Manchester United have once again settled into a familiar pattern, with Michael Carrick now carrying the burden of a club still searching for stability. As has often happened in the years since Sir Alex Ferguson left, early encouragement has given way to mounting concern.<\/p>\n
Supporters may continue to point their frustration in other directions, but the manager remains the figure most likely to absorb the consequences when standards drop. Ruben Amorim understood that reality, even if his own failings at the club were more obvious. He is now in Milan, working to rebuild his reputation after leaving Old Trafford at the start of the year.<\/p>\n
Amorim\u2019s time in charge ended with one of the poorest records in modern United history. The question now is whether Carrick, whose own numbers have declined sharply this season, is in danger of sliding beneath that already low benchmark.<\/p>\n
The comparison is instructive. Amorim oversaw 63 matches, winning 25 and losing 23, with a 39.7% win rate. Carrick, by contrast, has managed 33 games so far, collecting 16 wins, eight draws and nine defeats, which leaves him on 48.5%.<\/p>\n
Amorim\u2019s broader tenure lasted 14 months and included a strong run to the 2025 Europa League final, where United beat Athletic Club in the last four before losing to Tottenham Hotspur in the showpiece. Yet his Premier League record was weaker, with only 15 wins from 47 games and a league win rate of 31.9%.<\/p>\n
Carrick\u2019s early spell as interim boss in late 2021 went better, with two wins and a draw from three matches after Ole Gunnar Solskj\u00e6r departed. Later, after taking over from Amorim in January, no team earned more points from the moment he returned to the Old Trafford touchline until the end of the season than United. They won 12 of 17.<\/p>\n
That has not carried over into 2026\/27. United have won only two of 13 matches, against newly promoted Ipswich Town and Champions League debutants Sabah. Carrick\u2019s win rate has dropped to 15.4%, while their goal difference stands at -7 after three successive defeats by a combined eight goals.<\/p>\n
The warning signs were visible last season. The Guardian reported that United earned 12.7 more points than expected under Carrick, with eight one-goal wins suggesting a run that was difficult to sustain. That fragility has now been exposed. A 2-0 defeat to Chelsea stretched their winless run to nine games, their worst such spell since October and November 1988.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carrick\u2019s numbers are slipping fast, and United\u2019s latest collapse has revived awkward comparisons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,179],"tags":[1836,1162,1047],"class_list":["post-22171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","category-manchester-united","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-analytics","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}