Man Utd flops have stabbed Carrick within the again – Lisandro Martinez ought to by no means play once more

Michael Carrick has been stabbed in the back by his Manchester United flops after yet more awful discipline throws the Manchester United manager’s job closer to the axe

Michael Carrick’s job at Manchester United is almost beyond the point of no return after the defeat at Chelsea on Saturday. But it’s his flops who have stabbed him in the back who are to blame.

After a brilliant end to last season, Carrick was rightly given the permanent manager’s job at Old Trafford but it has been nothing short of a disaster since.

Thrown under the bus by the incompetent board, which failed to back him in the summer transfer market, Carrick’s players, whose careers he resurrected last season, are at best going through the worst form of their careers, or at worst have downed tools.

Make sure you never miss the most fun content in sport by making the Daily Star one of your Google preferred sources.

United were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge after they were punished for failing to convert the golden chances they had in the first-half.

After surviving the crisis talks about his future following the Bournemouth defeat last week, Carrick’s side were vastly improved and should have been ahead at the break with the chances that fell to Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo wasted, while Matheus Cunha saw a goal disallowed for offside.

But after the break the Red Devils fell to pieces again. Shocking defending saw Morgan Rogers carve his way between Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez, who offered no challenge on the edge of their own box. Rogers had earlier skipped round Carlos Baleba after he, for some reason, had jumped out of position for a ball he couldn’t win.

United lost control of the game and soon were out of the contest when hit the self-destruct button by picking up the two most obvious yellow cards in the space of a minute, the latter gifting Chelsea a penalty.

After being bullied by Rogers and basically being used as a mop and then worn as a backpack, Martinez eventually stopped the Englishman on the edge of the box to pick up a yellow card.

And from that set-piece delivery, Martinez inexplicably stopped Wesley Fofana from having a free header at goal after he slipped away from the Argentine by jumping into him and putting his hands in his face when he wasn’t even looking at the ball.

Somehow the incident was missed by referee Peter Bankes, but a VAR review correctly awarded the penalty and sent Martinez off for a second booking.

Cole Palmer converted the spot kick to kill the game after Martinez trudged off the pitch past Carrick, who showed his disgust with the vastly experienced 28-year-old by not even looking at him. Even if Carrick said he didn’t feel let down by Martinez in his post-match interview, his reaction on the bench told a different story.

Martinez had only just returned to the pitch after his outburst against the failure of the board to properly invest in the transfer window. United finished with a net spend of just £100million for one of their biggest rebuild projects – being outspent by all three newly-promoted clubs.

While that rant was true, all the petulant Argentinean did was cause more cracks at the club and put Carrick under further pressure.

But without reasonable cover due to Matthijs de Ligt fighting back from almost a year out with a back injury, and the board opting not to sign a defender, Martinez wasn’t dropped from the squad. But now he’s out.

There’s no excusing or even comprehending how a man who has won the World Cup and reached the final again in the summer has tried to defend in that minute – that almost sums up United’s season in a nutshell.

Martinez’s contract is up at the end of the season and his frustration in not being offered a new deal, with the club looking likely before the weekend to activate a one-year extension in his current deal, paired with his recent head losses, makes it looks like he’s trying to make himself unplayable to force an exit.

As one of the most experienced heads in that dressing room and someone who captained the club last season, Martinez’s latest infraction on the pitch is inexcusable.

Whether Carrick keeps his job the other side of the international break in a week’s time should have no bearing on Martinez’s future.

United’s flops need to stop expecting a fresh start under a new manager and face the consequences for letting the club down. Martinez has to be put up for transfer in January and never play for the club again. He’s let his manager and club down again, and not through honest mistakes on the pitch that can be forgiven.

Martinez is one of the obvious players United could have cashed in on with his international experience playing firmly into his reputation, but the board have again moved too late to trigger his contract extension.

Whatever offers they get for Martinez in January, they only have themselves to blame for failing to secure players’ market valuations.

Regardless, a man who felt like a victim of a lack of spending only to throw his manager and team-mates under the bus on the pitch deserves no extra chances at Old Trafford.