Javier Hernandez spent the hour before kick-off at Old Trafford turning his television punditry into a defence of Michael Carrick, and by Sunday evening it was United supporters, not Hernandez, who were pushing the clip furthest. Footage of the 38-year-old Mexican’s pre-match appearance moved around social media through the weekend, with fans calling for him to be handed a role on the club’s board.
“The players need to perform over there, after this white line, when the whistle blows, there’s nothing much more the manager can do,” Hernandez told Sky Sports before the Villa match.
“You shouldn’t be looking at what is lacking, you need to be giving your life for this club.”
Switching to Spanish on TNT Sports, he went further. Any player who needs outside motivation to perform at Manchester United should not be at Manchester United at all, he said, in a line aimed squarely at a dressing room that has produced one win in ten league matches.
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Hernandez also backed Carrick personally, telling TNT and Sky that his former teammate had a “great composure” and the right temperament to handle the pressure around Old Trafford. Earlier this season, speaking to Yahoo Sports, he had already pushed back at the line of former United players attacking Carrick, asking: “How are you going to criticise a manager who is giving you results?”
Roy Keane’s politician jab
The pile-on carried on all the same. On the same Sky Sports broadcast, after full time, Roy Keane compared Carrick to a politician and told viewers the Manchester United manager “talks a lot but doesn’t say much”. Keane added that United’s dressing room was not an honest one and that senior players appeared to be “tip-toeing around each other” rather than driving standards.
4-4, and a stay of execution
Carrick needed something from the match and barely got it. Aston Villa were two goals up inside four minutes through Alysson and Nicolas Jackson, then went two clear again shortly after the break with a John McGinn penalty and a Leon Goretzka strike. Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans dragged United back before half-time, Joshua Zirkzee pulled it to 4-3 in the second minute of stoppage time, and Patrick Dorgu’s header in the 96th minute sealed a 4-4 draw.
The point left United 18th in the Premier League with eight points from ten matches, still inside the relegation zone. Carrick, whose permanent contract runs until 2028, said afterwards that his team had “kind of beat ourselves” with “totally avoidable goals” they were giving away.
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