Michael Carrick was failed by transfers however no excuse for Man Utd’s dire recreation administration

Manchester United fell to a gutting late wonderstrike from Ainsley Maitland-Niles as Everton snatched two points off Michael Carrick’s side at the death

Manchester United’s defensive woes cost them three points at Everton on Sunday as Michael Carrick’s side twice lost the lead and two points.

The 5-2 hammering of Ipswich showcased the Red Devils’ attacking quality, but just as it had done in the opening day defeat at Hull, and making the Ipswich victory harder, United’s leaky defence was a huge problem again. It has cost them at least three points already this season.

Bryan Mbeumo’s brilliant solo strike and Benjamin Sesko’s impact off the bench showed that United are going to have to outscore teams to pick up points after no defenders were signed in the transfer window despite the same backline that started at the Hill Dickinson playing Erik ten Hag’s first away game in charge – the 4-0 humiliation to Brentford in August 2022.

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Everton’s two goals were scored with an XG of just 0.07 – Tyrique George’s first equaliser that powered into the near post was recorded at 0.04XG while Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ stunning strike at the death came in at 0.03XG.

In isolation, a team dropping points in this situation would be considered unlucky, but it’s now the third game in a row that United have conceded twice, and all against sides very likely to end up in the bottom half of the table.

The game management is incredibly concerning, first obvious in the previous match in Lisandro Martinez’s decision to try and dribble out of a dead end that should have been booted into the stands, instead, the Argentine attempted to play and was pinched for Ipswich’s second goal.

Chuba Akpom’s injury time strike ultimately meant nothing to the game, but it showed that United players can’t be trusted to see a game through.

And this time it was costly, while some will want to point to the two goals as brilliant strikes, Everton should never have been in that position in the first place.

George’s strike came in the 83rd minute, after Marcus Rashford, who was flying all game, was replaced by Patrick Dorgu. The 21-year-old isn’t fancied at left-back due to his defensive fragility, but even on the wing he failed in his responsibility.

Dorgu was found wandering on the left and hadn’t got back in quick enough to spot the danger and close the gap to Harrison Armstrong. The young midfielder was in acres of space and Dorgu only noticed too late.

After the ball had broken kindly back off Martinez, Dorgu had virtually followed Armstrong desperately into a centre-back position – completely leaving the room for Jack Grealish to spread the ball wide to George, who took one touch and fired into the roof of the net before Luke Shaw had time to recover.

This isn’t a pile-on for young Dorgu, but he then completely lost sight of his role again when he went bounding up the pitch to press Jordan Pickford with two seconds left of injury time.

Instead of being forced to hit the ball long into the box for one last Hail Mary chance to equalise, Pickford was allowed to pass the ball down the line, where Everton had two players free after Dorgu broke his shape.

Seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net through Maitland-Niles’ wonderstrike. The game management was dire, but the bad summer recruitment was also made evidently clear.

Leny Yoro was brought on out of position at right back for Diogo Dalot, and found himself too narrow for the equaliser, while the hapless Noussair Mazraoui replaced Shaw late on. United fans endured eight years of Dalot and Shaw at full-back, but an extra five minutes of the pair set up as full-backs likely would have seen them over the line.

Bar Matthijs de Ligt, United have a clean bill of health at the back, yet in the first weekend of September the failure to address the full-back positions, most prominently left-back, leave it no surprise that both goals came from wide positions.

The Manchester derby couldn’t arrive at a worse time for a United side failing to find their feet this season. Enzo Maresca’s side have been unconvincing, yet have three wins from three games.

United’s seemingly annual trip to the Etihad while battling against a slow start to the season has ended dreadfully too many times. The Reds have gone across the city seven times in the first half of the season since 2013, and have lost five of them – shipping 19 and scoring just 7.

There’s something about an autumn trip to the Etihad which unnerves United, and this team, certainly defensively, show no sign of curbing that recent record on Sunday.

But first up are Champions League debutants and Azerbaijan champions Sabah on Thursday. No one connected with the club will want to even consider the backlash and impact if they fail to dispatch the minnows at Old Trafford.