Michael Carrick has been replaced as Manchester United head coach after less than six months in charge, with Mauricio Pochettino appearing likely to take over. Carrick had signed a two-year contract in May, and his tenure ended after a run of defeats, dropped points and public fallouts that left the club in turmoil.
The end was not sudden, but the mood at Old Trafford shifted sharply on Sunday, 8 November. Manchester United were 4-2 down to Aston Villa with the crowd resigned to defeat. Then they scored twice in stoppage time to earn a 4-4 draw. Carrick celebrated Patrick Dorgu’s equaliser by raising an arm, then walked the pitch to acknowledge supporters who sang his name.
He also positioned himself among his players to protect them from fans who had turned on the team after the 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth two weeks earlier. The gesture reflected a man who put the collective ahead of himself, and it explained why his name was still chanted from the stands while others at the club faced fury and derision.
Carrick’s survival after Bournemouth was already in doubt. United took 44 hours to confirm publicly that they were standing by him, although Carrick was reportedly told the day before. Since then, the club has won one, drawn one and lost one.
A season that unravelled
United were outstanding for the first 45 minutes at Chelsea, but they conceded early in the second half. Defender Lisandro Martinez was then sent off for two bookings within five minutes, and United lost 2-0. Against Roma in the Champions League, they were two goals down inside 17 minutes before rallying for a 3-2 win. Against Villa, they fell two goals behind in four minutes because of calamitous goalkeeping, levelled before half-time, and then rescued a point through Dorgu’s late equaliser.
Those results raised a central question: had Carrick strengthened his case, or had they shown he was the wrong man for the job? United’s leadership decided it was the latter. Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox celebrated the Villa equaliser in the directors’ box, but within days they were flying to Monaco to tell minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe that change was needed.
For the third season in a row, United have replaced the head coach mid-season. This decision was not a surprise, though not because of the recent results alone. The contrast with last season was stark. Under Carrick, United won 12 of 17 games and returned to the Champions League. In pre-season, the mood was strongly positive. There were no signs of division, young players such as JJ Gabriel were involved with the first team, and senior staff spoke optimistically about a possible partnership between Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans.
The opening defeats
The 48 hours before the season opener at Hull proved pivotal. Benjamin Sesko was still easing back from the shin problem that ended his previous season early. Amad Diallo then suffered an ankle injury that would keep him out for seven weeks. Carrick lost his first-choice alternative up front, so Bryan Mbeumo had to play on the right of attack.
Carrick turned to Matheus Cunha, whose habit of dropping deep took him into the spaces Fernandes usually occupies. United’s attack was neutralised, and the side appeared ill-prepared for the physical challenge posed by a Hull team eager to return to the Premier League. Jan Aage Fjortoft, working as an interviewer for Nordic broadcaster Viaplay, claimed United had lacked passion. Carrick dismissed the idea as “ridiculous” and said, “It’s one game.”
The following week, United lost to Ipswich, another newly promoted side, before Fernandes equalised. He had just been named PFA Player of the Year for 2025-26 and went on to complete a hat-trick in a 5-2 win. United have not won a Premier League match since.
At Everton, United twice led, and Sesko scored two minutes from time after coming on as a substitute. Ainsley Maitland-Niles then struck from long range deep into stoppage time to deny the visitors. Asked how confident he was that his team could respond to a poor start, Carrick snapped: “It’s not been that bad.”
The problems extended across the schedule. United struggled 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 were justified, but they masked a poor performance. Against Brighton in the EFL Cup, United led 2-0 inside 10 minutes but lost after conceding twice in four second-half minutes. Cunha’s injury-time equaliser against Fulham, who were bottom when the game began, was a positive, but United then conceded in injury time to a 10-man Tottenham side.
After the 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid, Martinez criticised United’s summer recruitment and blamed “the technical director”, Wilcox. Como then beat United 4-1 in Europe after conceding in the opening minute, and Fernandes publicly criticised Carrick’s tactics. Fernandes was dropped for the Bournemouth game but returned as captain at Chelsea.
Injuries and recruitment
Carrick made mistakes, and the Hull performance was inexplicable. Still, questions remain about how much he was let down by the recruitment side. A source close to one player questioned why so much focus had gone on midfield. The result was that Fernandes was moved away from the central role where he had excelled in the second half of last season.
Casemiro’s departure required a major replacement. After pursuing Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, United completed the £70m signing of Carlos Baleba from Brighton on 25 August. A pre-existing ankle injury delayed his debut until 10 October. He has started only five games and is now out for an extended period with a hamstring problem.
Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa for £35m, and Andrey Santos joined from Chelsea in a deal that could eventually cost £50m. Tielemans scored his first goal in the Villa match. Santos has started four league games, having spent much of the early season on the bench.
Other weaknesses went unaddressed. Luke Shaw started every Premier League game last season, but his injury record suggested the need for competition at left-back. Instead, United held back, hoping to sign Lewis Hall from Newcastle the following summer. Carrick eventually used five different players at left-back. Sesko finished last season injured and had made only two substitute appearances by the close of the transfer window. Carrick later said he would be out for a “long time”, thought to mean at least January. Marcus Rashford has not played since.
The back four used in the first home game of the season was the same one used in the first home game under Erik ten Hag in 2022. United have conceded 30 goals this season, the most of any team in Europe’s top five leagues apart from Lens.
A judgement that went against him
When asked about further signings during pre-season training on 13 August, Carrick responded: “We want more, we need more.” For a coach known for his calm, it was a pointed demand. Well-placed sources said Carrick was clear about the gaps in his squad and expected more than one new arrival.
Another club source had said United should be judged once the transfer window closed. That judgement has been negative. Other United sources defend the recruitment strategy, arguing that it is easy to be wise after the event and that Kobbie Mainoo was the club’s only orthodox midfield option at the end of last season. They also insist the squad is good enough to finish in the Champions League places. More than a quarter of the way through the season, United are some distance from that target.
Carrick has paid the price, lasting less than six months into his two-year contract. Pochettino looks likely to replace him, and Berrada and Wilcox will hope his appointment restores calm after another period of chaos.