remain majority owners and whose family has placed an eye-watering £1.1bn-plus debt on the club that severely restricts the transfer budget. Wilcox oversaw a £155m summer outlay and a net spend of about £100m in a summer when City’s corresponding figures were £457.5m and about £175m. City buying players such as Enzo Fernández (for a British record-equalling £125m), Elliot Anderson (£115m), Ayyoub Bouaddi (£81m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£65m) showed their greater financial muscle, helped by being much better sellers of talent. How they have reached this point has, though, been thrown into sharp focus by last month’s verdict that they have serially cheated. Any straw should be clutched at so Carrick and his staff can view the first 97 minutes of Baleba’s United career as a rosy augury. After entering on 59 minutes against Spurs, a cute swivel and deft chip to Bruno Fernandes was a moment as impressive as the rest of his debut, and at Atlético the 22-year-old hunted down opponents and crunched into tackles, suggesting his game contains energy, muscularity and skill. It’s early days but perhaps if Baleba had been fit to start the campaign (he was recovering from an ankle problem) he might have affected one or more of the defeat at Hull, the 2-2 draw at Everton when Ainsley Maitland-Niles equalised late, the 1-0 loss to City when Phil Foden was sent off after 23 minutes or the Carabao Cup elimination by Brighton.

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Director of football is tarnished by recruitment record and Amorim stint but has received glowing review from above Lisandro Martínez is not naive. At 28, he has experienced plenty in football and knows the causes of success and failure. He has a World Cup winner’s medal, whereas Jason Wilcox has overseen the latest period of mediocrity at Manchester United, during which the focus has fallen more on the team’s performances than the wider reasons behind it. Martínez was not solely speaking for himself when, after United’s defeat at Atlético Madrid, he strongly criticised Wilcox. His views are shared by others at United frustrated by the output from above and who “expect” more from a director of football. Wilcox knows he is under pressure because the inadequate results cannot all be pinned on Michael Carrick, who is working with a squad unable to cope with the rigours of challenging at the top of the Premier League and facing Europe’s elite. Clubs live and die by their recruitment, and United sitting 13th in the Premier League after one win from six matches does not suggest the squad is in rude health. A sporting director, like a referee, goes unnoticed when performing well but it has reached the point at United where players can take no more. Three years at Ajax taught Martínez about football structure. The Dutch clubs mix homegrown players with imports from around the world, many of whom are sold on for large profits. Wilcox would struggle to make the case that any of his recruits, with the possible exception of Senne Lammens, have markedly increased in value. There are many sporting directors more adept at finding undervalued talent. Wilcox was offered the chance to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest a year before the midfielder signed for Manchester City, but decided against moving for a player who continued to grow in value and was eventually out of United’s price range. If Sir Jim Ratcliffe is so eager to run United as a business, questioning why the outlay on players leads to so little return would be a sensible starting point. Wilcox arrived at Old Trafford in April 2024 after less than a year as the director of football in the Championship with Southampton, who gave him his first executive role in senior football. Before that, the former Blackburn and Leeds winger had worked in youth development, eventually becoming Manchester City’s academy director, and was well respected, but whether this was sufficient grounding for leading United’s football operation was debatable. Wilcox oversaw at City the emergence of a glut of talent, including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers. Some of those who have dealt with him feel a senior academy position is where his skills lie. A key reason why he was brought back to his native north-west by United was Omar Berrada’s appointment as chief executive. The pair worked together at City and there was a high degree of mutual respect, supported by the – now tainted – achievements of the club. Wilcox was given the title technical director and was supposed to work under the experienced sporting director Dan Ashworth, who held similar roles at Brighton and Newcastle but lasted only five months under Ratcliffe, earning Wilcox a rapid promotion. Some United staff in place when Wilcox arrived grew frustrated at the number of former City Football Group appointments being made. United had got plenty wrong over the years but continued to thrive in certain aspects, so