Michael Carrick: Louis Saha warns tactics endanger job

Standfirst: key facts and figures

• Manchester United threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton in the Carabao Cup.
• United also lost to a Manchester City side that played most of the game with ten men.
• Louis Saha, speaking to the Manchester Evening News, says Michael Carrick’s tactics are putting his job at risk. United spent £155million this summer on Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba.

Michael Carrick at Manchester United: how it happened

Manchester United led Brighton 2-0 in the Carabao Cup before conceding three times to lose 3-2 – a collapse that has hardened doubts about Michael Carrick’s approach. That defeat followed a separate loss to Manchester City, a game United lost despite City playing with ten men for long periods.

Both results came after a summer of real upheaval at Old Trafford. United paid a combined £155million for Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba, three midfield signings brought in partly to cover for Casemiro, who left on a free transfer.

Benjamin Sesko, signed to lead the attack, missed the whole of pre-season through injury. That denied Carrick the chance to build sharpness and combinations up front before the campaign began.

The squad has been reshaped in personnel, but on Saha’s reading, it has not yet been reshaped in how it plays. United have talent in Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. Yet two cup defeats in quick succession suggest that talent is not yet moving as a team. That gap between recruitment and results is now the central question hanging over Carrick’s start to the season.

The expert angle: tactical stagnation threatens Carrick’s tenure

Saha’s intervention came in an interview with the Manchester Evening News. It is pointed because it clears the players of primary blame.

“The problem with Manchester United this season is not the players,” he said. He noted that Sesko’s lost pre-season, and the delayed return of other players after the World Cup, complicated Carrick’s planning. Saha added: “In truth I don’t think it was a good summer transfer window for Manchester United.” “But Michael Carrick has to adapt.”

His central complaint is about rhythm rather than personnel. Saha said he does not “see a team that has the animation it needs.” He argued United require “a system to play good football, with patterns of play” instead of the approach currently on show.

He was specific about where the problem starts. Saha said the two defensive midfielders “look too comfortable passing the ball slowly, side-to-side.” That habit, he explained, “does not provide the sort of passes forward to create those one-on-one moments” for Cunha, Mbeumo and Fernandes.

Saha extended the point to United’s transitions, the moments when a team should hurt an opponent before it can reset. “In transition they are too slow,” he said. It “doesn’t matter who you put in these situations, whether it’s Sesko or Cunha or Mbeumo,” he added, if none of them takes the risk of pressing forward.

He acknowledged United “create some chances, but they are not clear-cut chances.” He pointed to an unused resource in Rashford, saying the team are not “using the acceleration of Marcus Rashford to get behind teams.” His verdict was blunt: “It’s all too slow.”

Taken together, this is a structural critique rather than a case for swapping individuals. If United cannot move the ball, and the runners ahead of it, more quickly, the outcomes seen against Brighton and City will keep repeating. That will hold regardless of who starts.

What happens next

The pressure Saha describes sits on Carrick’s tactical setup, not his squad. His words carry weight because of how heavily the club backed this window: £155million spent on midfield reinforcements, with Casemiro’s exit already banked as a saving. Every subsequent United performance will now be read against Saha’s specific complaints. That means the tempo of the pivot’s passing and whether Cunha, Mbeumo, Fernandes and Rashford are given quicker service behind.

For Carrick, the task is to show it on the pitch, not in press conferences. United must play with the tempo and patterns Saha says are missing. Readers can follow our full report on Saha’s comments for the wider reaction to his warning. Until United’s build-up speeds up, the scrutiny on Carrick’s methods, rather than his transfer business, will only grow.

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