Get ready for another week of agonising over the sorry state of Manchester United. The legends of old will rage on podcasts, clips of a fuming Gary Neville will fly around social media and by the time United play again there is every chance a new manager will be in the dugout. There were echoes of Erik ten Hag’s final game in charge as the walls closed in on Michael Carrick here on Saturday.
United missed chances at 0-0, just as they did when Ten Hag lost to West Ham a day before his sacking two years ago, and Chelsea exacted punishment after initially delivering a performance so bad it had you worrying for the nascent Xabi Alonso project. Chelsea were appalling during the first half, so it was just as well their opponents were in a giving mood. United had opportunities to make their decision to give Carrick a stay of execution look like a wise move rather than the consequence of executive-level confusion, but the finishing was awful and the defending was worse.
Morgan Rogers cantered past five players to make it 1-0 and a seventh defeat in 13 games was confirmed when Lisandro Martínez’s faux hard man act led to him being sent off after conceding the penalty that allowed Cole Palmer to seal Chelsea’s rise into fourth place. Here was a moment to symbolise United’s decline under the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Martínez has had a lot to say about those above him recently, but this is a player who should have been sold along.
United have too many in that category and it is hard to see a change of manager alone fixing the problem. Carrick could limp on until the international break. He is symptom rather than cause, although perhaps a different voice is required.
United host Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday, but they will be playing in the Championship if this persists. They are winless in nine games, their worst run since 1988, and are drifting into a relegation battle. The ending was similar to last week’s defeat to Bournemouth, the away end serenading Carrick before booing United’s players, and there was plenty of hate to go around.
Chants criticising Jason Wilcox’s work as director of football and urging the Glazers to sell up captured the sense of mutiny. The first half had been encouraging from United, but with Benjamin Sesko absent until the new year the lack of a finisher proved costly. Bruno Fernandes, restored after clear the air talks with Carrick, fired an early chance over, Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo produced glaring misses and the returning Matheus Cunha had a goal ruled out for offside at 0-0.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
