Jamie Carragher has criticised Manchester United duo Bryan Mbeumo and Carlos Baleba for their roles in Tottenham's late equaliser. The former opened the scoring in that Premier League clash at Old Trafford, but a stoppage-time header from Dominic Solanke saw the visitors snatch a point.
Second-ball failures prove costly
United were outplayed for much of the clash but looked destined for a first league victory in over a month when Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off minutes after Mbeumo's goal. However, Michael Carrick's side somehow struggled more with a man advantage. That was clearly evidenced in the build-up to Spurs' leveller, with Roberto De Zerbi's side winning numerous second balls.
The incident that annoyed Carragher the most involved Mbeumo and Baleba allowing Mateus Fernandes to reclaim possession despite being clear second favourite. Just before analysing that, Carragher said on Sky Sports: "Is his [Cunha's] body language ready? No. [Savio] just runs past two players, look at the space he [Archie Gray] has got here and touches in the box again. It's the last bit which is unacceptable."
Carragher's warning to Carrick
"Baleba and Mbeumo, there's no way Fernandes should get to the ball first. We've seen it four or five times already, Tottenham players getting there first and don't forget this was a team that three weeks ago were told that they don't work hard enough. For what's at stake here, 1-0 up with a couple of minutes to go and it is Tottenham that want this more. It wasn't just at the end of the game, it started that way. He [Fernandes] wins the second ball and that is not acceptable."
"Tottenham are just throwing balls in the box and who wins the second ball? Tottenham. Then another ball comes in and Martinez, who has had a really poor start to the season should do a lot better and it is a great finish from Solanke. It is very early in the season but we have been here before with Manchester United under different managers. They are being questioned for how ready they are physically and mentally in games."
Jamie Carragher has sent a warning to Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick: "Now they've got three big games, two are away in the Champions League and then Leeds, if they don't up their intensity quickly, this could get very messy for all involved." Those two European matches come against Atletico Madrid and Como, with United arguably underdogs for all three of their next games, particularly given the impressive start to the season for Daniel Farke's side.
Carrick responds to pressure
Pressure on Michael Carrick has subsequently arrived and when asked about that at his pre-Atletico press conference, the United head coach had a clear response and message for his players. "I love this part, of sometimes when it's not quite going for you, you see who's really there, you see within the group, the players, the squad, the club, who's really there and who wants to be here for the long term," he said at a pre-match press conference on Monday. "[You see who is] really attached to it and [who it] really means something [to]. The supporters are there, they're desperate for it, and we've got to give them something."
"I think you've got to embrace the challenges to get to where you want to be. We're right there now in the middle of it, but totally believe that we'll work through it. Of course we hoped for a lot more, we've expected a lot more. But I was well aware of the chances of going in that direction. Winning as many games as we had, there was going to be a period when it was going to become a little bit more challenging and a little bit sticky."
