Manchester United have suffered their worst start to a Premier League season after accumulating just six points from their first six games after Saturday’s draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
Carrick’s team could not hold on to three points at Old Trafford even though they were ahead of Tottenham, who saw red in the closing stages of the game.
The outcome meant United had recorded one victory, three draws and two defeats in their opening six league games, leaving even more questions to be asked over performances under Carrick.
The last time United experienced such an opening was in the 1986-87 season, when Ron Atkinson’s team managed only four points from their first six games of the season before being replaced by Alex Ferguson in November 1986.
He then built the club into a giant by spending 27 years in charge and securing a host of domestic and European trophies.
United’s recent run of form has been all the more unexpected after Carrick’s highly promising interim period last season, when his 17-game audition was the best points return in the Premier League.
But that enhancement has not translated into the new campaign, with defensive errors and missed chances having cost the Red Devils dearly.
“Earlier in the season we lost against Everton and Tottenham, late goals that felt like they were decisions that perhaps could have gone the other way, and an own goal as well that cost us points at Fulham.”
Accidents aside, the performances of United have begun to give rise to concern. United failed to muster up much as an attacking force against Tottenham, accumulating an expected goals total of 0.05 in the first half, and 0.77 overall.
There’s hardly any respite in terms of the fixture schedule either, with Atlético Madrid and Leeds United among their next opponents.
United have a tough run of fixtures ahead with games against Chelsea and Aston Villa to come.
But Carrick now has to come up with a solution to how his team can become a more effective and consistent attacking force, before the poor start blows up into a full-blown crisis at Old Trafford.
