Gary Neville's Warning to Michael Carrick on Manchester United's Defensive Frailties
Gary Neville has warned Michael Carrick he is already drifting towards the same trapdoors that swallowed Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim at Manchester United – soft defending, late collapses and a back line that never seems to settle.
United were strolling. Or at least it felt that way. They led at Hill Dickinson Stadium, controlled long stretches, and looked to have Everton where they wanted them. Then the clock ticked into stoppage time, the tension rose, and the familiar frailty crept in.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles struck in the 96th minute, punishing United’s failure to close the game out and ripping two points from their grasp. Three games into the Premier League season, Carrick’s side have just four points and a growing reputation for being there to be got at when it matters most.
Neville’s warning: “Teams think they’ve got a chance”
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the former United captain did not sugar-coat it. He went straight to the heart of the problem: ruthlessness, or the lack of it.
“Teams think they’ve got a chance against them,” Neville said. He felt the complacency creeping in long before Everton’s equaliser. “I thought they were a little bit complacent and I was saying it after the first goal, they lacked that killer instinct before that period when Everton equalised and then they react again.”
For Neville, this isn’t just an off day. It’s a pattern he’s seen before at Old Trafford. A side that plays, then relaxes. Scores, then drifts. And when the pressure comes, it buckles.
Defensive reshuffle under the spotlight
The turning point, in Neville’s eyes, came with Carrick’s late changes at the back. United were under pressure, but not yet drowning. Then the manager started to move pieces around in defence.
One decision in particular left Neville baffled: the withdrawal of key defenders in the closing stages. With United already fragile, he felt Carrick invited Everton on.
Neville singled out the changes involving Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot, linking them to the constant defensive tinkering that marked previous regimes.
“I don’t think it’s going to go away and that’s my big fear,” he said. “I think conceding goals is going to chase them and hunt them down the road and I don’t know how Michael deals with it because he’s got his best back four on the pitch. I don’t know why Shaw went off with five minutes to go – hopefully he’s not injured.”
The message was clear: United cannot keep tearing up their defensive structure in the final minutes and expect to survive.
Carrick keeps his composure, but admits the problem
Carrick cut a calmer figure after the game, but he did not try to hide from the obvious. The defending, especially late on, is hurting them.
“Obviously, we can’t ignore it,” he admitted. “We need to concede fewer goals to give us a better chance of winning games. We’ll certainly look at that and keep improving. There’s obviously things we need to get better at as a team.”
He pointed to the quality of Everton’s strikes, stressing that both goals came from distance.
“There’s been two strikes from distance really, two really good strikes from their point of view. Sometimes they fly in the top corner and more often than not they probably don’t. Yeah, for sure, it is [on conceding late].”
Fine margins, yes. But the timing of those goals – and the repeated late wobble – is what is fuelling the concern.
Rashford scare adds to United’s worries
As if the dropped points and defensive questions were not enough, United also finished the afternoon with a fitness worry over Marcus Rashford.
The forward, lively down the left and combining sharply with Shaw, was forced off in the second half. Carrick later confirmed it was due to a physical issue rather than a tactical tweak.
“He felt a little bit of something, so we had to change him,” Carrick said. He was encouraged by the attacking link-up play he had seen, especially on that left flank. “We had good connections pretty much all over the pitch at different times of the game, and Marcus and Shaw have played together for a long period of time and have a good understanding. And you can see that, they look really dangerous down that side, and there is obviously more to come.”
United will hope “more to come” refers to goals and not medical updates. Because right now, with leads slipping and defenders rotating, Carrick already finds himself facing the one question every recent United manager has failed to answer: can this team finally learn how to close out games?
