22 Oct 2026 17:33:09
I've stayed quiet for a long time. Now it's time to get a ew things off my chest.
1. Some on here say Carrick has no Plan B. My problem is he doesn't seem to have a Plan A either. His tactics are spot off, team selection is questionable at best. He shows no fire which is evident in the way his team plays. He complained after the game yesterday that the players weren't running, yet he didn't take them off for young hungry players. What message does that send.
2. He puts Harry and DeLigt together, two players who even at my age of 76 I can outrun. Then when they are trailing 3-0 the team still made more backward passes than forward, no sense of urgency.
3. There has got to be a better option on a pub league squad than Dalot.
4. Fabregas took United (Carrick) behind the woodshed and whopped him. I would go get Fab, and tell him to bring Nico Paz with him (the kid was awesome, better than anyone United currently has on the squad. Como were fun to watch, every player knew what to do and where to be in order to do it. Fab also knows what it takes to win in the premier league. I would take Fab over anyone mentioned as a possible replacement for Carrick.
5. One major problem for United is that what top notch manager would want to come with the way the club is being run. Changes everywhere need to happen but we all know it won't.
6. I'll continue to support my club but I can promise I'll watch. It's pure *****.
22 Oct 2026 17:52:36
It feels like Carrick is allowing the opposition dictate his tactics. Last season things were very simple. Deep defence, and give the ball to Bruno when going forward.
In pre-season it looked like he was moving towards a more possession based system. But this seemed to go out the window after the first match. Since then the system has become more and more conservative as Carrick's primary concern appears to be having as many people behind the ball as possible.
For the Leeds game we played a back 5 without a striker. Carrick claimed that this was so we could match their physicality in midfield. He lauded this as a turning point. Last night he played a back 4 with 4 central midfielders and 2 wingers. Again, this appeared to be an attempt to make sure we had bodies behind the ball. As Bruno said, all it did was give them time in possession and confidence that we were there for the taking.
I doubt that a relegation battling club would allow their tactics to be dictated by the opposition to this extent. Both Maguire and Bruno have said that we're not brave enough. These are the senior players. They can see a manager so terrified of losing that he's putting out teams incapable of playing football. Carrick is simply out of his depth and our season is drowning with him.