Less than six months after a promising end to last season, Manchester United are in crisis. Michael Carrick is on his way out, Bruno Fernandes is only just back in the team after being dropped for criticising his manager, and United sit in the relegation zone. It is not inconceivable they could finish outside the top 24 of the 36-team Champions League table, and they do not have a fit senior left-back or striker in the squad.
Early warning signs last season
United's strong finish last season came with a caveat: their lack of involvement in competitions away from the Premier League, with free midweeks a staple of the calendar from January onwards. That changed this season as Champions League football returned to Old Trafford, leaving Carrick with less time on the training ground.
Carrick only dropped points in two of his first nine games in charge (a 1-1 draw with West Ham and a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle), and both were midweek matches where he was not afforded a week to prepare. With United set to add around 20 games to their schedule on top of the meagre 40 they played in 2025/26, the early warning signs were there.
Transfer window blunder
A dreadful transfer window is seen by most as the biggest catalyst. Revamping one section of the squad each summer proved a naive approach, and United needed more than the midfield overhaul they had planned.
Their failure to buy a striker when Benjamin Sesko was nursing an injury and Joshua Zirkzee, a self-confessed '9.5 rather than a No.9', was the only other option was indefensible. Similarly, not buying a back-up left-back when the injury-prone Luke Shaw was their only senior option always looked a huge gamble. A deadline day loan enquiry was made for Rayan Ait-Nouri, though Manchester City insisted on an obligation to buy being included in the deal and the move was off.
15 games into the season, Shaw has missed 10 of 15 games through injury, and Sesko will start his first Premier League game of the season in January at the earliest.
Wake-up call and another record gone
United's performance in their defeat to newly-promoted Hull was as alarming as the result: flat, lifeless, lethargic and just not good enough. Then came the Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton, where early goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount had United on course for an uplifting win before it all went horribly wrong. No team should come to Old Trafford and leave with the win having been 2-0 down inside 10 minutes.
Martinez outburst and worst week
Lisandro Martinez's public criticism of Jason Wilcox, made while trying to defend Carrick, told the entire world that the dressing room was not a happy place and that problems ran far deeper than a few poor performances. Back-to-back defeats by three goals to Como and Bournemouth left Carrick on the brink, yet he was handed a stay of execution.
Midway through that week, Fernandes criticised Carrick's tactics, saying: "It's a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave a little space in behind and try to get the ball in the first moment, to wait for them, to give them the ball." Carrick hit back in his post-match press conference, saying: "We half pressed man-to-man in the second half and ended up conceding a goal from that. Whatever tactics you play, if you don't run back, you ain't going to win."
United's main man was dropped for the defeat to Bournemouth. A half-decent performance in a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea was lauded as some sort of success. United showed plenty of fight in comebacks against Roma and Aston Villa, but those comebacks were a necessity because of dreadful defending earlier in the games. No team has ever won a title or qualified for the Champions League by coming from behind every week. Carrick will always be a United legend, but it is time for him to go.
