Manchester United's 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday has left manager Michael Carrick on the verge of dismissal, following an even heavier 4-1 loss to Como. The club now sits 16th in the Premier League, having made their worst start to a league season since 1986/87, winning just two of 12 matches this season, against Ipswich and Sabah.
Carrick, who inspired a revival after Ruben Amorim's sacking last season, has struggled since taking the job on a full-time basis. The Mirror Football analysis examines the reasons behind United's poor campaign.
Transfer Neglect
The problems were evident before the season began. United focused their summer spending on central midfield, investing £155 million to sign Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba, while neglecting other areas. The failure to sign a left-back to support Luke Shaw was a notable error, with Diogo Dalot looking lost on that side against Bournemouth. Similarly, the lack of a centre-forward to cover for the injured Benjamin Sesko has left United without a focal point in attack.
Lack of Effort
Gary Neville called United's players an "absolute disgrace" after a 1-1 draw with Fulham, saying on Sky Sports: "I've never seen such a lack of effort." Statistics show United have been outrun by opponents in seven of their eight Premier League games, sitting 18th for distance covered. Carrick has defended his team, saying before the Bournemouth match: "Pressing is one small part of football. There’s all sorts of different ways of what people class as a press. What actually is it? What are you doing it for? Is it to your strength? Is it covering up other spaces?"
He added: "You don’t necessarily need to press to win games of football. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. It’s just a word that gets thrown about. We’ve got to be a bit careful with that. It’s not necessarily just running stats that define football games, either." Notably, after Carrick took over in January, United picked up 39 points from 17 games, the most of any side, despite running less than most teams.
Ageing Defence and Over-Reliance on Fernandes
United have relied heavily on experienced defenders like Shaw, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt, who are past their best. Shaw, in his 13th season, was beaten by Abdul Fatawu for Ipswich's goal in August, while Maguire, in his seventh year, has lost sharpness. De Ligt returned from an 11-month back injury to be embarrassed by Como. United's only clean sheet this season came against Sabah.
Bruno Fernandes, United's key playmaker since 2020, has been off form. His four goals and one assist all came in wins over Ipswich and Sabah, with blanks in nine other matches. He also criticised his manager openly in Como and was benched on Sunday, later liking a provocative Instagram post.
Wasteful Finishing and Midfield Issues
United have had the most shots in the Premier League with 155, averaging 19 per match, but scored just 10 goals. Their Expected Goals (xG) of 12.79 puts them seventh, but they underperform, with a conversion rate of 6.45 per cent, 18th in the league. Bryan Mbeumo is the top scorer with four goals, but his conversion rate of 15.38 per cent is the worst among the top nine scorers. Marcus Rashford has 13 shots without scoring, and Tielemans has failed with eight.
The new midfield trio of Tielemans, Santos and Baleba have started three games together, against Atletico Madrid, Leeds and Bournemouth, with two defeats and a draw. Rio Ferdinand commented on his podcast about missing out on Ayyoub Bouaddi: "His transfer fee (£85m) is the same as Santos and Tielemans combined. Manchester United were in for him, 100 per cent, but the fee was just too much." He added: "Just that little cameo against PSG makes you go, 'oh, I can’t believe we missed out on that. I can’t believe it.' I’m so gutted, so gutted."
