Carrick sack coming according to Man Utd omen as pressure piled on new scapegoat
Novel use of Noussair Mazraoui got Erik ten Hag sacked by Manchester United almost exactly two years ago, but playing him at centre-back vs Leeds isn’t on Michael Carrick.
“They’re actually competing” said a taken aback Gary Neville after an opening 20 minutes at Elland Road that had promised to be a bruising affair for the lily-livered Manchester United we’ve seen so far this season but proved to be a proper punch-for-punch battle which if anything had the visitors ahead on points.
Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba added some real bite and much-needed energy as the double pivot in a fluid formation which took everyone, including Leeds boss Daniel Farke, by surprise.
At times Youri Tielemans and Bruno Fernandes appeared to be floating around as a pair of false nines while Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo provided the width. But Mbeumo was also given license to come inside and play through the middle, missing a gilt-edged header in one such instance, before sliding in to give Man Utd a well-deserved lead in the 35th minute.
Neville drew the mirth of Jamie Carragher ahead of the game for predicting a Manchester United victory while most tipped Leeds to beat their most-hated rivals at Elland Road for the first time since ITV were showing Premier League highlights.
He suggested Lisandro Martinez’s midweek comments and the ensuing “serious meeting” could act as a catalyst for his former side. Whatever the cause, it was an outstanding away performance from Carrick’s side in the first half and would have been classed as such had it been Arsenal, high-flying Brighton or Manchester City neutralising Leeds on their own patch.
Carragher claimed Bruno Fernandes would be “unhappy” at being “shoehorned” into a wide position when the team news dropped and the Sky Sports pundit assumed – as we all did – that the Red Devils skipper would play in a similar role as he did in Madrid on Tuesday.
At half-time he described the Man Utd formation as “funny, as in hard to pin down”, but fell short of bestowing due praise on Carrick for pretty effectively getting the best out of of each of Baleba, Santos, Fernandes, Mbeumo and Tielemans in a novel system, which towards the end of the first half settled into a 5-2-3 with Amad at right wing-back, and Tielemans and Mbeumo either side of Fernandes.
Tielemans, one of the main scapegoats so far this season, was particularly effective in a position to swing crosses into the box with far less defensive responsibility.
But This Is Manchester United and when they don’t conform to the narrative all by themselves, the footballing gods must step in to push the negative storyline forwards.
READ: Ranking the eight Man Utd signings made on Jason Wilcox’s watch
Some were surprised to see Martinez starting after his midweek rant, but the lack of defensive options available to Carrick was made plain when Noussair Mazraoui emerged for the second half as Martinez’s replacement following what we assume was an injury, unless the Argentinian spent half-time calling out Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Omar Berrada or another member of the Red Devils hierarchy.
With Luke Shaw and Patrick Dorgu injured, Matthijs de Ligt in the squad but evidently not fit enough and Ayden Heaven out through illness, unlike Erik ten Hag in his sack-ensuring selection of Mazraoui in October 2024, Carrick had real no choice but to turn to the Moroccan international.
It took him just five minutes to make the negative difference, conceding an absurdly soft corner under no pressure before being beaten in the air from that set piece, which Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored from.
Like Ten Hag, who was shown the Old Trafford door just four days after playing Mazraoui in the No. 10 position against Fenerbahce, Carrick did have a choice over where to play him. But any suggestion that the decision to play him at centre-back rather than a more natural right-back position in a swap with Leny Yoro could act as a similar sack omen fails to consider two fairly convincing rebuttals.
Yoro wasn’t really playing at right-back, more at right centre-back, meaning the decision was over which side Mazraoui should brought on to play, rather than which position.
And also, Yoro had been outstanding in the first half, with his head a magnet for Jayden Bogle crosses from the right wing. Changing his position after putting in arguably his best Man Utd display to date could have drawn just as much criticism.
But the Manchester United ire has to be aimed at someone, and Mazraoui costing Man Utd this game after replacing Martinez, who probably wouldn’t have been playing himself had the man he criticised done his job properly in the summer, is close to the perfect technical director storm.
It goes a long way towards explaining Jason Wilcox’s hangdog expression after a game in which pretty much every other Manchester United player and certainly Michael Carrick did their jobs effectively. If someone’s head needs to roll, Wilcox feels like the most likely sacrifice as things stand.
