Manchester United: Where is it going wrong for Michael Carrick's side after nightmare start to season?

Thursday marks five months exactly since Man Utd announced Michael Carrick would be staying on as head coach. There will be little mood for celebrating anniversaries the morning after his worst night in the role.

The 4-1 thumping in Como left Carrick, in his own words, "angry". It also ruptured open divisions in the camp, with club captain Bruno Fernandes criticising the tactical plan.

United have made their worst-ever start to a Premier League season and that European humbling means they are now seven without a win across all competitions.

It's a shocking collapse in form from the brilliant run at the back end of last season which convinced United to sign Carrick up until 2028. So what's gone wrong?

Seeds sown in the summer

This week, it was Fernandes. Last week, it was Lisandro Martinez hitting out at the hierarchy. The centre-back had technical director Jason Wilcox in his sights when he criticised the club for not strengthening the squad further in the summer transfer window.

• Fernandes criticises coaches, Carrick criticises players - but who was to blame?
• Como 4-1 Man Utd - Match report and reaction
• As it happened | Teams | Stats | Latest news: Man Utd

United spent £163m - less than promoted pair Hull City and Ipswich Town, as well as seven other Premier League clubs. Midfield was the focus but left-back and centre-forward areas weren't bolstered.

Reasons for the scale of United's summer outlay are multi-layered - stretching right back to the Glazer takeover - but crucially Carrick was not able to significantly upgrade this group to go from playing just 40 games last season to taking on Champions League football and trying to improve on a third-place Premier League finish this term.

Fitness fears

The World Cup made it a draining summer for many players at elite clubs. But when concerns about this season's increased workload for United were combined with Youri Tielemans suggesting there had been a lighter load of pre-season running, alarm bells began to ring.

United's intensity - or lack of - has proven to be a standout problem.

They have been out-run in six of their seven Premier League games. The only exception was when Man City played over an hour with a man less. On Wednesday, their out-of-possession failings were again exposed.

"If you don't run back, you ain't going to win," was how Carrick put it.

Fernandes' form

Fernandes may have issues with the pressing plan deployed by Carrick and his coaching staff in Como but with just one goal involvement in his past nine games for United, the drop-off from the team's talisman has clearly been extremely damaging.

All four of his goal involvements in the Premier League came against Ipswich Town (three goals, one assist).

After breaking the assists record last season, his chance creation figures have halved this season.

Sesko and a misfiring attack

Fernandes' figures reflect a wider problem to United's attack.

Since that Ipswich game, he has had 12 shots - but just two on target.

No team has had more shots than United this season - but they rank joint-worst for xG per shot.

Too often it's speculative rather than substantial from United's forwards.

They were the top scorers during the final 17 games of last season, when Carrick was in charge and harnessing the powers of his Portuguese playmaker.

But the continued absence of Benjamin Sesko due to injury and the lack of an alternative out-and-out striker has left United without a focal point to target. Fernandes took on the role of false-nine on Wednesday and it didn't work.

No clean sheets

If you're struggling to score, you need security at the back to give you a chance - but United haven't kept a clean sheet this season.

In Italy, the full-backs Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui had games to forget, while Matthijs de Ligt was understandably, laboured on his first appearance in 11 months.

Injuries to Martinez and Luke Shaw, illness for Ayden Heaven, and suspension for Leny Yoro didn't help. But whether it's a personnel problem, an issue with United's structure without the ball, or simply their intensity and fitness to shutdown their opponents, they are being too often opened up.

Different midfield pairings have been tried in front of the backline but the right combination - which likely includes Carlos Baleba, who is working back to fitness - is still something Carrick is searching for.

What's the fix?

Many problems mean there is no easy answer.

United could have four of the nine players unavailable on Wednesday back for Bournemouth on Sunday, which will help. Yoro, Martinez and Heaven would refresh the defence, Marcus Rashford could add a spark to the attack.

But Fernandes suggested United must win a mental battle as much as a physical one this weekend.

On the impact of Como's opener after two minutes, he said: "Conceding the goal very early makes us feeling, going into the game, already in a mood of a defeat.

"It's very difficult to get out of that at the moment, without being ourselves and trying to push and trying to be brave, trying to have the ball, trying to make something happen.

"If we're not able to do that it's going to be very difficult to get out of this situation."

At Old Trafford, United are going to have to step up and show that bravery on and off the ball to deliver a performance and result to shift the narrative and put what has gone wrong so far this season behind them.

But quickly recapturing the magic of that run of form under Carrick in the second half of last season from this position would be some trick.

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