Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, Dominic Solanke scoring an injury-time equaliser that deepened the scrutiny on manager Michael Carrick. It was the second successive home Premier League game in which United failed to beat opponents who had been reduced to 10 men.
United had gone ahead through Bryan Mbeumo, and Spurs had given every indication of being unable to score before Rodrigo Bentancur’s headfirst charge at Luke Shaw, five minutes after the opener, left them a man short. Yet the damage on the night was self-inflicted. Centre-back Lisandro Martinez was outmuscled embarrassingly easily by Solanke, and goalkeeper Senne Lammens failed to read the striker’s deft touch as the ball crept in at the far corner. The anguish on United faces told its own story, and former United captain Gary Neville described it on Sky Sports as “a worrying day for Michael Carrick”.
The numbers behind the result are grim. United have six points from their opening six Premier League games, their fewest at this stage of a league campaign since 1986-87, when they had amassed four under Sir Alex Ferguson. They have failed to win five of their six league games this season (D3 L2), already as many as in 17 league games under Carrick last season (W12 D3 L2). Two of those points have come in the last two matches, both against teams who began the game bottom of the Premier League. In points terms, United are now closer to the relegation zone than to the Champions League places.
Carrick’s side are winless in four league games and next face an always tricky trip across the Pennines to meet old rivals Leeds at Elland Road on Sunday, 18 October. Either side of that fixture sit daunting Champions League trips to Atletico Madrid and Como.
United officials have repeatedly offered their backing to Carrick in recent weeks, but the start to this campaign is beginning to look increasingly familiar. Two seasons ago, a run of two wins in nine games in all competitions put Erik ten Hag under severe pressure before the axe fell after a defeat at West Ham on 27 October. Last season, a combination of a shocking EFL Cup exit at the hands of League Two Grimsby and an insipid 3-1 loss at Brentford on 27 September did much to undermine confidence in Ruben Amorim before he was sacked on 5 January.
Carrick has not attempted to disguise his dissatisfaction with the return so far. “I’m not happy with the amount of points we’ve got so far, for sure,” he said. “I’m not hiding, there’s no hiding from that. I think it could have been different for a couple of little things here or there, but the reality is the reality, we’ve got to accept it. We need to put things in a direction, in a positive direction quite quickly, that’s pretty plain.”
The “little things” he refers to are the defending for Solanke’s goal, the lack of pressure applied to Everton’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles when he smashed another injury-time equaliser at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on 6 September, and the preventable Martinez own goal that nearly gave Fulham victory at Craven Cottage just before the international break. “We’ve got to be a little bit more streetwise in moments, a little bit more stubborn and a little bit stronger in seeing out certain things,” Carrick added.
He insists the setbacks have not shaken his conviction. “It doesn’t change my belief or the confidence in the players,” he said. “We’re a really good team and capable of being a really good team, but we’ve obviously got to start getting more points on the board, that’s for sure.” Yet with each disappointment, the belief that United are “a really good team” starts to ebb away.
Once again, the post-match discussion centred on how much Carrick’s team ran, even though running for the sake of it has proved of little benefit. “The stats don’t lie when every time the other team runs more than you,” said Sky Sports pundit and former Spurs captain Jamie Redknapp. “Tottenham ran 5km more than Man United. OK, they had 10 men but that is every game. If you outrun your opposing number, you will win games. I’m not saying they are not trying. It is that physical battle they are losing though.”
It feels as though some supporters are losing faith already, judging by their reactions at moments during the game, aside from the boos that accompanied the end of each half. Forward Matheus Cunha, one of a number of Carrick’s squad who have failed to reproduce the form they showed in the second half of last season, gestured towards the crowd during the opening period, and the Brazilian clearly was not happy. Carrick, whose family are season ticket holders, knows what it is like to watch United struggle at Old Trafford. “Obviously, it hurts,” he said. “It hurts a lot. It’s not nice to go through. I care as much as anybody about this place. Sometimes you could say too much because then it overspills. But it’s coming from a good place, really, and so I understand it.”
For a manager who presents such a calm front in public, these must be churning moments. Carrick knows how pressure mounts around Old Trafford and how fierce the debate around the club becomes in the search for answers. He is also certain his players share his hurt. “I don’t feel let down,” he added. “You can make mistakes. We’ve all got standards; we’ve all got levels. The players hold their hands up at times when something goes against them. It’s not like everyone walks off into the distance tonight like everything’s fine and it’s left on me. It’s not that at all. The players care, for sure. I don’t feel let down by them for making a mistake. We’ve just got to all help each other be better, and it’s on me to help them and guide them through it.”