Nov 12 - Manchester United's decision to sack Michael Carrick on Thursday after another dismal run feels like a familiar episode in the post-Alex Ferguson era, but the latest managerial departure raises deeper questions about the team's underlying problems.

Three wins from 15 games in all competitions, the worst defensive record in Europe and a side in the relegation zone are statistics that would test the patience of any club hierarchy and leave few managers with a realistic chance of survival.

But the fundamental question remains: whether the Old Trafford side's problems lie in the dugout or in a club that has repeatedly chosen to change their head coach.

Carrick is the seventh permanent manager to be sacked by the United hierarchy since Ferguson clinched the club's 20th league title and retired in 2013. He is also the third to be sacked since Jim Ratcliffe came on board as a minority owner in 2024.

In the last 13 years, the club have consumed reputations by cycling through big names like David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer while remaining convinced that the next appointment will make it all work.

What made Carrick's tenure remarkable is his rise and fall -- how convincingly things worked last term before the subsequent decline that showed he was unable to sustain the momentum that propelled him from interim to permanent manager.

Appointed after Ruben Amorim's departure, Carrick's side won 11 of his first 16 games in charge, beating Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea while lifting United into the Champions League places last season.

But that initial recovery -- seen before with managers like his former teammate Solskjaer -- was mistaken by the club's hierarchy as evidence the team's deeper problems were solved.

Managers have arrived at Old Trafford with different philosophies, personalities and promises. But the common denominator is the club that hired them, backed them and eventually discarded them.

CARRICK INVITED SCRUTINY

There is a legitimate case against Carrick as his team's defensive organisation has been poor, performances deteriorated and his handling of Bruno Fernandes -- particularly the decision to bench the captain against Bournemouth -- invited scrutiny.

But even the sharpest tactical mind can only mask structural shortcomings for so long and no amount of ingenuity can indefinitely compensate for poor squad building.

United remain one of the world's wealthiest clubs and have never been short of financial muscle, but there is a vast difference between spending heavily and spending wisely.

Their summer outlay of £150 million ($198.86 million) was committed solely to midfield, with Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans arriving. Yet significant weaknesses in the squad were left unaddressed, most notably at left back.

The lack of strategic squad planning was laid bare by the fact that a team competing on four fronts had only the injury-prone 31-year-old Luke Shaw as an established senior left back.

Meanwhile, a succession of signings tailored to the short-term needs of individual managers has left United with a costly and often disjointed squad, forcing each new coach to work with players recruited for vastly different tactical approaches.

Without a clear footballing identity shaping recruitment, the incoming manager - with US coach Mauricio Pochettino likely to replace Carrick - risks inheriting the same structural flaws. REUTERS