Michael Carrick’s tenure as Manchester United head coach appears to be over, less than six months into the two-year contract he signed in May, and Mauricio Pochettino looks likely to succeed him. It is the third season in a row that United have changed the man in charge mid-season.
The end was not a surprise to many, though the reasons were more complicated than the results alone suggest. The sequence that defined the period began just after 6pm on Sunday, 8 November, when United were 4-2 down to Aston Villa and Old Trafford had resigned itself to defeat. United scored twice in stoppage time to salvage a 4-4 draw, and Carrick celebrated Patrick Dorgu’s equaliser by raising an arm. He then walked the pitch on what has turned out to be a final lap of appreciation.
As the United supporters sang his name, Carrick placed himself among his players so the fans would not turn on them, as they had after the 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth two weeks earlier. It was a decision that summed up the 45-year-old: he backed the collective rather than looking after himself. That, and his storied past at the club, explains why his song continued to ring out from the stands while almost everyone else at United attracted fury and derision.
A season unravels
It seemed there was no way Carrick could survive the Bournemouth debacle. United took 44 hours to tell the wider world they were sticking with him, although it is understood Carrick was told the day before. Since then, the club has won one, drawn one and lost one.
United were outstanding for the opening 45 minutes at Chelsea, but they conceded at the start of the second half, and defender Lisandro Martinez was sent off for two bookings in five minutes. They lost 2-0. Against Roma in the Champions League, they were awful and two goals down inside 17 minutes, but they roared back to win 3-2 with the kind of comeback Carrick was part of so often under Sir Alex Ferguson. Against Villa, they went two goals down within four minutes because of calamitous goalkeeping, clawed back to level before half-time, and emerged from the carnage with a point.
Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox celebrated Dorgu’s stoppage-time equaliser from the directors’ box, but they had a more detached perspective. Within days, they were flying to Monaco to tell minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe that change was required.
This decision was not a surprise because of what is happening now, but because of how far it is from what happened last season. After 12 wins in 17 games under Carrick and a return to the Champions League, the mood in pre-season was overwhelmingly positive. There were no signs of splits, young players including JJ Gabriel were part of the group, and senior staff spoke optimistically about the potential of a partnership between Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans.
Injuries, blows and bad timing
Looking back, the 48 hours before the season-opening match at Hull were pivotal. Benjamin Sesko was still easing his way back from the shin issue that ended his previous campaign early, and Amad Diallo suffered an ankle injury that ruled him out for seven weeks. Carrick was deprived of his first-choice alternative up front, with Bryan Mbeumo forced to play on the right. Matheus Cunha dropped deep into the spaces captain Fernandes likes to occupy, and the attack was neutralised against an opponent motivated by their long-awaited Premier League return.
Jan Aage Fjortoft, interviewing for Nordic broadcaster Viaplay, claimed United had lacked passion. Carrick dismissed the idea as “ridiculous”, telling the media afterwards: “It’s one game.”
The following week, United were losing to Ipswich, another newly promoted side. A slip from Marcelino Nunez allowed Cunha to tee up Fernandes for an undeserved equaliser, and Fernandes, who had just been named PFA Player of the Year for 2025-26, went on to complete a hat-trick in a 5-2 win. United have not won in the Premier League since. At Everton, they led twice, the second time when Sesko struck two minutes from time, only for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to drive home from long range deep into stoppage time. Asked how confident he was that his side could react to the poor start, Carrick snapped back: “It’s not been that bad.”
Fitness became a recurring problem. United struggled against a Manchester City side reduced to 10 men in the first half, before City benefited from an Erling Haaland goal that referees’ chief Howard Webb later admitted should not have stood. Carrick’s complaints afterwards were justified, but they masked a poor performance. After leading Brighton 2-0 inside 10 minutes in the EFL Cup, United were beaten after two second-half goals in four minutes. Cunha’s injury-time equaliser against a Fulham side who started the game bottom was a positive to build on, but United then conceded late to a 10-man Tottenham side and drew again.
Martinez was at fault for Spurs’ leveller, which made his post-match outburst after the 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid all the more striking. He criticised United’s summer recruitment and placed the blame at the door of “the technical director”, Wilcox. Sesko and Luke Shaw were injured by then, and Marcus Rashford has not played since. The rotation at left-back eventually saw Carrick start five different players in that role. Como, who scored inside the first two minutes after conceding early against Atletico, then beat United 4-1. Fernandes criticised Carrick’s tactics afterwards and was dropped for the Bournemouth game, before returning as captain at Chelsea.
Recruitment under the spotlight
There is no doubt Carrick made mistakes, and the Hull performance was inexplicable. But it is also fair to ask how much he was let down by the recruitment side. A source close to one player questioned why so much attention had focused on midfield, when the inevitable consequence was Fernandes being moved away from the central position where he excelled in the second half of last season.
Casemiro’s exit required a big-money replacement. After pursuing Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, United completed the £70m signing of Carlos Baleba from Brighton on 25 August. A pre-existing ankle injury delayed his debut until 10 October, and after starting only five games he is now out for an extended period with a hamstring problem. Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa for £35m, and Andrey Santos signed from Chelsea in a deal that could eventually cost £50m. Tielemans scored his first goal in the Villa thriller, while Santos has started four league games.
Obvious issues elsewhere were left unaddressed. Shaw started every Premier League game last season, but that was an outlier in an injury-hit career, and clear competition was needed at left-back. Instead, United backed off, hoping to sign Lewis Hall from Newcastle next summer. The back four for the first home game of the season was the same as it was for the first home game under Ten Hag in 2022, and United have conceded 30 goals so far, the most of any team in Europe’s top five leagues apart from Lens. Sesko finished last season injured and had made only two substitute appearances when the transfer window closed. Carrick later admitted he would be out for a “long time”, thought to mean at least January.
The final straw
Carrick was asked about further signings after the arrivals of Tielemans and Santos during pre-season training camp on 13 August. “We want more, we need more,” he said. For someone so calm and considered, it was a firm demand for action from those above him. Well-placed sources say it was obvious to Carrick where the holes in his squad were, and he expected more than a single new signing.
Other United sources defend the recruitment strategy, arguing it is easy to be wise after the event, and that at the end of last season Kobbie Mainoo was their only orthodox midfield option. They also argue the squad is capable of finishing in the Champions League places. More than a quarter of the way through the season, United are some way off that target.
Carrick has paid the price. Berrada and Wilcox will hope Pochettino’s appointment brings calm after another period of chaos.