Michael Carrick is facing pressure with Manchester United enduring a long winless streak.
It’s now six games without a win for the Red Devils across all competitions, since a 4-0 thrashing of Sabah in their Champions League opener.
It was an unimaginable scenario given how Michael Carrick turned things around after arriving in January. They only endured one streak of multiple games without victory in his interim stretch. And it only lasted two matches (D1 L1) in which they had a player sent off in both.
However, the former midfielder might have more to his favour than the latest results may lead people to believe. Though a few of them have nothing to do with what’s happening on the pitch right now.
Why could Michael Carrick have more time as Manchester United manager?
Lower bar and longer leash
Manchester United’s current state under Michael Carrick would be considered unacceptable 5-10 years ago. There would be much more outrage given the proximity to the Sir Alex Ferguson days.
However, the Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim tenures really lowered the bar and adjusted expectations regarding the Red Devils. A 15th-placed finish, missing out on European football, internal friction, you name it.
Board, fans and media treat Man United differently nowadays, recognising the current moment is nothing like what it used to be. This in itself has given the likes of Ten Hag and Amorim a slightly long leash.
Michael Carrick being a club legend and having had a successful spell as caretaker earlier in the year could also make the board take a more lenient approach when it comes to his job security.
Lisandro Martinez’s interview
Speaking of the board, Lisandro Martinez recently targeted director of football Jason Wilcox when speaking about Man United’s problems. The centre-back mentioned the lack of investment as one of the main reasons as to why they haven’t been so competitive.
The Red Devils’ defence may be the weak link of the squad both in terms of quality and also depth. They did spend big over the summer, but could only strengthen the midfield and it also made the squad unbalanced to some degree.
United do have enough quality to deliver better performances and results than they have managed so far, no question. But it’s also not the most cohesive squad. And Martinez shining a light on this specific issue might direct the anger of fans towards the higher-ups, relieving some of the pressure from the coaching staff and the players.
Midfielders improving individually
Moving on to tactical factors, the midfielders Manchester United brought in last summer are only starting to settle in.
Carrick has already tinkered with Youri Tielemans‘ position and it has had some effect. Playing further up the pitch, the Belgian created all two of the Red Devils’ big chances in the draw against Leeds United – including the assist for Bryan Mbeumo‘s goal.
Tielemans also created a further two clear-cut goalscoring opportunites for United against Atletico Madrid. Though Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes missed both.
Carlos Baleba has only started playing post-international break and is looking good considering the amount of time he missed due to injury.
The Cameroonian has won nearly 70% of his duels in three games for United, contesting 10.0 of them per 90 minutes. He has also flashed some abilities on the ball, going as far as creating two chances – including a big one – in a 31-minute cameo against Tottenham Hotspur on his debut.
Baleba also completed both of his take-ons against Atletico Madrid and could have gotten into the scoresheet with a header from a corner in the first half. He has also shown good passing range over these three matches.
Meanwhile Andrey Santos is settling in as a do-it-all kind of midfielder for Carrick. He has taken on more responsibility since Kobbie Mainoo picked up a knock, but also provides more physicality on the role than the English youngster.
Within a team context, though, the trio haven’t exactly thrived. As we mentioned before, it’s not the most well-built squad. United haven’t been able to execute an efficient press so far this season, which the profile of their midfielders certainly doesn’t help. But Carrick may be edging closer towards finding a way around this issue.
Favourable tactical scenarios
Man United have often fallen behind quite quickly this season. 17 minutes in against Hull City, 29 minutes in against Ipswich Town, less than a minute against Atletico.
Some other in-game situations have also forced them to be a version of themselves that they don’t want to be, like Manchester City picking up a red card early on.
So Carrick has started taking the reactive approach to another level. Even at home, United had 42% possession in the first half against Tottenham.
And with Atletico scoring just a few seconds in, they still had 34% possession in the first half. Instead of taking control of the actions in search of an equaliser in the second half, they had 51%. And for the whole game, they still had twice as many big chances (4) as Atletico (2).
Leeds have gone away from Daniel Farke‘s old and preferred patient and dominant style. But United refused to take the game to them and instead sat deep with 39% possession at Elland Road.
Carrick has switched United’s approach even in losing/drawing game states. They average 55% possession in these scenarios for the whole season, but over the past three games they had 51% vs Tottenham, 42% vs Atletico and 43% vs Leeds.
Their PPDA has also gone up, meaning they haven’t pressed opponents as much as before. While their season average currently stands at 12.5 PPDA, it was 19.4 vs Fulham, 9.0 vs Spurs, 15.7 vs Atleti and 21.2 vs Leeds.
This approach may get the Red Devils closer to where Carrick wants to be in terms of recreating what made them successful in the second half of last season. Maybe, with a little more time, they eventually get there.
Counterpoint
Carrick is already on the hot seat and it’s been six games since Man United’s last win. However, things won’t get much easier for them anytime soon.
They will face a strong Como side away from home in the Champions League this Wednesday. And then go back to England to face Bournemouth at home, which in theory should be a more accessible game, then Chelsea away.
Then it’s Roma away in the Champions League, followed by Aston Villa and Liverpool in the league. There is a world in which the Red Devils don’t deliver enough in this stretch and the club decide to go in a different direction.
If there is improvement coming, Carrick needs to make sure it’s sooner rather than later if he wants to maintain his position as Manchester United manager.