Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Michael Carrick was given a two-year contract as Manchester United head coach on 22 May
BySimon StoneManchester United reporter- Published21 minutes ago
It was just after 6pm on Sunday, 8 November when the message landed. Manchester United were 4-2 down to Aston Villa, and Old Trafford was resigned to defeat.
"Be gentle."
The plea came from someone who knows Michael Carrick well, has worked with him and understands at first hand the pressures of life in the United goldfish bowl.
As it turned out, the predicted ending did not come to pass.
United scored twice in stoppage time to salvage a 4-4 draw. Carrick celebrated Patrick Dorgu's equaliser by raising an arm in the air. After that, he walked round the pitch on what has turned out to be a final lap of appreciation.
As the United supporters sang his name, Carrick placed himself in the middle of his players to ensure the fans did not turn on them in the way they had done after the 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth two weeks before.
It was a decision that summed up the 45-year-old - supporting the collective, rather than looking after himself.
That obvious desire to do the best for his club and his players - and his storied past - explains why Carrick's song continued to be bellowed from the stands when just about everyone else involved at United was attracting fury and derision.
In the end, it wasn't enough.
To get this far is longer than many envisaged. It seemed there was no way Carrick could survive the Bournemouth debacle.
United took 44 hours to communicate to the wider world they were sticking with him then, though it is understood Carrick was told the day before.
Since then, it has been chaos. United have won one, drawn one and lost one.
Outstanding in the opening 45 minutes at Chelsea, they conceded at the start of the second half before defender Lisandro Martinez was sent off for two bookings in the space of five minutes. They lost 2-0.
Awful and two goals down inside 17 minutes against Roma in the Champions League, they roared back with the kind of thrilling comeback Carrick was part of so often during Sir Alex Ferguson's days to win 3-2.
Then, Villa. Two goals down in four minutes thanks to calamitous goalkeeping, they clawed back to level before half-time. More abysmal defending left United with another mountain to climb - but they emerged from the carnage with a point.
Try picking the bones out of that. Had Carrick's stock increased, or had it merely proven he was not the right man the job? United decided it was the latter.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, United came from two goals down twice to snatch a draw against Villa
Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox celebrated Dorgu's stoppage-time equaliser against Villa in the directors' box. But they had a slightly detached perspective.
Within days they were flying to Monaco to tell minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe change was required.
For the third season in a row, United are replacing the man in charge of the team mid-season.
Unlike with Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, this decision is not a surprise. Not because of what is happening now, but because what is happening now is so at odds with what happened last season.
After 12 wins in 17 games under Carrick and a return to the Champions League, the mood in pre-season was overwhelmingly positive.
There were no signs of splits, young players including JJ Gabriel were part of the group, and senior staff spoke optimistically about the potential of Bruno Fernandes' proposed partnership with Youri Tielemans.
Recruitment was clearly an issue, but more of that later.
Defeats and outbursts - Man Utd's season unravels
Looking back, the 48 hours before United's season-opening match at Hull were pivotal.
With Benjamin Sesko still trying to ease his way back from the shin issue that ended his previous campaign early, Amad Diallo suffered an ankle injury that would rule him out for seven weeks. It meant Carrick was deprived of his first-choice striking alternative, with Bryan Mbeumo having to play on the right of the attack.
Carrick instead turned to Matheus Cunha, whose preference for dropping deep took him into the spaces captain Fernandes likes to occupy.
It neutralised United's attack on a day they seemed ill-prepared to meet the physical challenge of an opponent motivated by their long-awaited Premier League return.
In his role as interviewer for Nordic broadcaster Viaplay, former Norway and Middlesbrough striker Jan Aage Fjortoft claimed United had lacked passion - something Carrick dismissed as "ridiculous".
"It's one game," Carrick told the media afterwards.
The following week, United were losing to Ipswich - another newly promoted side. Only a slip from Marcelino Nunez inside his own half allowed Cunha to tee up Fernandes for an undeserved equaliser. Fernandes, who had just been crowned PFA Player of the Year for 2025-26, went on to complete a hat-trick in a 5-2 win.
United have not won in the Premier League since.
After that came a trip to Everton. Twice United led, the second time when Sesko struck two minutes from time after coming on as a substitute. Deep into stoppage time, Ainsley Maitland-Niles drove home from long range to deny the visitors.
