Manchester United’s season has really not started in the way fans would have hoped, with only 1 league win and 1 Champions League victory, while the club have already exited the League Cup, lost to rivals City and had an embarrassing opening day loss against Hull City.

With this feeling of disappointment around the club both on and off the pitch, Michael Carrick’s first 2 months of the season as permanent manager is not going as planned, and with the extended international break offering a chance to hit reset on the season, there are some serious questions to answer. In this post we’ve posed 3 questions that Carrick will need to try and find an answer to if they are able to build some momentum and make something of the season before it’s too late.

As always, if you have any thoughts on Manchester United this season, get in touch with us by leaving a comment, following us on Bluesky (@NextGoalWinner) or Instagram (@NextGoalWin) and checking out our YouTube channel (@NextGoalWinner).

Squad Depth

Is the squad good enough to compete?

Tielemans, Santos, Baleba, Darlow and some young stars added this summer, and while this certainly bolsters the midfield, there are other huge areas lacking for Manchester United following their summer business.

While watching rival clubs spend hundreds of millions in recruitment, United have taken a more cautious and ‘smart’ approach to avoid being ripped off. Having used last summer to revamp their forward line and this summer to refresh the midfield, this very specific way of doing business doesn’t quite work as it leaves key areas of the pitch lacking and United are still starting with the same back 4 as they did almost 4 years ago, with little/no depth in some key positions.

At left-back, United didn’t get any of their main targets, and with Luke Shaw already missing games with injury, a recent knock for Patrick Dorgu means either Mazraoui or Amass are the only remaining options, in attack United are either forced to play a clearly injured Sesko or adapt their whole approach with Cunha playing false-9, and in goal there is no real competition for Senne Lammens which is okay but risks a feeling of complacency creeping in to some areas.

The recruitment clearly hasn’t been good enough, and has been C+ at best for the last 2 years. While it’s good to see the team take a stand against inflated prices, get their wage structure under control and moving on players who don’t fit the environment they’re building at the club, but with any injury to a starting player and suddenly United are lacking, and we’ve already seen that some players are not going to remain fit enough to see out a full season at the top level.

Finding Success

What is success for this season?

United currently sit 12th in the Premier League table despite playing against 2 of the newly promoted sides and a team without a win this season, they are out of the League Cup at the first time of asking and thankfully have won 1 from 1 in the Champions League, but what does this mean for the season.

I think most fans would have a reasonable expectation for this campaign that finishing back in the Champions League places, getting into the knockout rounds of the Champions League and making a decent attempt at the domestic cups could be seen as success, but as things stands, only 1 of the 3 targets is looking on track, and the Champions League hasn’t really posed a big challenge as of yet.

Given the exit from the League Cup, any silverware success seems hugely unlikely, and for Michael Carrick a trophy would certainly bring a feeling of success. Any hope of a title race is certainly unlikely from this point in the season as they are way off the pace with the leading pack, the Champions League should still offer some positivity as the format should allow for progression to the knockout rounds, however the early domestic cup exit is a big problem.

Carrick has pretty much the bare minimum expectations on what to achieve this season for Manchester United, but given that things are falling short already, it could become very difficult for this season to find any real success.

Off-Field Concerns

Can the fans be kept on-side?

Already this season we’ve seen protests from the United fans due to the season ticket issues. It’s fair to say when the club perform on the pitch these issues are often overlooked by the wider media, however when the club struggle it amplifies concerns across every aspect of this giant organisation, and fans are very much feeling like they’re bottom of the barrel for considerations.

In less than 2 months of the season there’s been issues around tickets with season ticket holders having their tickets cancelled due to ‘touting’ despite being unable to attend certain games, while the club seemingly want to force out these supporters in place of tourist fans who may spend more on attending. We’ve got Jim Ratcliffe making more idiotic comments in the media, debts still over £1 billion while the Glazers remain a part of the ownership, a crumbling stadium with little/no plans for the new ground other than land acquisition. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also clearly a lack of interest and concern in the women’s team from the hierarchy and questions around recruitment and the whole JJ Gabriel saga which highlights concerns over the development of young players.

While Michael Carrick could be forgiven for wondering how any of this is his concern for the job he’s in place to do, but he knows how this club works and the scrutiny that comes around the managers job, which ultimately means he will be asked questions regularly about all of these issues and more. If he gets the team performing and brings results, the fans will remain truly behind a legend of the club and manager that everyone wants to see make a success of things, but ultimately if they don’t perform he will just become another problem which will splinter the fan base and could become a target for those looking for change.