Manchester United threw away the lead to draw 1-1 with rivals Leeds United on Sunday afternoon.
Following another tumultuous week that included a defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and Lisandro Martinez’s subsequent outburst and fine, Elland Road was likely the last place Michael Carrick wanted to take his side.
However, the Red Devils started well, getting stuck into challenges and largely silencing the home crowd. After a few missed chances, Man Utd were rewarded as Bryan Mbeumo swept home Youri Tielemans’ cross in the 35th minute.
The second half was a different game entirely, though. Leeds came out of the traps fast and pulled level in the 51st minute, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin scrambling the ball home from a corner, poorly conceded by Noussair Mazraoui.
A game of two halves defined by Lisandro Martinez sub
As mentioned, the first half at Elland Road was a genuinely good performance from Manchester United. Arguably their best of the season so far.
The Red Devils had to surrender most of the possession to their hosts. However, they battled hard, winning 26 duels at a 59% success rate, including 63% of their ground duels. They also made 10 tackles, nine interceptions and 16 clearances, rarely looking truly worried in their own box.
Carrick’s men were also dangerous on the break, with the speed of Amad Diallo and Mbeumo repeatedly catching Leeds too high up the pitch. This eventually yielded a reward just after the half-hour mark.
Unfortunately for Man Utd, everything changed after the break. Lisandro Martinez produced a confident first half, especially considering the controversy that he has courted. But the Argentine appeared to be carrying a knock and was withdrawn at half-time, replaced by Mazraoui.
Conventional wisdom suggested Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot would occupy the full-back positions, with Leny Yoro and Harry Maguire forming a pairing after Man Utd spent most of the first half in a back three. Instead, Mazraoui occupied the left centre-back position, with Yoro at right-back and Dalot on the left. Simply put, Maguire was the only Man Utd defender in his natural position.
The result was a chaotic, disjointed defensive performance in the second half from Carrick’s side.
Leeds sensed fear and went much more direct, finding Calvert-Lewin with regularity and getting the likes of Anton Stach and Noah Okafor in close proximity whenever they could. In just six second-half minutes, you could feel the equaliser coming, and Leeds were good value for it. In truth, Man Utd are lucky to escape Yorkshire with a point, conceding 1.19 xG in the second half compared to just 0.25 in the first.
Carrick cannot control Martinez picking up a knock. However, he is responsible for adjusting his side, and his half-time substitution created problems rather than fixing any.
Calvert-Lewin sets the English standard
The recent international break was a landmark moment for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, picking up England minutes for just the second time since the Euro 2020 quarter-final against Ukraine in Rome.
He’s absolutely earned his chance under Thomas Tuchel, of course, scoring 15 goals across all competitions and 14 in the Premier League last season after signing for Leeds as a free agent — following that up with four goals across all competitions this season ahead of Sunday.
In his career-high 20th appearance against Man Utd, Calvert-Lewin kept the good form rolling, showing composure inside the box to drag Leeds level just after half-time. It was the crowning moment in another dynamic performance that produced a match-high five touches in the opposition box and three shots attempted, while he won seven of his 13 aerial duels and covered 10.7km.
His goal here makes Calvert-Lewin the highest-scoring Englishman in the Premier League since the start of last season, even outperforming a resurgent Danny Welbeck (13), as well as Ollie Watkins (16), Morgan Gibbs-White (16), Morgan Rogers (14) and others.
Harry Kane is, obviously, the undisputed starting striker for England, but Calvert-Lewin is making the best case to be Tuchel’s Plan B.
Where next for Carrick?
Returning to the Champions League was an incredible achievement for Man Utd last season, and Carrick was rightly given a lot of credit for getting them over the line.
Of course, that means nothing if they don’t compete at Europe’s top table and fail to qualify again this time around. As it stands, that is looking like a very likely scenario.
Man Utd are now six without a win across all competitions, while newly promoted Ipswich and Sabah FK of Azerbaijan are the only sides they’ve managed to beat in 10 games this campaign.
And if Carrick was looking at the fixture list for a bit of relief, he’ll be very disappointed.
A trip to Italy to face Serie A high-flyers Como comes next, while between now and the end of November, Man Utd must travel to Chelsea, Liverpool and Sporting CP, and host Roma, Aston Villa and Brentford, among others.
That’s a run of fixtures to test even the most convincing of title challengers. But for Man Utd and Carrick, it could prove the difference between Champions League qualification and keeping his job, or fading back into insignificance and packing up his office.