During his post-match press conference, new City manager Enzo Maresca acknowledged that Phil Foden’s dismissal had made the contest more challenging for his team.
Nevertheless, he explained that the red card also created difficulties for United.
“They are at their best when they can break quickly and exploit space behind the defence,” he said.
“After going down to 10 men, we defended deeper and waited for them to attack. That prevented them from launching counter-attacks or finding space in behind, making the match harder for both teams.”
United have generally looked more dangerous on the counter since Jose Mourinho took charge more than 10 years ago. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer attempted to introduce a different approach but was unable to complete that transition.
To some degree, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim encountered the same issue. Both arrived after succeeding in domestic competitions where their teams regularly controlled matches. During his playing career, Carrick valued possession and rarely surrendered the ball, so it is reasonable to expect him to demand a similar style from his squad.
Retaining possession is only part of the challenge. Breaking down disciplined opponents who defend compactly, restrict space and maintain their structure requires greater creativity, awareness and technical quality.
United focused their summer recruitment plans on strengthening midfield. However, Youri Tielemans has not yet reached his best level, Carlos Baleba is still awaiting his debut, and Andrey Santos was moved to the bench after the opening match at Hull before being left unused against City. As a result, the club has so far received limited value from its £155m summer investment.
Meanwhile, Luke Shaw’s sequence of 41 consecutive Premier League starts ended, with no new left-back available to provide the cover many expected the club to sign.
The late introduction of Netherlands attacker Joshua Zirkzee, who had been available for a move throughout the summer, in place of Marcus Rashford with seven minutes remaining was also revealing. As one of only two substitutions made by United, the change underlined that Carrick’s squad lacks the depth needed to compete at the required standard.
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