I can't argue with that." Michael Carrick's response was to the point. The question that prompted it in his pre-match news conference at a rain-lashed Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium in Como concerned his side's failure to keep clean sheets. It was put to Carrick that it would help if United could manage some shutouts, and he was asked if he had figured out the problem.
United have kept the opposition out just once in 10 games this season, against Azerbaijan champions Sabah FK last month. "There's definitely parts of our game we have to improve to make things easier. I am fully aware of that," said Carrick, whose side take on Como in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The problem goes further than this season though. They managed six clean sheets in Carrick's 17 matches in charge last term, including two in their final three games. Prior to that they had only managed two all season, part of an overall tally of nine in 63 games under his predecessor Ruben Amorim.
It is an extreme comparison given solid defence was the bedrock of Arsenal's Premier League title triumph, but the Gunners, who face Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday, have recorded seven clean sheets in 11 matches this season. Continuity of selection would presumably help Carrick achieve defensive stability. It has proved virtually elusive so far.
Only once has Carrick been able to name the same back four, when Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw started the victory against Ipswich at Old Trafford on 30 August and kept their places for the trip to Everton the following week. Carrick described his fitness update before the Como encounter as "a mixed bag". That was largely based on him saying Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt was "fit and ready" after 11 months on the sidelines with the back injury that required surgery in May.
Yet De Ligt was on the bench at Leeds on Sunday when Martinez went off with the thigh injury that prevented him travelling to Italy, and instead Carrick turned to Noussair Mazraoui, usually a full-back, for the central slot. United's defensive resources are stretched thinner as Leny Yoro is ruled out through suspension. Shaw is still not fit and is expected to be out for "a little bit longer" than the 10 days Kobbie Mainoo is going to miss, which could mean the left-back won't return until after the November international break.
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