Rooney Urges Carrick to Make Bold Changes After Hull Defeat
Wayne Rooney has told Michael Carrick to be ruthless and swing the axe after Manchester United’s tame 2-0 defeat at Hull City – and he’s named the players he would drop for Sunday’s clash with Ipswich Town.
United had 71 per cent of the ball at the MKM Stadium but did almost nothing with it. Plenty of possession, very little threat. That, for Rooney, goes way beyond tactics.
Speaking on The Overlap, the club’s all-time leading scorer put the responsibility squarely on the players’ shoulders.
“I think players need to take responsibility on the pitch because when you play against a Hull City or Ipswich, the next game, you can set up however you want to set up and a lot of the time it’s decisions,” Rooney said. For him, what happens in those key moments – the choices players make under pressure – is what decides games.
Rooney calls for big selection calls
Rooney didn’t stop at general criticism. He went straight to names.
He singled out Luke Shaw and Santos as the men he would take out of the side when Ipswich visit Old Trafford on Sunday, arguing that Carrick needs to shake things up if United are to respond properly.
His solution starts at left-back. Rooney wants Patrick Dorgu brought into the defence and Shaw taken out of the firing line.
“I’d change Luke Shaw and I’d play Dorgu at left-back, be a bit more aggressive,” he said. “I don’t think we can rely on him [Shaw] to play all the games so when you’re playing against a newly promoted team at home, I’d play Dorgu at left-back.”
The message is clear: fresh legs, more bite, less reliance on an injury-prone senior player in a game United should be able to control.
Rooney also turned to the heart of midfield. Asked about changing the pairing, he backed Kobbie Mainoo to come in at Santos’ expense.
“Mainoo probably, yeah. I’d bring Mainoo in for Santos,” he added, pushing for more dynamism and responsibility from a younger option in the middle of the pitch.
Carrick under pressure to respond
Carrick has to find answers quickly, and he has to do it without one of his biggest summer investments. Carlos Baleba, signed for £70 million and expected to become a central pillar of this United side, is out with ankle ligament damage. That removes one obvious option as the manager searches for a new balance.
The former midfielder cut a composed figure in front of the cameras after the Hull defeat, but he didn’t hide how much the result stung.
“The result’s the result. We got beat, we’re hurt and it’s not a nice feeling,” Carrick admitted. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to change the whole direction of how we’re going as a team or as a football club.”
He insists the setback will not derail the broader project. The table and the mood around Old Trafford will demand a more immediate reaction.
Ipswich at home now becomes an early test of his authority. Does he stand by his senior players, or does he listen to Rooney and rip up part of the team sheet?
United need more than a routine win. They need a performance that releases some of the pressure, restores a bit of edge and proves this was just a stumble, not the start of a slide. With a congested schedule looming, Carrick’s next team selection will say a lot about how he plans to fight his way through the storm.
