The honeymoon lasted until September. Carrick finished last season by taking United into the Champions League, enough for the club to hand him a two-year deal through 2028 in May. Four months later the mood around Old Trafford is familiar and ugly.
A 3-2 Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton on 16 September, after leading 2-0, prompted The Telegraph’s James Ducker to warn of what he called the start of another “doom loop” at Old Trafford.
A 1-1 draw at Fulham four days later made it three Premier League games without a win. Diogo Dalot was jeered by some supporters as he left the ground with his wife after the Brighton defeat, and the atmosphere is of a club sliding back into patterns the owners spent two years trying to break.
What United have not done, pointedly, is panic. According to The Athletic, via CaughtOffside, director of football Jason Wilcox is “an advocate for stability”, and there are no indications that United are preparing to replace Carrick over the international break. Saturday’s fixture against Tottenham, however, has quietly become the match on which that patience hangs.
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The three changes Carrick is being pushed to make
Analysis in Brit Brief on Monday argued that the three changes most likely to turn the season are already sitting on Carrick’s bench, if he is willing to make them.
Chief among them is handing Carlos Baleba his debut in midfield. The 22-year-old joined from Brighton for £70m in the summer and was back in behind-closed-doors action against Lausanne-Sport on 2 October. Pairing him with Kobbie Mainoo would release Mainoo further forward, where he has looked most natural.
Bryan Mbeumo is being tipped to shift centrally in Benjamin Sesko’s absence, in place of the Matheus Cunha false-nine experiment that has not produced goals. Mbeumo scored twice in pre-season against Atlético Madrid in Stockholm in that role.
The third change points at the academy. Shea Lacey, 19, impressed off the bench against Brighton and would take the right-wing slot vacated by Mbeumo. Marcus Rashford and Cunha would then compete for the left.
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Six games in 21 days starting Saturday
Tottenham arrive bottom of the Premier League. On paper this is the softest fixture Carrick will meet before November; in practice it is anything but.
United’s October schedule now runs to six games in 21 days, including a Champions League trip to Atlético Madrid and league visits to Leeds United and Chelsea. Baleba’s availability for the Tottenham fixture is still being assessed.
Kick-off at Old Trafford is on Saturday 10 October.
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