trying to turn the club into a copy of one of their fiercest rivals grated. Wilcox was influential in the recruitment of Ruben Amorim, who had a specific way of playing but not the players to carry out his demands. The experiment failed, accelerated by a breakdown in relationship between the head coach and Wilcox, who did not see eye-to-eye on tactics, among other things. When it comes to players there is increasingly a focus on Premier League experience with Wilcox; this summer Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba arrived from top-flight English clubs for a combined £155m. The midfield did require an overhaul, with Casemiro leaving and Manuel Ugarte, currently injured, never reaching the requisite level. That outlay, however, meant there was no money for a left-back or backup striker, leaving fans eager for an explanation. In the defeat at Atlético, Carrick played the 20-year-old centre-back Ayden Heaven out of position to cover Luke Shaw’s latest absence, summing up the shallowness of the squad. Ratcliffe, the minority owner, is on record as saying he has a lot of time for Wilcox, “When I listen to Jason speak, I get what he’s saying,” he told the Times in March 2025. “He’s a warm character, he’s got a sense of humour, he knows what he’s talking about.” At matches, the pair can be often found sitting next to one another in discussion. Ratcliffe has displayed a ruthless business approach since investing in United, but removing Wilcox would be one of the more difficult personal decisions. Their relationship is strong and making a change would be bold. With finances likely to be tight in January, the planning at this stage is for next summer and who is best to navigate it. If results continue to be substandard, Ratcliffe and Berrada will be forced to consider their options. Wilcox’s bond with the pair is important but Carrick has a lot more credit in the bank with a fanbase that wields power and has strong reservations over the director of football. Removing Wilcox would be the more widely popular decision but also an acceptance of failure from the top brass. Ratcliffe once said Wilcox had the “best eyes in the club” but he cannot be blinded by the truth.

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Defeat to Atlético Madrid ‘reflects how our club is’ Argentinian says club has not invested enough in players Lisandro Martínez has hit out at the Manchester United hierarchy, blaming the lack of investment as their dismal start to the season continued. Goals from Pablo Barrios and Ademola Lookman pushed United to a 2-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid, and the Argentina defender described that as a “mirror” of the way the club are. “Tonight it is easy to say the coach, easy to say the players but also we have to see other areas,” he said, pointing upwards. Asked for his appraisal of the night, Martínez said: “Really poor, really poor. I have to control myself a lot but sometimes is a reflection of the mirror of how is our club at the moment. It is annoying, disappointing coming here and I am not seeing my team trying to get an amazing result here. “I expect more [investment], 100%. I expect more from our technical director [Jason Wilcox]. I have to be honest, as players we have to do more but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night. Last season we did everything, we created the base to create an amazing team.” United won 12 of 17 games under Michael Carrick last season but during the summer they made only three major signings – Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans – plus the back-up goalkeeper Karl Darlow on a free transfer from Leeds, and have won only twice in all competitions so far this term. They have suffered the worst start to a league campaign in 40 years. Asked if the manager had been backed sufficiently, Martínez replied: “I don’t think so. He does his best. Every season is different. You can’t stay with what you did last season. The teams knows how you play, they know every detail, if you don’t change next season [it] is a big problem. “You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager. What about other areas?” Martínez added, looking up. “I can’t say more.” When Martínez’s words were put to Carrick, he said: “I haven’t seen the interview. I have half-heard about it. I think it’s a little bit the emotions of the game [talking]. I have to find out a bit more about it to be honest to decide what and if anything is going to be done. I can’t comment further.” United’s manager also insisted that his side had “four almost one vs ones” and that he did not understand Leny Yoro’s red card on a night when they could have gone back to Manchester with a different result. “It is easy to look and think there is something deeply wrong, I understand that, but the players have been great,” he said. “There’s willing, and [they are] disappointed that they haven’t come out of here with something. We think we could have, should have.”

