Manchester United extended their winless Premier League run to five matches at Elland Road on Sunday, where a 1-1 draw with Leeds left Michael Carrick’s side 13th in the table.
Bryan Mbeumo turned in Youri Tielemans’s low cross on 35 minutes to put the visitors ahead, before Dominic Calvert-Lewin latched on to a knockdown from a corner on 51 minutes to level. Lisandro Martinez went off injured at the break, and United played the second half with three of their back four out of position.
That last detail runs through a Guardian column by Barney Ronay, which argues the dysfunction at Old Trafford sits well above the manager.
The man who hired the manager
Ronay’s central argument is that sacking Carrick solves nothing.
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“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,” he writes.
The target of the piece is Omar Berrada, the chief executive United hired from Manchester City in 2024.
“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,” Ronay writes.
Elite-level incompetence at the top
The column makes the point sharper later on.
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“This is a story of mind-bending waste, real-time elite-level incompetence played out on a weekly basis,” Ronay writes.
“The third-richest club in the world played a second half with three of its back four out of position.”
The INEOS co-owner, Jim Ratcliffe, is also in his sights.
“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?” the column reads.
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Carrick on the Leeds result
Carrick himself was in a different register after the match.
“I thought there was a really good spirit, there was an edge to us. We looked after each other,” he told reporters.
He also played down the controversy around Lisandro Martinez earlier in the week, telling reporters the defender’s situation was “done. We’ve moved on from that.”
United have now drawn 1-1 in three straight matches. They sit on seven points from seven games with one win, four draws and two defeats.
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