Manchester United have always loved to lean on the past. Mention Sir Alex Ferguson and the stories practically tell themselves: trebles, title fights, that relentless winning habit, and a manager who could turn a losing dressing room into a champion’s just by staring hard enough. It is no wonder the club’s supporters often retreat into those memories when the present gets uncomfortable. What they prefer not to revisit, though, is the time just before Ferguson arrived. That was an era of faded glitz, underachievement, and a certain hangover feeling after the glory days. On Saturday, when Dominic Solanke tapped in Tottenham’s equalizer, fans of a certain age might have felt a chill of recognition. Statistically, United had been transported back to the murky mid-1980s. Six points from six league games is their worst start to a season since 1986-87, which was the campaign that ultimately cost Ron Atkinson his job. To be clear, that does not mean Michael Carrick is doomed, nor that history is about to repeat itself in some neat, predictable way. Manchester United’s recent struggles suggest they would be lucky to find another Ferguson-like savior if Carrick were shown the door. But it does mean something is seriously off, and the warning signs are multiplying by the week.
The most alarming thing is that United simply do not look ready when the whistle blows. They stumbled out of the blocks in their opening defeat at Hull, as if the season had crept up on them. It has not been a one-off. They have started almost every game badly, and the first half against Tottenham at Old Trafford was genuinely painful to watch. Calling their displays before the break against Fulham and Everton merely “underwhelming” feels generous, because at least in those matches they improved after halftime. Even the one league victory, a 5-2 thrashing of Ipswich, was not exactly convincing. They fell behind early, needed a stroke of fortune to get back level, and only then began to look like a side capable of winning. Their one truly flying start came in the Carabao Cup against Brighton, when they raced into a 2-0 lead within ten minutes. But that only made the eventual collapse worse. It is difficult to say whether this is a matter of tactics, mindset, or simply match sharpness, but the pattern is undeniable. United are beginning games like a student who sets fifty alarms and still sleeps through the first three. You do not need to be a football expert to see that something is not being addressed in the dressing room before kickoff, and it is fair to wonder what, exactly, they have been doing in training.
There is also a troubling physical dimension to this sluggishness. Against Fulham, United were outrun by 6.5 kilometers. Against Tottenham, the gap was 4.6 kilometers, and that was with Spurs down to ten men for the final twenty minutes. Those numbers are damning, whichever way you look at them. They might be explained by conditioning, by tactical setup, or by the simple reality of age. Before the weekend’s fixtures, three of the four oldest starting lineups in the division belonged to United. That is not a label you want when you are trying to press high and play with intensity. On Saturday, Youri Tielemans, playing the 679th match of a long and distinguished career, looked like a very tired 29-year-old. It is not all doom, because there is young talent waiting in the wings. Carlos Baleba, the injury-prone midfielder who arrived with a hefty price tag and a reputation for energy, is finally fit enough to make a belated debut. Leny Yoro, given a rare chance at right-back, at least showed some pace. But the fact that Baleba was injured when he arrived, after United missed out on several top transfer targets, only reinforces the sense that the club were not fully prepared for the new campaign. It is as if they spent the summer hoping rather than planning, and were then surprised when the fixtures started arriving.
Too many established players have begun the season far below their best. Bruno Fernandes, the captain and creative heartbeat, has been quiet by his own high standards. But United cannot keep relying on him to rescue them from every poor performance, nor should they have to. Diogo Dalot, who once seemed a permanent fixture at full-back, has lost his place to Yoro and has not shown enough when called upon. Lisandro Martinez, usually so reliable and fierce, is having a worrying start. He was at fault for Solanke’s equalizer against Tottenham, and when you add his own goal at Fulham and the injury-time consolation Ipswich scored, you have a defender responsible for three separate concessions already. His backup, Ayden Heaven, struggled badly when given a chance at Hull after the World Cup, which only deepens the concern. Elsewhere, Patrick Dorgu started the season in the first team but was soon dropped and is now injured. Andrey Santos has started twice and has been dreadful on both occasions. Tielemans has not yet shown anything like the form that made him a star at Aston Villa. Goalkeeper Senne Lammens looks less assured than he did last season, and Matheus Cunha has done little as a center-forward, though he has looked livelier when shifted out to the left. Very few players can honestly say they have delivered consistent performances. That includes the manager, who must take responsibility for a team that seems disjointed, passive, and short on ideas in too many matches.
Carrick has tried to point to specific, isolated mistakes as the reasons for each defeat. There was the set-piece goal at Hull, the long-range strike at Everton, the individual error here or there. But patterns are beginning to emerge, and patterns cannot be blamed on bad luck. United have conceded goals in matches when the opposition had ten men, against both Manchester City and Tottenham. They concede from crosses too easily, and they lose leads too frequently. For a team that starts games slowly, they also seem to end them badly. Ipswich, Everton, and Tottenham have all scored in injury time against them. Some were mere consolation goals, but others cost United points and shifted the momentum of matches. It is a terrible combination: a team that is not switched on at the beginning, loses focus in the middle, and then panics at the end. On the pitch, Carrick has yet to find a coherent formula. With Benjamin Sesko injured, there is no obvious center-forward who fits the system. The midfield partnership of Kobbie Mainoo and Tielemans has looked too easy to play against, offering space and time to opposition attackers while providing little protection to the backline. The defense has not kept a clean sheet against anyone except Sabah, a team from Azerbaijan whose name barely registers on the European radar. No area of the team is functioning as a unit, and there is little evidence of improvement from week to week. If anything, the same problems keep appearing, as if the side are stuck in a loop they cannot break out of.
The awkward truth is that this is nothing new. United have begun seasons poorly for four consecutive years now, and one strong finish after a terrible start does not erase the deeper issue. Carrick did prove last season that he could turn things around, though it should be remembered that the campaign began under someone else. That has often been United’s cure: changing manager, trimming the squad, hoping for a spark. Rewind forty years and that approach did not bring instant improvement, though it ultimately produced Ferguson, who was transformative in the end. Yet Ferguson was a once-in-a-generation figure, and while United have every right to keep hoping for history to repeat itself, they cannot build a strategy on that hope. Their false starts, on the other hand, are becoming a tradition in their own right. Maybe Carrick can steady the ship again, maybe a couple of wins will change the mood, and maybe the return of injured players will make the whole picture look different. But for now, the most honest thing to say is that this Manchester United team looks fragile, tired, and strangely uncertain of what it is trying to be. The past is a comforting place to hide, but it will not help them win the next match. At some point, they have to stop looking backwards and find a way to be ready for the present.