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Michael Carrick had seen it in his players, he said, but no one else can. Not so far this season, where they have suffered their worst start in 40 years, and not here in Madrid where Manchester United’s manager insisted that they would embrace the challenge. The reaction was coming, he said; he was sure of it. Instead, they were a goal down after just 53 seconds and another defeat did. That early opener from Pablo Barrios and a second from Ademola Lookman late on meant a 2-0 defeat. So much for a reaction, a rebellion: instead, there was a kind of resignation, a sense that this is just their reality: a game that began badly, barely got better, and finished even worse. Even the late red card for Leny Yoro at 1-0 which can be offered up in mitigation may not be really; this isn’t what United are supposed to be. “Sometimes when it’s not quite going for you, you see who’s really there,” United’s manager had said, a message that perhaps hinted at something deeper, but for the opening goal no one was really there. They weren’t there on the left, where Lee Kang-in’s pass sent Álex Baena into a wide-open space; they weren’t there to close him down as he cut into the area; and they weren’t there on the right either, where Barrios was running through and no one was running back. Baena laid it back across and Barrios shot first time; Ayden Heaven, scrambling, did get there but not decisively and the ball came off him and into the net. Barrios ran off holding up six fingers, the number of the club captain, Koke, whose mother had passed away in the hours before kick-off. From the bench Koke’s shirt was raised. All around the Metropolitano, supporters roared. Atlético weren’t going to stop either, Baena’s effort soon hitting Lisandro Martínez, although United did find a foothold and may feel that they should have found a way back into this. Bryan Mbeumo had two clear chances: the first, after lovely footwork on the right, went wide; the second, after a neat exchange with Youri Tielemans after Carlos Baleba had robbed Cristian Romero, was blocked by Jan Oblak by the post on the other side. From the corner, Baleba headed straight at the keeper. That was short-lived though, Atlético soon reasserting themselves. If they didn’t always find a way through, the final pass often astray, they moved the ball with a pace and conviction United couldn’t match. Barrios and Baena couldn’t be controlled and the spaces that opened were vast. The pressure that United applied tended to arrive late or not at all. On the touchline, too, the contrast was stark. Both managers wore black but while Diego Simeone prowled, Carrick stood motionless in the corner, chin in his hand. Simeone was booked for waving an imaginary card. Maybe United’s manager could try that. Something, anyway. By half-time, Atlético had enjoyed 66% of possession; they could also have had a bigger lead. Álex Grimaldo rattled a superb free-kick off the bar and just before the break Johnny Cardoso’s sweeping shot flew into the net only for the video assistant referee to reveal a Marcos Llorente handball in the buildup. A neatly floated ball from Barrios led to a Julián Alvarez volley against the post early in the second half. Again, the space, time and the ease with which the move played out was just too big. At the other end, Bruno Fernandes then had a wonderful opportunity to level it. Tielemans did superbly to find him, the ball sitting up on the edge of the area and Oblak coming some way from his line to meet him – the kind of opportunity, in short, that is supposed to only end one way but that this time ended another. United’s captain lifted it past the keeper and a fraction wide of the post. Soon, Atlético were back again, Baena bending wide. On 65 minutes, three came and three went, Marcus Rashford, Tielemans and Baleba making way for Mason Mount, Amad Diallo and Joshua Zirkzee. In truth, the change had already begun: nothing radical, but a shift. Atlético appeared to have settled, which perhaps suited United, the threat no longer so present. The ball was moved more swiftly now; it was also theirs for the first time. And the lead was still only one. Fernandes was increasingly involved and, after a short corner, swung a shot against the bar. Which was when it finally, definitively fell apart. Suddenly, there was Jonathan David running through the middle on to a Morten Hjulmand ball. Yoro went running with him and the pair fell. Although Glenn Nyberg didn’t give a foul upon first view, allowing the move to play out with David scrambling the ball to Ademola Lookman to shoot, he was called to the screen to see the challenge again. When he returned, he had a red in his hand. The decision felt harsh; it was also the end, the same two men finishing this. A minute later, Atlético were running through them again. Grimaldo slotted a pass into David, well inside the area, and although his shot was saved by Senne Lammens there was Lookman to score. Heaven and Bruno were removed; this was done, nothing left to fight for, another night ending in defeat.