Asked how confident he was in his side's ability to react to a disappointing start to the season, Carrick snapped back: "It's not been that bad."
What happened next was.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Manchester United's 4-1 defeat by Como was one of their worst European results
Time and again, United's fitness was called into question. They struggled badly against a Manchester City side reduced to 10 men in the first half before City benefited from an Erling Haaland goal that referees' chief Howard Webb later admitted should not have stood.
Carrick's complaints after the match were justified - but they masked a poor performance from his team.
After taking a 2-0 lead inside 10 minutes against Brighton in the EFL Cup, United were outplayed and beaten, thanks to two goals in four second-half minutes.
Carrick's coaching staff - lauded months earlier - could not find an answer.
The head coach said Cunha's injury-time equaliser against a Fulham side who started the game bottom was a positive to build on. But immediately after the international break, United were held to another draw - conceding in injury time to an out-of-form and 10-man Tottenham.
The familiar downward spiral was getting out of control.
Martinez was at fault for Spurs' leveller, which made his post-match outburst after the 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid more amazing.
The Argentina defender criticised United's summer recruitment and placed the blame at the door of "the technical director" - Wilcox.
By the time of Martinez's outburst, Sesko and left-back Luke Shaw were injured. Marcus Rashford has not played since. The rotation at left-back eventually led to Carrick starting five different players in that role.
After conceding in the opening minute against Atletico, Como scored inside the first two in a 4-1 win. Fernandes came out afterwards and criticised Carrick's tactics.
He was dropped for the Bournemouth game, but returned as captain at Chelsea.
Injuries and bad recruitment
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Sesko has started two games and scored two goals this season
There is no doubt Carrick made mistakes. The Hull game - a performance that set the tone for the season so far - was inexplicable.
But it is also fair to wonder how much he was let down by the recruitment side.
A source close to one player questioned why so much attention was focused on midfield, when the inevitable consequence was Fernandes being shifted away from the central position he excelled in over the second half of last season.
Casemiro's exit necessitated a big-money replacement but, after heading down one-way streets in the pursuit of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, it was 25 August before the £70m deal to sign Carlos Baleba from Brighton was completed.
A pre-existing ankle injury meant Baleba did not make his debut until 10 October. After starting only five games, he is now out for an extended period with a hamstring problem.
Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa for £35m and Andrey Santos signed from Chelsea in a deal that could eventually cost £50m. The former scored his first goal in the Villa thriller. Santos, though, was left on the bench. He has started four league games.
Meanwhile, obvious issues in Carrick's squad were left unaddressed.
Shaw started every Premier League game last season, but that was an outlier in an otherwise injury-hit career. Clear competition was needed in that area. Instead, United backed off, thinking they might be able to sign Lewis Hall from Newcastle next summer.
Central defence was left as it was.
United's back four for the first home game of the season was the same as it was for the first home game under Ten Hag in 2022. They have conceded 30 goals so far this term - the most of any team in Europe's top five leagues, apart from Lens.
Up front, Sesko finished last season injured and had only made two substitute appearances when the transfer window closed. Carrick subsequently admitted he would be out for a "long time" - thought to be at least January.
It's over
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, United's players were booed down the tunnel by their own fans after the 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth
Carrick was asked about the possibility of further signings following the arrivals of Tielemans and Santos during the club's pre-season training camp on 13 August.
"We want more, we need more," was the response.
For someone so calm and considered, it was a strong demand for action to those above. Well-placed sources say it was obvious to Carrick where the holes in his squad were and he was expecting more than a single new signing from that point.
A couple of weeks before Carrick spoke, another club source told BBC Sport that United should be judged when the transfer window closed.
From this position, that judgement would have to be negative.
However, other United sources defend the recruitment strategy, claiming it easy to be wise after the event and at the end of last season, Kobbie Mainoo was their only orthodox midfield option.
It is also argued the United squad is capable of finishing in the Champions League places.
More than a quarter of the way into the season, they are some way off that target.
Carrick has paid the price - lasting less than six months into the two-year contract he signed in May.
Mauricio Pochettino looks likely to be his replacement. Berrada and Wilcox will hope his appointment brings calm after another period of chaos.
