It’s fair to say things haven’t been terrific for Manchester United so far this season.
Comfortable wins against Ipswich Town and Sabah aside, they’ve lost to newly promoted Hull City, drawn with Everton’s massively depleted squad and lost a Manchester derby against a City side playing with only ten men.
However, Wednesday evening’s home collapse against Brighton and Hove Albion might have been the lowest point of the campaign so far, and it was entirely self-inflicted.
Carrick needs to look at his decision making
It was the first time since 1976 that United had lost after taking a two goal lead at Old Trafford, a record that Michael Carrick will now have on his CV for the rest of his career, and the blame has to be put squarely at his feet.
His team selection, chiefly a second-string outfit with a couple of first-teamers thrown in, wasn’t anywhere near strong enough, and so it proved.
Granted, the problems at Man United aren’t entirely Carrick’s fault, there were definitely positions that needed to be bolstered during the summer that were ignored by those in charge of recruitment, but he isn’t helping himself with team selections like the one against Brighton.
First of all, the inexperienced centre back duo of Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven was clearly a huge gamble, with neither particularly experienced or dependable enough to play without the support of a trusted guiding hand alongside them.
The lack of cohesion and understanding between the two was clearly on display for Brighton’s equaliser when they were split as easily as Carol Vorderman tackling two divided by two.
Further baffling choices were seen behind the two defenders, with Karl Darlow getting his Red Devils debut. Given that Man United’s next game isn’t until 4:30pm on Sunday, was Senne Lammens really going to be tired from playing on a Wednesday night?
Darlow was very easily beaten for Brighton’s first, which changed the complexion of the game right before half-time, while getting a grip on his inexperienced defenders was a distraction he struggled to cope with. Given the pressure Carrick finds himself under at such an early stage in the season, these choices look like unnecessary risks to be making when it ought to be imperative for him to start building momentum and picking up wins where possible.
Though a club of Manchester United’s size should have loftier ambitions than the Carabao Cup, it is a winnable piece of silverware that is now off-limits for this season.
But the Premier League and Champions League are also beyond the realm of possibility for them this season, and likely will be for the foreseeable future, so any trophies should be welcomed.
Instead of taking it seriously, Carrick gambled and lost and has now further limited how much he can achieve in this campaign, while also increasing the amount of scrutiny he will be under from here on in.
His rested players need to perform against a struggling Fulham side this weekend, or things could turn nasty barely half way through September.
Given how much they’ve struggled so far, it wouldn’t be wise to bet on them to succeed.