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United have endured worst league start since 1986-87 Trip to Atlético in Champions League awaits on Tuesday Manchester United have endured their worst league start in 40 years but Michael Carrick insists he is “loving it”. United arrived in Madrid without Kobbie Mainoo and Luke Shaw, who both picked up knocks in the draw against Tottenham at the weekend, and with the coach admitting that his team are in “a spot”, but he vowed that they would “come out fighting”. Despite collecting just six points in the Premier League so far, Carrick claimed he did not feel under pressure and backed his captain, Bruno Fernandes, who he revealed was still “carrying something”, to rediscover his form. As he talked about building, there was a reminder too of the fact that Arsenal, the champions, finished “seventh or eighth” in Mikel Arteta’s first two seasons. “To do something good, to do something great, you have got to be able to do something difficult,” said Carrick, whose side take on Atlético Madrid at the Metropolitano Stadium in the second round of games in the Champions League league phase on Tuesday. “We hoped for a lot more, we expected a lot more, and we are where we are,” Carrick added. “I was aware that, winning as many as we had [last season], it was going to get more challenging, stickier. I understand that when it is not going well there is a real clamour and a feeling that it’s a disaster, that it’s all wrong and that everything needs to be changed. I kind of get that, but that’s not our mindset and it’s certainly not mine. You have to deal with things and overcome them. That is what I did throughout my career. We have to accept reality but we are building and you can’t lose sight of the journey.” On the pressure he is under, Carrick said: “It depends on how you define ‘pressure’. There is our own expectation: we know what we want, what we are capable of and that comes from us. I don’t look outside. I don’t feel the pressure from that at all. “I’m pretty good at shutting off, to be honest; closing off and living a little bit in my bubble. And I think that’s what we do as a group. We look after each other, we all know what’s out there and it’s about managing it, controlling it and staying focused on what we can do. It is about us wanting to succeed, to win. That’s the drive. There is no negativity. It’s also fine lines sometimes. We are hugely confident and we have confidence in each other. I have the utmost confidence in the boys that we can win a lot of games. “[That’s] because I know them, I know how much they care, I know how strong the group is. And, anyway, you’ve got no choice: that’s why we’re here. We’re here to test ourselves and that’s the opportunity that’s in front of us. If you haven’t got that little bit in you where maybe it’s a little bit crazy times but you actually love the challenge and really want to dig deep to find the answers, then this is not the place for you.” Despite the poor domestic start, which also included exiting the Carabao Cup against Brighton at Old Trafford, Carrick’s side did win their Champions League opener convincingly against Sabah last month. “We need to do something about it now and accept the reality,” Carrick said. “I love this part of it: sometimes when it’s not quite going for you, you see who’s really there. You see within the group, the squad, the club, who’s really there and who wants to be there for the long term, [who] is really attached to it and [for whom it] really means something. The supporters are there: they know what they want, they’re desperate for it, and we’ve got to give them something. You have to embrace the challenge. I totally believe that we’ll work through it.” Asked if he believed that Fernandes could recover his form, Carrick said: “I think it’s pretty obvious to say that he can, yeah. I mean, he’s a top player, Bruno. Sometimes things don’t quite go for you, but he’s done some incredible things for this football club and he will do the same in the future, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve seen that a lot was made of [his fitness]. He was carrying something. “People don’t maybe realise it, but it happens a lot: players play with issues. I probably played 80% of the games with some sort of issue. It’s not ideal, but it’s manageable. Bruno was able to play the games; that’s the commitment he that he has. He’s pretty much over it. It’s not a major deal, he’s in good shape and he was really bright [in training] this morning, looking forward to the game.”