Looking back on his experience of taking Manchester United to Leeds United’s formidable home ground, Sir Alex Ferguson once wrote: “The crowd invariably give us the impression that a lynching would be too good for us.”
Michael Carrick would have experienced a metaphorical assault from those in Manchester, let alone Yorkshire, had his United side fallen to defeat at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon. This was the club’s worst start to a league season since the dire sequence of results which led to Ferguson’s appointment 40 years ago. After a week spent fending off controversy and a calamitous run of form, the Red Devils managed to salvage a 1–1 draw on enemy turf.
Yet, rather than some grand show of rejuvenation under Carrick, United delivered a performance that threw up more questions than answers.
Michael Carrick’s Huge Tactical Gamble
Lisandro Martínez’s takedown of Manchester United’s technical director Jason Wilcox stole the spotlight but his assessment of Carrick was damning with faint praise. “He does his best,” the World Cup winner shrugged.
“Every season is different. You can’t stay with what you did last season. The teams know how you play, they know every detail, if you don’t change next season [it] is a big problem.”
Carrick took that feedback onboard and went for something very different.
United deviated significantly from their favored 4-2-3-1 formation, lining up in a flexible system dictated by the phase of play and Leeds’ positioning. Off the ball, the Red Devils shuttled into a back five—the system which played a part in Ruben Amorim’s sacking earlier this year—with Amad Diallo following Leeds wingback Gabriel Gudmundsson on his forward raids.
The in-possession shape was even more flexible. Without a natural left winger or center forward in the starting lineup, Carrick went with a narrow front three of Bryan Mbeumo together with natural midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans. That unorthodox frontline combined well for United’s opener.
Tielemans lent the ball to Amad out wide before reluctantly running behind Leeds’ backline, the creaking of his joints as he slowly gathered speed almost audible above Elland Road’s roar. The Belgian slid a slick first-time pass across the face of goal for Mbeumo to convert. Moments earlier, the pair had combined for a chance which Mbeumo spurned.
Lisandro Martinez’s Stock Soars
Carrick had little choice but to swallow Martínez’s apology after his midweek outburst, overlook the center back’s first statement which offered no remorse and keep him in his starting XI for Sunday’s derby. Any damage that decision could have done to his reputation, in and out of the club, was not as severe as the strain his absence would have taken on United’s defense, in the eyes of Carrick. That point was swiftly proven.
Martínez started and helped his team keep Leeds in check. The hosts were limited to just four shots and a puny 0.25 xG in the first half with the familiar pairing of Harry Maguire and Martínez in tact. That duo would be forcibly disbanded during the interval, when the Argentine was forced off after appearing to pick up a knock during the opening 45 minutes.
Noussair Mazraoui was brought on in place of Martínez and surprisingly lined up to the left of Maguire, leaving Leny Yoro in his hybrid right back/center back role. Within six minutes of the Morocco international’s introduction, he proved why Carrick had favored Martínez.
At a corner which Mazraoui cheaply conceded, the 28-year-old was out-jumped by Tarik Muharemović, who nodded the ball down for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to swipe in and equalize for the hosts. Martínez glumly watched on from the bench beneath his oversized hood.
Leny Yoro’s Emphatic Response to Midweek Red Card
None of United’s contingent covered themselves in glory on their Champions League trip to Madrid in midweek but Yoro was left to stew over a clumsy red card. The 20-year-old’s response to the first red card of his senior career could scarcely have been more impressive.
Tasked with a complicated new role that forced him to shift between two different systems in the inhospitable atmosphere of a vengeful Elland Road, Yoro rose to the challenge, quite literally. The sprightly defender was everywhere, jumping off his invisible trampoline to head away the volley of crosses raining down upon United’s penalty area.
Yoro held firm, even as Leeds cranked up the pressure in a lopsided second half. If only his more senior teammates could have reacted as impressively.
Yoro’s Game in Numbers
- Defensive contributions: 11 (2nd highest on the pitch)
- Total clearances: 8 (1st)
- Headed clearances: 5 (1st)
- Dribbled past: 0 (1st)
Bruno Fernandes’s Struggles Persist
Since he rattled in a hat trick against Ipswich Town at the end of August, Fernandes has only provided a goal or an assist in one of his subsequent eight appearances for Manchester United—and that was against Azerbaijan upstarts Sabah FK.
Fernandes has been United’s bellwether throughout his career; the team is invariably at its best when its captain is. In an attempt to change the fortunes of the collective and his star individual, Carrick has experimented with Fernandes’s position in his last two games.
The club captain was shunted onto the right wing against Atlético Madrid midweek, when he twice came close to scoring but also failed to offer any discipline off the ball. Amad was tasked with holding the width on United’s right against Leeds, giving Fernandes licence to roam all over the pitch. That freedom didn’t translate to any real threat, with United’s playmaker-in-chief creating just one chance.
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